United Fruit Company
167538
223324896
2008-07-03T15:57:29Z
ClueBot
4928500
Reverting possible vandalism by [[Special:Contributions/69.244.214.126|69.244.214.126]] to version by DOI bot. False positive? [[User:ClueBot/FalsePositives|Report it]]. Thanks, [[User:ClueBot]]. (431752) (Bot)
{{Citations missing|date=January 2008}}
[[Image:1920UnitedFruitCompanyEntrance.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Entrance facade of old United Fruit Building on St. Charles Avenue, [[New Orleans, Louisiana]] ]]
The '''United Fruit Company''' was a major [[United States of America|American]] [[corporation]] that traded tropical [[fruit]] (primarily [[banana]]s and [[pineapple]]s) grown in [[Third World]] [[plantation]]s and sold in the [[United States]] and [[Europe]]. The company was formed in 1899 from the merger of [[Minor C. Keith]]'s banana-trading concerns with [[Andrew W. Preston]]'s Boston Fruit Company. It flourished in the early and mid-20th century and came to control vast territories and transportation networks in [[Central America]], the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] coast of [[Colombia]], [[Ecuador]], and the [[Caribbean|West Indies]]. Though it competed with the [[Standard Fruit Company]] for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual [[monopoly]] in certain regions.
The Company had a deep and long-lasting impact in the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative [[neocolonialism]] and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a [[multinational corporation]] on the internal [[politics]] of the so-called "[[banana republic]]s." (A term coined by O. Henry). After a period of financial decline, United Fruit was merged with [[Eli M. Black]]'s AMK in 1970 to become the '''United Brands Company'''. In 1984 [[Carl Lindner, Jr.]] transformed United Brands into the present-day '''[[Chiquita Brands International]]'''.
==Corporate history==
In 1871, U.S. railroad entrepreneur [[Henry Meiggs]] signed a contract with the government of [[Costa Rica]] to build a railroad connecting the capital city of [[San José, Costa Rica|San José]] to the port of [[Limón]] in the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]]. Meiggs was assisted in the project by his young nephew [[Minor C. Keith]], who took over Meiggs's business concerns in Costa Rica after Meiggs's death in 1877. As an experiment, Keith had begun planting bananas along the train route in 1873.
When the Costa Rican government defaulted on its payments in 1882, Keith had to borrow [[Pound sterling|£]]1.2 million from [[London]] banks and from private investors in order to continue the difficult engineering project. In 1884, the government of President [[Próspero Fernández Oreamuno]] agreed to give Keith 800,000 acres (3,200 square kilometers) of tax-free land along the railroad, plus a 99-year lease on the operation of the train route. The railroad was completed in 1890 but the flow of passengers proved insufficient to finance Keith's debt. On the other hand, the sale of bananas grown in his lands and transported first by train to Limón and then by ship to the United States proved very lucrative. Keith soon came to dominate the banana trade in Central America and along the Caribbean coast of [[Colombia]].
In 1899, Keith lost $1.5 million when the [[New York City]] broker [[Hoadley and Co.]] went bankrupt. He then traveled to [[Boston, Massachusetts]], where he arranged the merger of his banana trading concerns with the rival Boston Fruit Company. Boston Fruit had been established by [[Lorenzo Dow Baker]], a sailor who, in 1870, had bought his first bananas in [[Jamaica]], and by [[Andrew W. Preston]]. The merger formed the United Fruit Company, based in Boston, with Preston as president and Keith as vice-president. Preston brought to the partnership his plantations in the [[West Indies]], a fleet of steamships, and his market in the U.S. Northeast. Keith brought his plantations and railroads in Central America and his market in the U.S. South and Southeast. At its founding, United Fruit was capitalized at $11,230,000.
In 1901, the government of [[Guatemala]] hired the United Fruit Company to manage the country's [[mail|postal service]]. By 1930, the Company had absorbed more than 20 rival firms, acquiring a capital of $215,000,000 and becoming the largest employer in Central America. In 1930, [[Sam Zemurray]] (nicknamed "Sam the Banana Man") sold his Cuyamel Fruit Co. to United Fruit and retired from the fruit business. In 1933, concerned that the company was mismanaged and that its market value had plunged, he staged a hostile [[takeover]]. Zemurray moved the company's headquarters to [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], where he was based. United Fruit went on to prosper under Zemurray's management; Zemurray resigned as president of the company in 1951.
