Reading this week’s material was very interesting and I think chapter 9 may be my favourite chapter so far! I found it was the chapter that had the most obvious relevance to today’s world and referenced issues I was more familiar with. For a while now I have been particularly interested in the United States’ foreign intervention in Latin America and the kind of impact it has had on various different countries, and in this chapter Dawson brings up many intriguing ideas.
Dawson explores the banana industry and explains how the United Fruit Company (UFCO) earned massive economic power as it became the largest banana company in the world. In this segment of the chapter, what stood out to me was the amount of power both politically and economically UFCO was able to gain as they acquired a complete monopoly over the banana business in Guatemala. In the situation with UFCO, I see a reoccurring narrative in which foreign investors and businesses, primarily from the U.S, abuse severe inequalities in Latin America to obtain this aforementioned power and wealth.
More than a hundred years after UFCO’s inception, many Corporate giants are still using Central and South America as nothing more than an easy business venture — filled with raw resources, cheap labour, and a working population they can treat as inferior. One must look no further than the multi-billion dollar industry that is mining in Latin America, many companies of which are Canadian. Simultaneously making absurds amount of money and devastating the lives of many residents in countless countries by contaminating drinking water and causing social and environmental tragedy, the mining industry is, like the Banana industry and UFCO, an entity that has gained massive power.
Beyond the trauma and Oppression created by these sorts of companies in relation to worker conditions and inequalities, I think the biggest issue is that once these businesses become economically and politically well established in a country, it can become almost impossible to progress without them and countries become reliant on foreign companies to advance economically. Huge economic redevelopment to change this reliance would be costly and take time and it is for this reason that i am skeptical on when and if changes will happen.
Hopefully, in the near future, we will see an improvement, but in the meantime, I find myself wondering what Latin America would’ve looked like if American companies such as UFCO never infiltrated the region at all. Perhaps we would be looking at a much healthier Latin America?
Hey Jorge, I really liked that you mentioned Canadian corporations and businesses in Latin America; I’ve noticed a lot of Canadians deny Canada’s role in the marginalization of other countries and it was nice to see you reject any posturing of the sort. You mentioned that a lot of Latin American countries continue to rely on foreign corporations to provide income for their economy even though they take advantage of Latin Americans, I was wondering what you thought would fix this? What change do you hope to see even if you’re skeptical of it. I think it’s a good idea to think about what the future of Latin American would’ve been without American intervention, but I find it hard to think it would be different. As Dawson mentioned, urban elites were controlling the rural poor just as the corporate elite control the rural poor, do you think that would’ve stayed the same or would something have changed? I’m curious to know your opinion. Regardless I liked your blog it provided a lot of insight!
Angela
I also found this week’s topic one of the more applicable/ understandable ones. I study agriculture at UBC, and I am specializing in sustainable agriculture in Latin America. Therefore, the Banana Republic was something I felt equipped to understand. Even without a background in international agriculture, I’ve found segments that involve international trade to be some of the most digestable. Possibly because our education systems focused a lot on the positives of trade, so we’ve been familiar with it for a long time? Either way, I enjoyed reading something that felt especially relevant to my field of study, and relevant to the current global climate in general.