Note sull'episodio
On Christmas Eve 1910, Sam Zemurray sent an armed yacht carrying mercenaries and an exiled general toward Honduras to topple its government, all to secure banana concessions. This deep dive follows the controversial life of the man who went from fruit peddler to head of United Fruit.
We cover Minor C. Keith's railroad deal and the creation of United Fruit, the Hornet expedition, and Zemurray's 1933 proxy takeover of the company's board. We then examine banana diseases and monoculture, the founding of Zamorano, toxic Bordeaux mixture spraying, enclave company towns, the 1954 coup in Guatemala, the Honduran general strike, and today's TR4 threat.
- How Minor C. Keith turned railroad debt into land and a banana monopoly
- How Zemurray sidestepped the Neutrality Act to install Manuel Bonilla in Honduras
- The proxy votes Zemurray used to seize control of United Fruit during the Great Depression
- Why workers spraying Bordeaux mixture were called pericos and plantations called green prisons
- United Fruit's ties to the Dulles brothers, the 1954 Guatemala coup and the Honduran strike