Corporate raider [[Eli M. Black]] bought 733,000 shares of United Fruit in 1968, becoming the company's largest shareholder. In June 1970, Black merged United Fruit with his own public company, AMK (owner of meat packer [[John Morrel]]), to create the '''United Brands Company'''. United Fruit had far less cash than Black had counted on and Black's mismanagement led to United Brands becoming crippled with debt. The company's losses were exacerbated by [[Hurricane Fifi]] in 1974, which destroyed many banana plantations in [[Honduras]]. On [[February 3]], [[1975]], Black committed [[suicide]] by jumping out of his office on the 44th floor of the [[Pan Am Building]] in New York City. Later that year, the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] exposed a scheme by United Brands to bribe Honduran President [[Oswaldo López Arellano]] with $1.25 million, and the promise of another $1.25 million upon the reduction of certain export taxes. Trading in United Brands stock was halted and Lopez was ousted in a military coup.
After Black's suicide, [[Cincinnati]]-based American Financial, one of billionaire [[Carl Lindner, Jr.|Carl H. Lindner, Jr.]]'s companies, bought into United Brands. In August 1984, Lindner took control of the company and renamed it [[Chiquita Brands International]]. The headquarters was moved to Cincinnati in 1985.
Throughout most of its history, United Fruit's main competitor was the [[Standard Fruit Company]], now the [[Dole Food Company]].
==History in Central America==
The United Fruit Company (UFCO) owned vast tracts of land in the Caribbean lowlands. It also dominated regional transportation networks through its International Railways of Central America and its Great White Fleet of steamships. In addition, UFCO branched out in 1913 by creating the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company. One of the company's primary tactics for maintaining market dominance was to control the distribution of banana lands. UFCO claimed that hurricanes, blight and other natural threats required them to hold extra land or reserve land. In practice, what this meant was that UFCO was able to prevent the government from distributing banana lands to peasants who wanted a share of the banana trade. The fact that the UFCO relied so heavily on manipulation of land use rights in order to maintain their market dominance had a number of long term consequences for the region. For the company to maintain its unequal land holdings it often required government concessions. And this in turn meant that the company had to be politically involved in the region even though it was an American company. In fact, the heavy-handed involvement of the company in governments which often were or became corrupt created the term "[[Banana republic]]" representing a "servile dictatorship".<ref name="GREED">''Big-business greed killing the banana'' - ''Independent'', via ''[[The New Zealand Herald]]'', Saturday 24 May 2008, Page A19</ref>
UFCO had a mixed record on promoting the development of the nations in which it operated. In Central America, the Company built extensive railroads and ports and provided employment and transportation. UFCO also created numerous schools for the people who lived and worked on Company land. On the other hand, it allowed vast tracts of land under its ownership to remain uncultivated and, in Guatemala and elsewhere, it discouraged the government from building [[highway]]s, which would lessen the profitable [[transport]]ation [[monopoly]] of the railroads under its control.
In 1954, the democratically elected Guatemalan government of Colonel [[Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán]] was toppled by a group of Guatemalan army officers who invaded from [[Honduras]] with the covert assistance of the U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (see ''[[Operation PBSUCCESS]]''). Before that, the directors of UFCO had lobbied to convince the [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] administrations that Colonel Arbenz intended to align Guatemala with the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] bloc. Besides the disputed issue of Arbenz's allegiance to [[Communism]], the directors of UFCO may have feared Arbenz's stated intention of purchasing uncultivated land from the company (at the value declared in tax returns) and redistributing it among [[Native American (Americas)|Native American]] [[peasant]]s. The American [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[John Foster Dulles]] was an avowed opponent of Communism whose [[law firm]] had represented United Fruit. His brother [[Allen Dulles]] was the director of the CIA. The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs [[John Moors Cabot]] had once been president of United Fruit. The overthrow of Arbenz, however, failed to benefit the Company. Its stock market value declined along with its profit margin. The Eisenhower administration proceeded with [[antitrust]] action against the company, which forced it to divest in 1958. In 1972, the company sold off the last of their Guatemalan holdings after over a decade of decline.
