Banana Republics - Economic Imperialism and Neo-Colonialism

by Evander McElroy

US Marines holding flag of Augusto César Sandino, a Nicaraguan revolutionary who led the Nicaragua rebellion against the United States occupation

There was once a time in certain parts of the world, where the international fruit companies held more land, and power than the sovereign nations they hooked their talons into. In my last award-winning article, we spoke of the early origins of the Banana Wars. In that pre-1900 to early 20th century era, it was more about direct military interventions via punitive expeditions, but as the years passed on, governments realized it was easier to go about  this economically rather than militarily. This is what the next section will be discussing, as we dive into the legacy of economic and political exploitation of Central and South America by the United Fruit Company and other international firms.

In the last article we used the term Banana Wars, because a lot of the conflicts took place in places where the international companies set up shop to grow cash crops. They infused themselves in these governments, guiding their economies to be dependent almost fully on said crops. These are what are known as Banana Republics. I’m sure you’re asking yourselves, “Why bananas?” and the answer is quite simply (at least in this case) American demand. When bananas were able to be cheaply brought to the United States in the late 19th century, the people couldn’t get enough, and these fruit companies saw that aiming to find a way to produce the crop in a way that was cheaper and easier to import. 

 The way these fruit companies hooked into these sovereign nations was frighteningly simple. All it took was money. They bought HUGE swaths of land, mostly good farmland to start. Then they built infrastructure. At first glance, you’d think they were investing in the nation, but they were really investing in themselves. All the improvements built were solely to make the export of said cash crop easier and cheaper. The local workforce was also almost always easily controllable, as there were far less laws protecting workers in those days, and any attempt at union organization could be crushed with little to no bureaucratic red tape. 

 El Canada Estate, Jamaica

Another thing about money is it can be used to influence, and that’s just what these companies did. They used their vast war chests to gain influence or sometimes outright control of foreign governments, and when the politicians didn’t cooperate they’d be replaced in an instant, and sometimes this turned violent. A prime example, some say THE prime example of this was when the United Fruit Company, in conjunction with the CIA removed the democratically elected leader of Guatemala from power, because he intended to impose land reforms that would harm the company’s bottom line. This is just one of many examples of what we’d call economic imperialism, which falls under the umbrella of neo-colonialism. 

I think the most important part of all this is the fact that these things are still having effects in these countries today. While some companies don’t have as much direct control, and some aren’t even in business anymore, that doesn’t change the fact that there are still places where this is happening, and in the places where it’s not, there’s still long lasting political and economic impacts in those areas. 

To conclude, throughout this series we will see a lot of POLITICAL and MILITARY power plays. That is how most of this was done. Foreign occupation, and forced selection of a chosen politician by the oppressive power, not the native peoples. But we cannot forget that these multinational/international did something way worse, and unlike surprise foreign interventions and political interference, this is still happening today just as it was 100 years ago.