banana republic

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Banana republic 1 Banana republic The phrase banana republic was coined (ca. 1904) by the American writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 18621910). A banana republic is a politically unstable country that economically depends upon the exports of a limited resource (fruits, minerals), and usually features a society composed of stratified social classes, such as a great, impoverished working class and a ruling plutocracy, composed of the élites of business, politics, and the military. [1] In political science, the term banana republic denotes a country dependent upon limited primary-sector productions, which is ruled by a plutocracy who exploit the national economy by means of a politico-economic oligarchy. [2] In American literature, the term banana republic originally denoted the fictional Republic of Anchuria, a servile dictatorship that abetted, or supported for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation. [2] In U.S. politics, the term banana republic is a pejorative political descriptor coined by the American writer O. Henry in Cabbages and Kings (1904), a book of thematically related short stories derived from his 189697 residence in Honduras, where he was hiding from U.S. law for bank embezzlement. [3][4] In practice, a banana republic is a country operated as a commercial enterprise for private profit, effected by the collusion between the State and favoured monopolies, whereby the profits derived from private exploitation of public lands is private property, and the debts incurred are public responsibility. Such an imbalanced economy reduces the national currency to devalued paper-money, hence, the country is ineligible for international development-credit, and remains limited by the uneven economic development of town and country. [5] Kleptocracy, government by thieves, features influential government employees exploiting their posts for personal gain (embezzlement, fraud, bribery, etc.), with the resultant government budget deficit repaid by the native working people who earn money, rather than make money. Because of foreign (corporate) manipulation, the kleptocratic government is unaccountable to its nation, the country's private sectorpublic sector corruption operates the banana republic, thus, the national legislature usually are for sale, and function mostly as ceremonial government. [5]

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Page 1: Banana Republic

Banana republic 1

Banana republic

The phrase banana republic was coined (ca. 1904) bythe American writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter,

1862–1910).

A banana republic is a politically unstable country thateconomically depends upon the exports of a limited resource(fruits, minerals), and usually features a society composed ofstratified social classes, such as a great, impoverished workingclass and a ruling plutocracy, composed of the élites of business,politics, and the military.[1] In political science, the term bananarepublic denotes a country dependent upon limited primary-sectorproductions, which is ruled by a plutocracy who exploit thenational economy by means of a politico-economic oligarchy.[2] InAmerican literature, the term banana republic originally denotedthe fictional Republic of Anchuria, a servile dictatorship thatabetted, or supported for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scaleplantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.[2] In U.S.politics, the term banana republic is a pejorative politicaldescriptor coined by the American writer O. Henry in Cabbagesand Kings (1904), a book of thematically related short storiesderived from his 1896–97 residence in Honduras, where he washiding from U.S. law for bank embezzlement.[3][4]

In practice, a banana republic is a country operated as a commercial enterprise for private profit, effected by thecollusion between the State and favoured monopolies, whereby the profits derived from private exploitation ofpublic lands is private property, and the debts incurred are public responsibility. Such an imbalanced economyreduces the national currency to devalued paper-money, hence, the country is ineligible for internationaldevelopment-credit, and remains limited by the uneven economic development of town and country.[5] Kleptocracy,government by thieves, features influential government employees exploiting their posts for personal gain(embezzlement, fraud, bribery, etc.), with the resultant government budget deficit repaid by the native workingpeople who earn money, rather than make money. Because of foreign (corporate) manipulation, the kleptocraticgovernment is unaccountable to its nation, the country's private sector–public sector corruption operates the bananarepublic, thus, the national legislature usually are for sale, and function mostly as ceremonial government.[5]

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The concept

The Banana planter: Minor C. Keith, Americanbusinessman.

The banana republic, a country with a single-purpose economy,originated with the introduction of the banana fruit to Europe in 1870,by Captain Lorenzo D. Baker, of the ship The Telegraph, who initiallybought bananas in Jamaica and sold them in Boston at a 1,000 percentprofit.[6] Dietarily, the banana proved a popular food with Americans,because it was a nutritious tropical fruit cheaper in price than local U.S.fruit, such as the apple; in 1913, a dozen bananas sold for twenty-fivecents, while the same quarter-dollar-money bought only two apples.[7]