Company holdings in [[Cuba]], which included sugar mills in the Oriente region of the island, were [[expropriation|expropriated]] by the 1959 [[Cuban revolution|revolutionary government]] led by [[Fidel Castro]]. By April 1960 Castro was accusing the company of aiding [[Cuban exile]]s and supporters of former leader [[Fulgencio Batista]] in initiating a seaborn invasion of Cuba directed from the United States.<ref name="Thomas">Thomas, ''Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom'', 867</ref> Castro warned the U.S. that "Cuba is not another Guatemala" in one of many combative diplomatic exchanges before the failed [[Bay of Pigs invasion]] of 1961. Despite significant economic pressure on Cuba, the company was unable to recoup cost and compensation from the Cuban government.<ref name="Thomas"/>
==Reputation==
The United Fruit Company was frequently accused of bribing government officials in exchange for preferential treatment, exploiting its workers, contributing little by way of taxes to the countries in which it operated, and working ruthlessly to consolidate monopolies. Latin American journalists sometimes referred to the company as ''el pulpo'' ("the octopus"), and leftist parties in Central and South America encouraged the Company's workers to strike. Criticism of the United Fruit Company became a staple of the discourse of the [[Communism|communist]] parties in several Latin American countries, where its activities were often interpreted as illustrating [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]]'s theory of capitalist [[imperialism]]. Major Latin American writers sympathetic to more independence from foreign governments and corporations, such as [[Carlos Luis Fallas]] of Costa Rica, [[Ramón Amaya Amador]] of Honduras, [[Miguel Ángel Asturias]] of Guatemala, [[Gabriel García Márquez]] of Colombia, and [[Pablo Neruda]] of Chile, denounced the Company in their literature.
The business practices of United Fruit were also frequently criticized by journalists, politicians, and artists in the United States. [[Steven van Zandt|Little Steven]] released a song called "Bitter Fruit" about the company's misdeeds. In 1950, [[Gore Vidal]] published a novel (''Dark Green, Bright Red''), in which a thinly fictionalized version of United Fruit supports a military coup in a thinly fictionalized Guatemala. This reputation for malfeasance, however, was somewhat offset among those who worked for it or in the regions it controlled by the Company's later efforts to provide its employees with reasonable salaries, adequate medical care, and free private schooling. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Company and its successor, United Brands, created an Associated Producers Program that sought to transfer some of its land holdings to private growers whose produce it commercialized. As the Company gradually lost its land and transportation monopolies, its status as a capitalist ''bête noire'' declined.{{Fact|date=August 2007}}
Diane K. Stanley, a former U.S. diplomat and the daughter of a [[Wales|Welsh]]-born employee of the United Fruit Co. in Guatemala, argues in the book ''For the Record: The United Fruit Company's Sixty-six Years in Guatemala,'' published in 1994, that the negative perception of the company's influence in Guatemala is largely undeserved, and could be due in part to the unwillingness of left-wing journalists and writers to critically examine the legacy of the administrations of Presidents [[Juan José Arévalo|Arévalo]] and [[Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán|Arbenz]]. According to her:
{{cquote|Most accounts about the banana company have also failed to describe the significant contribution that United Fruit made to Guatemala's human and economic development. In addition to providing employment to tens of thousands of workers and paying them the nation's best rural wages, the Company also offered its employees excellent medical care, rent-free housing, and six years of free schooling for countless children. By clearing and draining thousands of acres of jungle that are today among the country's most productive farm lands, United Fruit converted Guatemala into a major banana producer, thereby ending the country's unhealthy dependence on its exports of [[coffee]]. The Company's pioneering work in eliminating [[malaria]] and other tropical diseases early in the twentieth century also demonstrated that Guatemala's sparsely inhabited coastal areas offered rich, previously unexploited agricultural zones. Ultimately, the taxes and salaries that the United Fruit Company paid, and the millions of dollars of foreign exchange earnings that it annually generated, impacted in an important way on Guatemala's economy.<ref>See [http://www.macaw.com/products/preface.htm Preface] to Stanley, Diane K., ''For the Record''</ref>}}
Stanley also argues that while the company did orchestrate "an effective media campaign against the Arbenz government, it is clear that the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] administration was intent on ousting what it considered to be a Communist beachhead that threatened U.S. national security. Spurred on by [[John Foster Dulles]], his vehemently anti-Communist secretary of state, President Eisenhower would have moved to depose Arbenz even if the United Fruit Company had never operated in Guatemala."<ref> See [http://www.macaw.com/products/preface.htm Preface] to Stanley, ''Op. cit.''</ref>
