The Banana Wars: A Captivating Guide to the Interventions of the United States in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean (U.S. Military History) by History Captivating

Author:History, Captivating
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7: The Banana Wars in Guatemala

Guatemala and Honduras both wanted to attract investment and offered land and tax privileges to attract banana companies. Minor Keith first got involved in Guatemala to finish a railroad but got interested in growing bananas there and demanded concessions, which he got. The political conditions in the country were favorable for United Fruit. As the result of a coup in 1899, General Manuel Estrada Cabrera became dictator and ruled until 1920 with a harsh but steady hand.

Guatemala has had a deep social division since colonial times. Early in the 20th century, two-thirds of the population were Maya. The country also had a small Afro-Guatemalan population on the north coast. The Maya people had stubbornly resisted Hispanicization for centuries, and most had maintained their language and much of their traditional culture. Many spoke Spanish and were Catholic. The country was run by elite families, with little Maya participation. Other than the elite, the politically active portion of the population, were the ladinos, of mixed origin but defined simply as people who spoke Spanish and had adopted the Hispanic culture and lifestyle. Most ladinos were poor, but they were considered Hispanic and therefore superior to the Maya. Under the Barrios dictatorship (1873–1885), government policy was to try to force the Maya out of subsistence farming by manipulating taxes and labor laws. One method was to levy taxes that had to be paid in cash, which could only be obtained by working.

While politics within the Central American republics was chaotic, sometimes their relationships were equally troubled. One nation might support a rebellion against a neighbor or even invade. In 1906, El Salvador invaded Guatemala. It’s one of those wars poorly known outside the region, and it ended in a stalemate. Yet at the main battle at El Jícaro, the Salvadorians lost 700 and had 1,100 wounded, and the Guatemalans are thought to have lost 2,800 (Jewett 5).

As with several other Central American nations, the population was concentrated in the highlands and the Pacific side of the country. The government wanted to build communication with the Caribbean coast but had few resources, so they welcomed United Fruit. That part of the coast was loosely attached to Guatemala and close to the Mosquito Coast, which was a British territory with undefined borders that could claim areas in Guatemala and Honduras.

When United Fruit began to develop banana plantations in Guatemala, a major problem was a lack of labor. To remedy this, Black laborers were imported from Jamaica and the United States, particularly from the region centered on New Orleans. This was a large labor migration, involving about 20,000, and created several problems. Laborers from Jamaica and the British colonies were not used to the kind of Jim Crow discrimination that was routine among American United Fruit managers. The sharp increase of Black people led to resentment among local Hispanics, who disliked the flood of Black English speakers and had a local tradition of discrimination. Some of the American laborers returned

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