The Banana Republic

From the docks in Puerto Barrios gigantic freight-liners leave daily with enormous crates of bananas stacked like children's blocks. Groups of farm workers can be spotted along the roadside, each carrying nothing more than a small knit bag. Men from one village often seek work as a group to increase their chances of being hired. Although the minimum wage is about $3.50 a day, some will work for half that amount. They usually return home on Sunday, the one day of the week they don't live on the farms.

Most of what is written about the banana industry in Guatemala focuses on the bad old days of the legendary United Fruit Company. The term "banana republic" was coined to describe neighboring Honduras, but it could just as easily have described Guatemala during the first half of the 20th century. The company got its start here in 1901, when financier and United head Minor Keith won the right to transport mail between Guatemala and the United States. That expanded into telegraph services and the construction of the Atlantic railroad between Guatemala City and Puerto Barrios, all in addition to their traditional activities of growing and processing fruit. United Fruit and its rival Standard Fruit gradually became dominant political and economic forces in the country, pulling strings and dictating policy.

Thankfully, those days are gone. United Fruit ceased operations under that name in 1970, and, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, became Chiquita Brands International in 1984. Standard Fruit became Dole about the same time. Bananas are still big business here—Guatemala's $270 million industry accounts for 5.8% of the world's banana supply—and Dole and Chiquita remain owners of huge plantations in the lowlands. But neither company exercises the control over Guatemalan affairs they once wielded.