==Banana massacre==
{{see also|Banana massacre}}
One of the most notorious strikes by United Fruit workers broke out on [[12 November]] [[1928]] on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, near [[Santa Marta]]. Historical estimates place the number of strikers somewhere between 11,000 and 30,000. On [[6 December]], [[Colombian Army]] troops under the command of General [[Cortés Vargas]] opened fire on a crowd of strikers gathered in the central square of the town of [[Ciénaga]]. The military justified this action by claiming that the strike was subversive and its organizers were Communist revolutionaries. Congressman [[Jorge Eliécer Gaitán]] claimed that the army had acted under instructions from the United Fruit Company. The ensuing scandal contributed to [[President of Colombia|President]] [[Miguel Abadía Méndez]]'s [[Colombian Conservative Party|Conservative Party]] being voted out of office in 1930, putting an end to 44 years of Conservative rule in Colombia. The first novel of [[Álvaro Cepeda Samudio]], ''La Casa Grande'', focuses on this event, and the author himself grew up in close proximity to the incident. The climax of [[García Márquez]]'s novel ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'' is based on the events in Ciénaga, though the author himself has acknowledged that the death toll of 3,000 that he gives there is greatly inflated.<ref>Bucheli, ''Bananas and Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia, 1899-2000'', 132</ref>
General Cortés Vargas, who issued the order to shoot, argued later that he had issued the order because he had information that U.S. boats were poised to land troops on Colombian coasts to defend American personnel and the interests of the United Fruit Company. Vargas issued the order so the US would not invade Colombia. This position was strongly criticized in the Senate, especially by [[Jorge Eliécer Gaitán]], who argued that those same bullets should have been used to stop the foreign invader.{{fact|date=May 2008}}
The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 5, 1928, stated:
“I have been following Santa Marta fruit strike through United Fruit Company representative here; also through Minister of Foreign Affairs who on Saturday told me government would send additional troops and would arrest all strike leaders and transport them to prison at Cartagena; that government would give adequate protection to American interests involved.”<ref>[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery5dec1928.jpg Telegram from Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 5, 1928]</ref>
The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to Secretary of State, date December 7, 1928, stated:
“Situation outside Santa Marta City unquestionably very serious: outside zone is in revolt; military who have orders "not to spare ammunition" have already killed and wounded about fifty strikers. Government now talks of general offensive against strikers as soon as all troopships now on the way arrive early next week.”<ref>[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery7dec1928.jpg Telegram from Bogotá Embassy to Secretary of State, date December 7, 1928]</ref>
The Dispatch from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated December 29, 1928, stated:
“I have the honor to report that the legal advisor of the United Fruit Company here in Bogotá stated yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military authorities during the recent disturbance reached between five and six hundred; while the number of soldiers killed was one.”<ref>[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery29dec1928.htm Dispatch from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated December 29, 1928]</ref>
The Dispatch from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated January 16, 1929, stated:
“I have the honor to report that the Bogotá representative of the United Fruit Company told me yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand.”<ref>[http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery16jan1929.jpg Dispatch from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated January 16, 1929]</ref>
Guerrilla movements in Colombia like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia argued that one of the consequences for the development of communism in Colombia was triggered by events like these and called it state terrorism. The Banana massacre is set to be one of the main events that preceded the Bogotazo, the subsequent era of violence known as La Violencia and the guerrillas that developed during the bipartisan National Front to created the ongoing Colombian armed conflict.{{fact|date=May 2008}}
The "banana massacre" was second only to the destruction wrought in the late 1980s by the United Fruit Company. Money funneled through the industries of the United States was used to fund a private militia, designed to protect the interests of the UNC. Efforts to nationalize UNC dominated areas were met with guerilla warefare, a very effective means. Though the militia could not be directly linked the UNC, the purpose of the attacks was in UNC interests.