Yet the banana business was incidentally established, by the Americanrailroad tycoons Henry Meiggs and his nephew, Minor C. Keith, who,in 1873, established banana plantations — initially along the railroadsproper — to produce food-stuffs with which to feed the men workingon the railroad. Upon grasping the potential profitability of exporting toand selling bananas in the U.S., Meiggs and Keith then exported thefruit to the Southeastern United States.[8]

In the mid-1870s, to manage the new industrial-agriculture businessenterprise in the countries of Central America, Keith founded theTropical Trading and Transport Company; one-half of the future United Fruit Company (Chiquita BrandsInternational), created in 1899, by corporate merger with the Boston Fruit Company, owned by Andrew Preston. Bythe 1930s, the international influence (political and economic) of the United Fruit Company granted it control of80–90 per cent of the U.S. banana trade.[9] Nonetheless, despite the UFC monopoly, in 1924, the Vaccaro Brothersestablished the Standard Fruit Company (Dole Food Company) to export Honduran bananas to the port of NewOrleans, in the Gulf of Mexico coast of the U.S. The fruit exporters profited from such low U.S. prices because thebanana companies, by their manipulation of the national land use laws of the producing countries, were able tocheaply buy large tracts of prime agricultural land for banana plantations in the countries of the Caribbean Basin, theCentral American isthmus, and the tropical South American countries; and employ the native peoples as cheap-wage,manual labourers, after having rendered them landless, by means of legalistic dispossession.[8]

Moreover, by the late 19th century, three American multinational corporations — the United Fruit Company, theStandard Fruit Company, and the Cuyamel Fruit Company — dominated the cultivation, harvesting, and exportationof bananas, and controlled the road, rail, and port infrastructure of Honduras. In the north coast, on the CaribbeanSea, the Honduran government ceded to the banana companies 500 hectares (1,235.52 acres) for each kilometre ofrailroad laid; yet there was no passenger or freight railroad to Tegucigalpa, the national capital city. To Honduranpeople, the United Fruit Company was El Pulpo, The Octopus, that economically pervaded their society, controlledtheir country's transport infrastructure, and sometimes violently manipulated the national politics of the Republic ofHonduras.[10]

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Exemplar republics

Honduras

Honduras, the quintessential banana republic.

The Soldier of fortune: General LeeChristmas, universal mercenary.

In the early 20th century, instrumental toestablishing the "banana republic"stereotype was the American businessmanSam Zemurray, founder of the CuyamelFruit Company, who had entered thebanana-export business by buying over-ripebananas from the United Fruit Company, tosell in New Orleans. In 1910, he bought6,070 hectares (15,000 acres) of theCaribbean coast of Honduras for agriculturalexploitation, by the Cuyamel FruitCompany. In 1911, Zemurray concorded abusiness and political alliance with ManuelBonilla, an ex-President of Honduras(1904–07); and with General Lee Christmas,an American mercenary soldier, tounilaterally change the republicangovernment of Honduras.

As planned, the mercenary army of theCuyamel Fruit Company, commanded byGen. Christmas, executed and realized acoup d'état against President Miguel R.Dávila (1907–11), and, in his stead,installed General Manuel Bonilla asPresident of Honduras (1912–13). The U.S.Government ignored the private-armydeposition of the elected government ofHonduras, because the State Departmentdistrusted President Dávila for beingpolitically too-liberal, and for being a poorbusinessman, whose management decisionshad got the Republic of Hondurastoo-indebted to Great Britain — an unacceptable geopolitical risk for the U.S. in the Western Hemisphere.Moreover, domestically, the Dávila Government had slighted the Cuyamel Fruit Company, when it colluded with therival United Fruit Company, and had awarded the UFC a banana-trade monopoly, in exchange for the fruit companybrokering U.S. Government loans for the Honduran government.[11][12]

The resultant political instability, halted economy, and great external debt (ca. $4 billion), excluded the Republic of Honduras from international capital investment; such financial deficit continued the economic stagnation; and so perpetuated the banana republic image of Honduras.[13] With the native government hobbled with a historical, inherited foreign debt, such fiscal weakness undermined the Honduran Government's functions, and so allowed foreign multinational corporations to manage the country and the people of Honduras more effectively and efficiently — especially because the fruit companies had built, and thus controlled, the Honduran infrastructure

