The Banana Wars: How The U.S. Plundered Central America On Behalf Of Corporations

During the Banana Wars of the early 20th century, the U.S. military toppled regimes and massacred thousands to keep U.S. business booming.

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A Guatemalan insurgent surveys the landscape during a revolution backed by the U.S. government. The U.S. only got involved after the United Fruit Company lobbied Congress to protect their interests — and spent half a million dollars convincing America to go to war.

1954.George Silk//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

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Workers in Honduras — the country that writer O. Henry famously called the "Banana Republic" — harvest their product.

Bay Islands. 1952.Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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American soldiers show off a gun captured from Cacao rebels.

Cape Haitien, Haiti. 1915.Bettmann/Getty Images

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The bodies of the dead litter the fields of Guatemala.

In Guatemala, pro-democracy students led a revolution against a dictator with fascist leanings. Initially, this was a Guatemalan war — until the United Fruit Company lobbied the American government to intervene against the insurgents.

Santa Maria Cauque, Guatemala. 1954. Bettmann/Getty Images

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U.S. Marines proudly hold up the captured flag of Nicaraguan revolutionary leader Augusto César Sandino.

Nicaragua. 1932.Wikimedia Commons

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A U.S. Marine poses with the dead bodies of Haitian revolutionaries.

Haiti. 1915. Wikimedia Commons

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The body of Haitian revolutionary leader Charlemagne Péralte, killed by U.S. Marines.

Charlemagne was nailed to a door and photographed by the soldiers as a form of psychological warfare. This photo was taken by an American soldier.

Hinche, Haiti. 1919.Wikimedia Commons

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U.S. Marines patrol through the Haitian woods in search of guerrilla fighters.

1919.Wikimedia Commons

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A banana plantation in Honduras.

1894.Wikimedia Commons

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An Army vehicle is fitted with a machine gun in preparation for the Nicaraguan presidential elections.

The troops are expecting the people to riot when they hear the results, and they're getting ready to deal with it — with a weapon that can fire 450 rounds per minute.

1932.Wikimedia Commons

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American soldiers defend a gate against Haitian revolutionaries.

1915.Wikimedia Commons

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Political prisoners are put to work in Nicaragua.

1928.Wikimedia Commons

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Political prisoners are put to work making chairs.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 1921.New York Public Library

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The reason we fight. Poorly paid foreign workers and a batch of bananas.

Suriname. Circa 1920-1930.Wikimedia Commons

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The American flag is displayed over Fort Ozama after it has been captured from rebel soldiers.

Domincan Republic. 1922.Wikimedia Commons

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"Time of peace, prepare for war," reads a display in a military training camp.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 1922.Wikimedia Commons

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The USS Memphis lies in ruin after being wrecked by tidal waves. In the chaos of the storm, 40 American soldiers died.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 1916.Wikimedia Commons

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The survivors of the wreck of the USS Memphis are hauled out by their comrades.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 1916.Wikimedia Commons

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Dead American soldiers are put to rest at sea, fallen after fighting to control trade routes in Mexico.

Veracruz, Mexico. 1914.Wikimedia Commons

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The bodies of eight dead U.S. soldiers are carried to their final resting place.

Managua, Nicaragua. 1931.Wikimedia Commons

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A funeral service is held for U.S. soldiers who died fighting in the Banana Wars.

Managua, Nicaragua. 1931.Wikimedia Commons

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United Fruit Company workers go on strike.

Honduras. 1954.Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Rotted bananas that went to waste during a United Fruit Company workers' strike.

Honduras. 1954. Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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U.S. soldiers sit in tractors, moving out food supplies.

Nicaragua. 1928.Wikimedia Commons

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Marine patrol boats keep watch over the people.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 1919.Wikimedia Commons

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The destroyed walls of a high school in Veracruz, Mexico after being blasted to pieces because it was next to an American military base.

1914.Wikimedia Commons

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American soldiers deployed in the Banana Wars practice firing machine guns.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 1919.Wikimedia Commons

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U.S. soldiers move in on a group of rebels.

Dominican Republic. Circa 1916-1920.Wikimedia Commons

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Marines travel on horseback to get over the muddy roads.

Chinandega, Nicaragua. 1928.Wikimedia Commons

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With the revolution quashed, American marines patrol Haiti to keep the people in line.

1921.New York Public Library

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Marines land in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

1922.Wikimedia Commons

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American ships move into Veracruz, Mexico.

1914.Wikimedia Commons

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American soldiers raise the U.S. Flag over Veracruz, Mexico.

1914.Wikimedia Commons

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The Banana Wars: How The U.S. Plundered Central America On Behalf Of Corporations

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“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service,” an American veteran named Smedley Butler once wrote, “and during that period, I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.”

Butler had fought in the so-called Banana Wars of the early 20th century, when the American military sent their troops south into Central America to keep their business interests there intact.

It was a time when mistreated workers across Central America were getting fed up with working long hours in harsh conditions for less than a living wage. Workers started grumbling. Some went on strike. Some threw together militias and waged full-on rebellions to fight for better conditions.

But for the American government, all this fighting for freedom was bad for business. Companies like the United Fruit Company had a vested interest in keeping their Central American plantations stable and so they called in the American Army to crack down on those who were disrupting the system.

Butler and other soldiers like him were thus sent to Central America to fight the Banana Wars. When a rebellion in the Dominican Republic, for example, damaged an American-owned sugar cane plantation, American troops were sent in, starting in 1916. They took over a small castle called Fort Ozama, killed the men inside and set up a military presence to protect their business interests.

Troops also moved into Haiti to quell the Cacao Rebellion in 1915, partly to protect the interests of the Haitian-American Sugar Company. The U.S. Army stayed behind even after the war was over, patrolling the streets of Haiti and making sure that no one got out of line.

And in Honduras, where the United Fruit Company and the Standard Fruit Company were worried about their banana sales, the American Army marched in on seven separate occasions throughout the early 20th century. Sometimes the army was called in to crush strikes, other times to stop revolutions — but every time, it was to keep business booming.

Hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of locals died in the Banana Wars. Strikes and revolutions were crushed and put to an end – all while the profits of a handful of companies were maintained.

“I might have given Al Capone a few hints,” Butler said. “The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”

Next, find out about how Belgium's King Leopold II made money through genocide and plunder in the Congo Free State. Then, take a look at the battles for labor rights and unions in America.