==Footnotes==
[[Image:SS Abangarez.jpg|thumb|right|SS Abangarez, a '''United Fruit Company''' banana carrier, c. 1945]]
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
*{{cite book
| last = Bucheli
| first = Marcelo
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year =2005
| url =http://books.google.com/books?id=kUfnWhn6H7gC
| title =Bananas and Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia: 1899-2000
| publisher =New York University Press
| location =New York
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Stanley
| first = Diane K.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year = 1994
| title = For the Record: The United Fruit Company's Sixty-six Years in Guatemala
| publisher = Editorial Antigua
| location = Guatemala City
| id = ISBN 99922-722-0-1
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Thomas
| first = Hugh
| authorlink =Hugh Thomas
| coauthors =
| year = 1971
| title = Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom
| publisher = Harper & Row
| location = New York
| id =
}}
==See also==
*[[Chiquita Brands International]]
*[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]
== Further reading==
*{{cite book
| last = Bucheli
| first = Marcelo
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year =2005
| url =http://books.google.com/books?id=kUfnWhn6H7gC
| title =Bananas and Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia: 1899-2000
| publisher =New York University Press
| location =New York
| id =
}}
*{{cite journal
| first = Marcelo
| last = Bucheli
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year =2008
| month =July
| title =Multinational Corporations, Totalitarian Regimes, and Economic Nationalism: United Fruit Company in Central America, 1899-1975
| journal =Business History
| volume =50
| issue =4
| pages =433–454
| id =
| url =
| doi =10.1080/00076790802106315
}}
*{{cite journal
| first = Marcelo
| last = Bucheli
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year =2005
| month =November
| title =Banana Wars Maneuvers
| journal =Harvard Business Review
| volume =83
| issue =11
| pages =22–24
| id =
| url =
}}
*{{cite journal
| first = Marcelo
| last = Bucheli
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year =2004
| month =Summer
| title =Enforcing Business Contracts in South America: The United Fruit Company and the Colombian Banana Planters in the Twentieth-Century
| journal =Business History Review
| volume =78
| issue =2
| pages =181–212
| id =
| url =
}}
*{{Citation
| last=Bucheli
| first=Marcelo
| author-link=
| last2=
| first2=
| year=
| date=
| publication-date=2006
| contribution=The United Fruit Company in Latin America: Business Strategies in a Changing Environment
| contribution-url=
| editor-last=Jones
| editor-first=Geoffrey
| editor-link=
| editor2-last=Wadhwani
| editor2-first=R. Daniel
| editor2-link=
| editor3-last=
| editor3-first=
| title=Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism
| edition=
| place=
| publication-place=Cheltenham (UK)
| publisher=Edward Elgar
| volume=2
| pages=342–383
| id=
| doi=
| oclc=
| url=
| unused_data=|author2-link
}}.
*{{Citation
| last=Bucheli
| first=Marcelo
| author-link=
| last2=Read
| first2=Ian
| year=
| date=
| publication-date=2006
| contribution=Banana Boats and Baby Food: The Banana in U.S. History
| contribution-url=
| editor-last=Topik
| editor-first=Steven
| editor-link=
| editor2-last=Marichal
| editor2-first=Carlos
| editor2-link=
| editor3-last=Frank
| editor3-first=Zephyr
| title=From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000
| edition=
| place=
| publication-place=Durham
| publisher=Duke University Press
| volume=
| pages=
| id=
| doi=
| oclc=
| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mnvBYQqpJbQC&dq=from+silver+to+cocaine&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
| unused_data=|author2-link
}}.
*{{Citation
| last=Bucheli
| first=Marcelo
| author-link=
| last2=
| first2=
| year=
| date=
| publication-date=2003
| contribution=United Fruit Company in Latin America
| contribution-url=
| editor-last=Moberg
| editor-first=Mark
| editor-link=
| editor2-last=Striffler
| editor2-first=Steve
| editor2-link=
| editor3-last=
| editor3-first=
| title=Banana Wars: Power, Production, and History in the Americas
| edition=
| place=
| publication-place=Durham
| publisher=Duke University Press
| volume=
| pages=
| id=
| doi=
| oclc=
| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Fv2VH9LGQqoC&dq=banana+wars&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
| unused_data=|author2-link
}}.
*{{Citation
| last=Bucheli
| first=Marcelo
| author-link=
| last2=
| first2=
| year=
| date=
| publication-date=2005
| contribution=United Fruit Company
| contribution-url=
| editor-last=Geisst
| editor-first=Charles
| editor-link=
| editor2-last=
| editor2-first=
| editor2-link=
| editor3-last=
| editor3-first=
| title=Encyclopedia of American Business History
| edition=
| place=
| publication-place=London
| publisher=Facts on File
| volume=
| pages=
| id=
| doi=
| oclc=
| url=
| unused_data=|author2-link
}}.