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(road, rail, port); had established long-distance communications (telegraph, telephone); and so were the principalemployers in the economy of Honduras. In the event, the U.S. dollar became the legal-tender currency of Honduras;the mercenary Gen. Lee Christmas became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Honduras, and later was appointedU.S. Consul to the Republic of Honduras.[14] Nonetheless, twenty-three years later, by means of a hostile takeover,Sam Zemurray assumed control of the rival United Fruit Company, in 1933.[15]

Guatemala

Guatemala suffered the regionalsocio-economic legacy of the bananarepublic: inequitably distributed agriculturalland and natural wealth, uneven economicdevelopment, and an economy dependentupon a few export crops — usually bananas,coffee, sugar cane. The inequitable landdistribution is the principal cause of nationalpoverty and the low quality of Guatemalanlife, and the concomitant socio-politicaldiscontent and insurrection. Almost 90 percent of the country's farms are too small to yield adequate subsistence harvests to the farmers, whilst two per cent ofthe country's farms occupy 65 per cent of the arable land, property of the local oligarchy.

In the middle of the 20th century, during the 1950s, the United Fruit Company convinced the governments of U.S.presidents Harry Truman (1945–53) and Dwight Eisenhower (1953–61) that the popular, elected government ofPresident Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán of Guatemala was secretly pro–Soviet, for having expropriated unused "fruitcompany lands" to landless peasants. In the Cold War (1945–91) context, of the pro-active anti-Communism of theSenator McCarthy era of U.S. national politics (1947–57), such a geopolitical consideration, about the "security" ofthe Western Hemisphere, facilitated President Eisenhower's ordering and authorising Operation PBSUCCESS, theGuatemalan coup d'état (1954), by means of which the Central Intelligence Agency deposed the elected Government(1950–54) of President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, and installed the pro-business government of Colonel CarlosCastillo Armas (1954–57), which perdured for three years, until his assassination by a presidential guard.[2]

A mixed history of elected presidents and puppet-master military juntas were the governments of Guatemala in thecourse of the thirty-six-year Guatemalan Civil War (1960–96). Moreover, in 1986, at the twenty-six-year mark, theGuatemalan people promulgated a new political constitution, and elected Vinicio Cerezo (1986–91) president; thenJorge Serrano Elías (1991–93).[16]

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The banana republic in art

The banana republic dictator: Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas,President of Guatemala (1954–57).

With the poem "La United Fruit Co.", PabloNeruda denounced the corporate subjugation of

Latin America.

In the encyclopædic, historical poetry in the book CantoGeneral (General Song, 1950), the Chilean poet PabloNeruda (1904–73) denounced foreign multinationalcorporate political dominance of Latin American countrieswith the four-stanza poem "La United Fruit Co."; thesecond-stanza excerpts read:[17]

. . . The Fruit Company, Inc.Reserved for itself the most succulent,

The central coast of my own land,The delicate waist of America.

It rechristened its territoriesAs the "Banana Republics",And over the sleeping dead,

Over the restless heroesWho brought about the greatness,

The liberty and the flags,It established a comic opera. . . .

References[1] Richard Alan White (1984). The Morass. United States Intervention in

Central America (http:/ / books. google. it/books?id=X88WAAAAYAAJ& hl=en). New York: Harper & Row.pp. 319. . P. 95 (http:/ / www. google. it/ search?num=100& hl=en&safe=off& tbm=bks& q="Richard+ Alan+ White"+ "The+ morass"+"United+ States+ intervention+ in+ Central+ America"+ "banana+republic"). ISBN 0-060-91145-X; ISBN 978-0-06091-145-4.

[2] "Big-business Greed Killing the Banana (p. A19)" (http:/ / www.highbeam. com/ doc/ 1G1-179318358. html). The Independent, via TheNew Zealand Herald. Saturday 24 May 2008. . Retrieved Sunday 24June 2012.

[3] Occurrences (http:/ / www. google. it/ search?num=100& hl=en&safe=off& tbm=bks& q=O. + Henry+ was+ first+ to+ use+ the+ term+"banana+ republic"+ "Cabbages+ and+ Kings"+ (1904)) on GoogleBooks.

[4] O. Henry (1904). Cabbages and Kings (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=6jpMsL2T0CoC& hl=en). New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. forReview of Reviews Co. pp. 312. . "While he was in Honduras, Porter coined the term 'banana republic'" (http:/ / books. google. it/books?id=CsSr5CxBrGQC& hl=en& pg=PT198& dq="While+ he+ was+ in+ Honduras,+ Porter+ coined+ the+ term"+ "banana+republic"#v=onepage& q="While he was in Honduras, Porter coined the term" "banana republic"& f=false).

