United Fruit Company - Wikipedia. Entrance fa. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana. The United Fruit Company was an American corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas), grown on Central and South American plantations, and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1. Minor C. Keith's banana- trading concerns with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company. It flourished in the early and mid- 2. Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Ecuador, and the West Indies. Though it competed with the Standard Fruit Company (later Dole Food Company) for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics, such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. 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 banana republics. After a period of financial decline, United Fruit was merged with Eli M. Black's AMK in 1. United Brands Company. In 1. 98. 4, Carl Lindner, Jr. Meiggs was assisted in the project by his young nephew Minor C. Keith, who took over Meiggs's business concerns in Costa Rica after his death in 1.
Fruitcake Cookies are chock-full of dried fruit and pecans. 1 pound mixed candied fruit and peel. 4 cups chopped toasted pecans. Punch recipes with an alcoholic kick! Great for grown up parties. Remember to drink responsibly when sampling these drink recipes. Mixed Fruit (1970) Quotes on IMDb: Memorable quotes and exchanges from movies, TV series and more. Keith began experimenting with the planting of bananas as a cheap source of food for his workers. The railroad was completed in 1. Keith's debt. On the other hand, the sale of bananas grown in his lands and transported first by train to Lim. Keith eventually came to dominate the banana trade in Central America and along the Caribbean coast of Colombia. United Fruit (1. 89. Boston Fruit had been established by Lorenzo Dow Baker, a sailor who, in 1. Jamaica, and by Andrew W. Preston's lawyer, Bradley Palmer, had devised a scheme for the solution of the participants' cash flow problems and was in the process of implementing it. The merger formed the United Fruit Company, based in Boston, with Preston as president and Keith as vice- president. Palmer became a permanent member of the executive committee and for long periods of time the director. From a business point of view, Bradley Palmer was United Fruit. Preston brought to the partnership his plantations in the West Indies, a fleet of steamships, and his market in the U. S. Keith brought his plantations and railroads in Central America and his market in the U. S. At its founding, United Fruit was capitalized at $1. The company at Palmer's direction proceeded to buy or buy a share in 1. United States, then their main source of income. The company catapulted into financial success. Bradley Palmer overnight became a much- sought- after expert in business law, as well as a wealthy man. He later became a consultant to presidents and an adviser to Congress. In 1. 90. 1, the government of Guatemala hired the United Fruit Company to manage the country's postal service and in 1. United Fruit Company created the Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company. By 1. 93. 0 it had absorbed more than 2. Central America. In 1. Sam Zemurray (nicknamed . In 1. 93. 3, 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. Black bought 7. 33,0. United Fruit in 1. In June 1. 97. 0, Black merged United Fruit with his own public company, AMK (owner of meat packer John Morrell), 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 1. Honduras. On February 3, 1. Black committed suicide by jumping out of his office on the 4. Pan Am Building in New York City. Later that year, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission exposed a scheme by United Brands (dubbed Bananagate) to bribe Honduran President Oswaldo L. Trading in United Brands stock was halted and L. In August 1. 98. 4, Lindner took control of the company and renamed it Chiquita Brands International. The headquarters was moved to Cincinnati in 1. Throughout most of its history, United Fruit's main competitor was the Standard Fruit Company, now the Dole Food Company. Reputation. Latin American journalists sometimes referred to the company as el pulpo (. Criticism of the United Fruit Company became a staple of the discourse of the communist parties in several Latin American countries, where its activities were often interpreted as illustrating Vladimir Lenin's theory of capitalist imperialism. Major left- wing writers in Latin America, such as Carlos Luis Fallas of Costa Rica, Ram. Little Steven released a song called . Although the lyrics and scenery are generic, United Fruit (or its successor Chiquita) was reputed to be the target. John Foster Dulles' brother, Allen Dulles, also did legal work for United Fruit and sat on its board of directors. Allen Dulles was the head of the CIA under Eisenhower. In a flagrant conflict of interest, the Dulles brothers and Sullivan & Cromwell were on the United Fruit payroll for thirty- eight years. You could not see these connections until you could . 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 1. Tropical Radio and Telegraph Company. UFCO's policies of acquiring tax breaks and other benefits from host governments led to it building enclave economies in the regions, in which a company's investment is largely self- contained for its employees and overseas investors and the benefits of the export earnings are not shared with the host country. 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 . Infrastructure built by the company was constructed by clearing out forests, filling in low, swampy areas, and installing sewage, drainage, and water systems. Ecosystems that existed on these lands were destroyed, devastating biodiversity. In order to create farm land, the United Fruit Company would either clear forests (as mentioned) or they would drain marshlands in order to reduce avian habitats and to create . This is done by using produced soil fertility and hydrological resources in the most intense manner, then relocating when yields fell and pathogens followed banana plants. Techniques like this destroy land and when the land is unusable for the company, then they move to other regions. 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 highways, which would lessen the profitable transportation monopoly of the railroads under its control. UFCO had also destroyed at least one of those railroads upon leaving its area of operation. Assigned by the Eisenhower administration, this military opposition was armed, trained and organized by the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency (see Operation PBSUCCESS). The directors of United Fruit Company (UFCO) had lobbied to convince the Truman and Eisenhower administrations that Colonel Arbenz intended to align Guatemala with the Soviet Bloc. Besides the disputed issue of Arbenz's allegiance to Communism, UFCO was being threatened by the Arbenz government. UFCO was the largest Guatemalan landowner and employer, and the Arbenz government. His brother Allen Dulles was the director of the CIA and a board member of United Fruit. United Fruit Company is the only company known to have a CIA cryptonym. The brother of the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter. American Affairs, John Moors Cabot, had once been president of United Fruit. Ed Whitman, who was United Fruit. Many individuals who directly influenced U. S. 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 1. In 1. 97. 2, the company sold off the last of their Guatemalan holdings after over a decade of decline. Even as the Arbenz government was being overthrown, in 1. Honduras rapidly paralyzed the country and thanks to the United States' concern about the events in Guatemala, was settled more favorably for the workers in order to gain fuller leverage for the Guatemala operation. Company holdings in Cuba, which included sugar mills in the Oriente region of the island, were expropriated by the 1. Fidel Castro. By April 1. Castro was accusing the company of aiding Cuban exiles and supporters of former leader Fulgencio Batista in initiating a seaborne invasion of Cuba directed from the United States. On December 6, Colombian Army troops allegedly under the command of General Cort. Estimates of the number of casualties vary from 4. Congressman Jorge Eli. The ensuing scandal contributed to President. Miguel Abad. Vargas issued the order so the United States would not invade Colombia.
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