*{{Citation
| last=Bucheli
| first=Marcelo
| author-link=
| last2=
| first2=
| year=
| date=
| publication-date=2004
| contribution=United Fruit Company
| contribution-url=
| editor-last=McCusker
| editor-first=John
| editor-link=
| editor2-last=
| editor2-first=
| editor2-link=
| editor3-last=
| editor3-first=
| title=History of World Trade Since 1450
| edition=
| place=
| publication-place=New York
| publisher=Macmillan
| volume=
| pages=
| id=
| doi=
| oclc=
| url=
| unused_data=|author2-link
}}.
*{{cite book
| last = Cepeda Samudio
| first = Álvaro
| authorlink = Álvaro Cepeda Samudio
| coauthors =
| year =1962
| title =[[La Casa Grande]]
| publisher =
| location =
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Chapman
| first = Peter
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year =2007
| title =[[Jungle Capitalists]]
| publisher = Canongate
| location =
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Chomsky
| first = Aviva
| authorlink = Aviva Chomsky
| coauthors =
| year =
| title = West Indian Workers and the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica, 1870-1940
| publisher = Louisiana State University Press
| location =
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Fallas
| first = Carlos Luis
| authorlink = Carlos Luis Fallas
| coauthors =
| year =1940
| title =[[Mamita Yunai]]
| publisher =
| location =
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = McCann
| first = Thomas P
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year = 1987
| title = On the Inside
| publisher = Quinlan Press
| location = Beverly, Massachusetts
| id =
}} Revised edition of ''An American Company'' (1976).
*{{cite journal
| first = Cameron
| last = McWhirter
| authorlink = Cameron McWhirter
| coauthors =[[Michael Gallagher (journalist)|Michael Gallagher]]
| year =1998
| month =May 3
| title =How 'el pulpo' became Chiquita Banana
| journal =The Cincinnati Enquirer
| volume =
| issue =
| pages =
| id =
| url =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Neruda
| first = Pablo
| authorlink = Pablo Neruda
| coauthors =
| year =
| title =[[Canto General]]
| publisher =
| location =
| id =
}} "La United Fruit Co."
*{{cite book
| last = Schlesinger
| first = Stephen
| authorlink =Stephen Schlesinger
| coauthors =[[Stephen Kinzer|Kinzer, Stephen]]
| year =1982
| title = Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala
| publisher =
| location =
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Striffler
| first = Steve
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year = 2002
| title = In the Shadows of State and Capital: The United Fruit Company, Popular Struggle, and Agrarian Restructuring in Ecuador, 1900-1995
| publisher = Duke Univ. Press
| location = Durham, N.C.; London
| id =
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Vandermeer
| first = John
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Perfecto, Ivette
| year = 2005
| title = Breakfast of Biodiversity
| publisher = Institute of Food an Development Poliy
| location = Oakland, California
| id = ISBN 0-935038-96-X
}}
==External links==
* [http://www.unitedfruit.org United Fruit Historical Society] Chronology of United Fruit by Marcelo Bucheli
* [http://www.chiquita.com/chiquitacr1/6backgrnd/crp92.asp "Our Complex History"], from the [[Chiquita Brands International]] 2000 Corporate Responsibility Report
* [http://www.mayaparadise.com/ufc1e.htm Banana Republic: The United Fruit Company]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/778739c4-f869-11db-a940-000b5df10621.html Financial Times Article on United Fruit's legacy in Latin America: "Rotten Fruit"]
* [http://www.unitedfruit.org/biblio.htm Bibliography on United Fruit] extensive biography from the United Fruit Historical Society, Inc.
[[Category:Defunct agriculture companies of the United States]]
[[Category:History of Honduras]]
[[Category:History of Guatemala]]
[[Category:History of Colombia]]
[[Category:History of Panama]]
[[Category:History of Costa Rica]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1899]]
[[Category:Banana Wars]]
[[es:United Fruit Company]]
[[eo:United Fruit Company]]
[[eu:United Fruit Company]]
[[fr:United Fruit Company]]
[[it:United Fruit Company]]
[[ja:ユナイテッド・フルーツ]]
[[pl:United Fruit Company]]
[[sv:United Fruit Company]]
[[uk:Юнайтед-фрут-компані]]
[[zh:联合果品公司]]