The Massacre of the Banana Plantations

This section provides an overview of the history of foreign companies intervening in agriculture on the Colombian Atlantic coast, especially in the regions of the Sinú Mompox and Santa Marta rivers. It also discusses how local elites took advantage of this renewal of economic activity stimulated by these companies.

The Rise of Banana Plantations

• A group of samarian businessmen established the first banana plantation from Colombia in Ciénaga.

• Large-scale production for international markets required huge amounts of capital beyond the capacity of any individual or company in Colombia at that time.

• The man who ran the United Fruit Company first appeared in Colombia in 1890.

Labor Issues

• The United Fruit Company needed workers to build railways and irrigation canals, clear land, plant bananas, and harvest crops.

• During the first three decades of the 20th century, thousands of people arrived to Santa Marta to work on banana plantations.

• Workers tended to move from plantation to plantation making it difficult for United Fruit Company to retain its workers particularly during labor shortages.

• The system developed by United Fruit Company was based on piecework rather than hourly or daily wages. Workers were supervised by foremen and listeros.

Exploitation and Demands

• Instead of directly hiring its workers, United Fruit Company used Colombian contractors which led to exploitation.

• After 1915 when government began enacting laws regulating working conditions garlic, United Fruit Company refused to extend benefits to workers on plantations.

• In October 1928 a meeting of the union of workers of the Magdalena in Ciénaga, drew up a list of demands made up of nine demands.

The Great Strike of 1928

This section describes the events leading up to the Great Strike of 1928 and the subsequent repression by the government.

Decision to Strike

• On November 11, 1928, the executive committee of the union trade union, negotiating committee, and representatives of 63 farms met to discuss their fear that United Fruit Company would end up with all the fruit and close its operations.

• At 11 pm that night, they made a fatal decision: workers in the banana zone would go on strike against United Fruit Company and national producers.

• The following day, a poster was printed explaining their decision. Delegates gave voice to people in camps in the area. By noon on November 12, all work had ceased.

Repression by Government

• During the first week of December, Alejandro Balbuena and General Cortes sent numerous telegrams to authorities describing an imminent danger of violence and destruction.

• General Cortés Vargas justified repression in his memoirs by saying that if public order was not restored immediately, US marines would be sent.

• Legislative decree number one of 1928 declared martial law at half-past eleven pm on December 5th.

• General Y Cortés Vargas ordered his soldiers to shoot. What workers did not believe would happen happened in hours that followed.

Death Toll

• Nine dead were found lying in the plaza. General Cortés Vargas informed his superiors that these nine plus four more who died from their injuries were the only strikers killed on December 5th.

• People in the area believe there were dozens, if not hundreds of dead. The general intentionally left nine corpses in the square so that workers would know that the nine points on his sheet had died.

• Many bodies were quickly loaded onto trains and thrown into the sea, and others were buried in mass graves on a neighboring banana farm.

This transcript is in English, so I have written my responses in English as well.