[5] Christopher Hitchens (9 October 2008). "America the Banana Republic" (http:/ / www. vanityfair. com/ politics/ features/ 2008/ 10/hitchens200810). Vanity Fair. . Retrieved Sunday 24 June 2012.

[6] Alison Acker (1988). Honduras. The Making of a Banana Republic (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=lwhrAAAAMAAJ& hl=en). Toronto:Between the Lines. pp. 166, p. 60. . ISBN 0-919-94689-5; ISBN 978-0-91994-689-7.

[7] Dan Koeppel (2008). Banana. The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=cSoVd-o8PmoC& hl=en).London: Hudson Street Press. pp. 281, p. 68. . ISBN 1-594-63038-0; ISBN 978-1-59463-038-5.

[8] Ibid., p. 60.[9] Alison Acker, op. cit., p. 63.[10] Peter Chapman (2007). Bananas. How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=a-azAAAAIAAJ&

hl=en). New York: Cannongate. pp. 224, p. 102. . ISBN 1-841-95881-6; ISBN 978-1-84195-881-1.[11] Alison Acker, op. cit., p. 63.

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[12] Darío A. Euraque (1996). Reinterpreting the Banana Republic: Region and State in Honduras, 1870–1972 (http:/ / books. google. it/books?id=0B0akM7RKGoC& hl=en). Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 242, p. 44. . ISBN0-807-84604-X; ISBN 978-0-80784-604-9.

[13] W.S. Valentine (November 1916). "Need for Capital in Latin America: Honduras". Annals of the American Academy of Political and SocialScience 68: 185–87. JSTOR 1013083.

[14] George Black (1988). The Good Neighbor. How the United States Wrote the History of Central America and the Caribbean (http:/ / books.google. it/ books?id=Uvl6AAAAMAAJ& hl=en). New York: Pantheon Books. pp. 200, p. 35. . ISBN 0-394-75965-6; ISBN978-0-39475-965-4.

[15] Peter Chapman, op. cit., p. 102.[16] Carol A. Smith (August 1978). "Beyond Dependency Theory: National and Regional Patterns of Underdevelopment in Guatemala".

American Ethnologist 5 (3): 574–617. doi:10.1525/ae.1978.5.3.02a00090. JSTOR 643758.[17] George Black, op. cit., p. 33.

External links• From Arbenz to Zelaya: Chiquita in Latin America (http:/ / www. democracynow. org/ 2009/ 7/ 21/

from_arbenz_to_zelaya_chiquita_in) - video report by Democracy Now!• Cabbages and Kings (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ ebooks/ 2777) — The O. Henry book of short stories wherein

he coined the banana republic term• The Banana Republic: The Myth of the United Fruit Company (http:/ / users. polisci. wisc. edu/ LA260/ bananas.

htm)

Page 7: Banana Republic

Article Sources and Contributors 7

Article Sources and ContributorsBanana republic  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=516768673  Contributors: 2D, Aaron Brenneman, Aaronhill, Acroterion, Ahoerstemeier, Ajchapman, Alansohn, Alap27,Alex contributing, Altenmann, Andkore, AndyinMN, Angela, Anniscott, Antonopalio, Arab Hafez, Arthena, Arthur Rubin, Ashton Coochter, Ask123, Athaenara, Athulr, Atrix20, Aviageek,AwamerT, Barek, Beepsie, Beland, Benandorsqueaks, Bennetto, Besnikmorina, Bfigura's puppy, BiT, Bnynms, Bogdangiusca, Bolivian Unicyclist, Bonadea, Bullukollur, Byron670,Cambalachero, CambridgeBayWeather, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Canterbury Tail, Chakos7777, Chiton magnificus, Closedmouth, Concert Interruptus, Cooooopppsss, Corvus cornix,Coughinink, Cpalm541, Crossmr, Cumulus Clouds, DJ Clayworth, Daibhid C, Damn00, Dan Granahan, Dancingwombatsrule, Danni007blank, David.Monniaux, Dcoetzee, DeSales,DeivsonPrescovia, Dekisugi, DeltaRhoPhi, Demiurge, Dentren, Deor, Directorstratton, Discospinster, Doctorfluffy, Dodge1884, Dogcow, Doge120, Dr. Blofeld, Dr.WalkItOff, DriveMySol,Drummerck13, Duja, Dy2007, Eb.hoop, Edcolins, Eduardo Sellan III, Eeekster, Ejanev, Elm-39, Enaidmawr, Enterspacecapsule, Eskandarany, Espoo, Ev, EvocativeIntrigue, Excirial, FDGBen,FatalError, Favonian, Fences and windows, Feydey, Fmph, Footwarrior, Fram, Frecklefoot, Friday, Funnyhat, Gatta, Gecek, Geeky Randy, Geonarva, GilbertoSilvaFan, Gilgamesh, Gimboid13,Gkmx, Gopalan evr, Grahno, Ground Zero, Haham hanuka, Hail Columbia, Hairy Dude, Harryboyles, Hebrides, Helenabella, Hemdilly, Hlk90362, Hotcrocodile, I elliot, IMSoP, Ian Pitchford,Idag, IlluminaLux, Imdabs, Ingolfson, InverseHypercube, Jaro.p, JasonAQuest, Jimfbleak, Jivecat, JoDonHo, Jon se, Joseph Solis in Australia, Jswfl09, Juslyqmusiq, Juzeris, KGasso, KO,Kaihsu, Keoki, Kerry7374, Kewpid, Khalid hassani, Khamtran, Kingpin13, Kiwi8, Kman543210, Kosebamse, Kotilla, Krinndnz, Kuru, L Kensington, Lalibela, Lawrencekhoo, Liftarn, Lihaas,Lionel Elie Mamane, Little Mountain 5, Lockley, M2545, MJ94, Maias, Manway, Manyoudude, Marek69, MarekTT, Markhurd, Marshalvinny, MassimoAr, Materialscientist, Mauro Lanari,Mccormack55, Me lkjhgfdsa, Mewulwe, Mhazard9, Mic, Michael Greiner, Michellesynhorst, Midtempo-abg, Missionary, Mixcoatl, MockTurtle, Mogism, Muani, Mxn, Mygerardromance,Natalie Erin, Negamary, NeilN, Nick Number, O.Koslowski, Omnipaedista, Oobopshark, Orborde, Oren neu dag, Palica, Parmarchj, Pascaweb, Pavel Vozenilek, Pediamoderator, Pedro Aguiar,Pepe9999, Peripitus, Pharos, Piano non troppo, Pinkies, Piper1935, Plumber, Pmaguire, Polocrunch, Postdlf, Psg116, R'n'B, RatatoskLemur, Ratemonth, Ravee1981, Rd232, Rdsmith4,Redthoreau, Reinoe, Reinyday, RockRockOn, Rollo44, Rosspz, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, RunOrDie, Ruyn, SJrX10, Sabbut, Saccerzd, Saguamundi, Salvadors, Sam Hocevar, Samanlau, SapientHomo, Scalpy, Scourgeofgod, Secleinteer, Seelefant, Segv11, Shardz, Sheehan, Sinisterscrawl, Smichae, Snigbrook, SpaceFlight89, Spkfank1, SqueakBox, Steinbach, Stratman,SunCountryGuy01, Susurrus, Testeditor, That Guy, From That Show!, Thumperward, Tide rolls, Tigga en, Tonyabroggati, Trumpi, Trusilver, TruthRevealed33, Typhoon, Ulric1313,Unused0029, Useless Fodder, Viajero, VictorAnyakin, Vuo, Vzbs34, Wannastuq, Webclient101, WhisperToMe, Wiki alf, Wolfkeeper, Woohookitty, X!, Xmnemonic, Xyzzyva, Yaara dildaara,YellowMonkey, Ynhockey, Yobol, Yvwv, Zdravko mk, Zenswashbuckler, Zoobab, Σ, 达 伟, 502 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:William Sydney Porter by doubleday.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:William_Sydney_Porter_by_doubleday.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: W.M.Vanderweyde, New YorkFile:Minor Keith.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Minor_Keith.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike  Contributors: Lex.mercurioFile:Honduras rel 1985.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Honduras_rel_1985.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: US CIA (archived by UT Library)File:CLeePic.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CLeePic.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Smoke65File:LocationGuatemala.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:LocationGuatemala.svg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported  Contributors:User:VardionFile:Castillo armas.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Castillo_armas.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Fernando ZaidFile:Pablo Neruda.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pablo_Neruda.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Revista argentina Siete días ilustrados

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