Editing United Fruit Company (section)

==Banana massacre==
{{main|Banana massacre}}

A strike by United Fruit workers broke out on 12 November 1928 near [[Santa Marta]] on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. On December 6, [[Colombian Army]] troops allegedly under the command of [[General]] [[Cortés Vargas]] opened fire on a crowd of strikers in the central square of [[Ciénaga, Magdalena|Ciénaga]]. Estimates of the number of casualties vary from 47 to 3,000.{{clarify|date=September 2013}} The military justified this action stating that the strike was subversive, and its organizers were Communist revolutionaries. Congressman [[Jorge Eliécer Gaitán]] claimed that the army had acted under instructions from the United Fruit Company. The ensuing scandal contributed to [[President of Colombia|President]] [[Miguel Abadía Méndez]]'s [[Colombian Conservative Party|Conservative Party]] being voted out of office in 1930, putting an end to 44 years of Conservative rule in Colombia. The first novel of [[Álvaro Cepeda Samudio]], ''La Casa Grande'', focuses on this event, and the author himself grew up in close proximity to the incident. The climax of [[García Márquez]]'s novel ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'' is based on the events in Ciénaga.

General Cortés Vargas issued the order to shoot, arguing later that he had done so because of information that US boats were poised to land troops on Colombian coasts to defend American personnel and the interests of the United Fruit Company. Vargas issued the order so the United States would not invade Colombia.

The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 5, 1928, stated:

{{blockquote|I have been following Santa Marta fruit strike through United Fruit Company representative here; also through Minister of Foreign Affairs who on Saturday told me government would send additional troops and would arrest all strike leaders and transport them to prison at [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]]; that government would give adequate protection to American interests involved.<ref>{{cite web
|author=US Bogotá Embassy
|url=http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery5dec1928.jpg
|date=5 December 1928
|title=Telegram from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated December 5, 1928
|location=Colombia
|website=icdc.com|access-date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609174152/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery5dec1928.jpg|archive-date=9 June 2012}}</ref>}}

The telegram from Bogotá Embassy to Secretary of State, date December 7, 1928, stated:

{{blockquote|Situation outside Santa Marta City unquestionably very serious: outside zone is in revolt; military who have orders 'not to spare ammunition' have already killed and wounded about fifty strikers. Government now talks of general offensive against strikers as soon as all troopships now on the way arrive early next week.<ref>{{cite web|author=US Bogotá Embassy|url=http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery7dec1928.jpg|date=7 December 1928|title=Telegram from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated December 7, 1928|location=Colombia|website=icdc.com|access-date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606191800/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery7dec1928.jpg|archive-date=6 June 2012}}</ref>}}

The dispatch from U.S. Bogotá Embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated December 29, 1928, stated:

{{blockquote|I have the honor to report that the legal advisor of the United Fruit Company here in Bogotá stated yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military authorities during the recent disturbance reached between five and six hundred; while the number of soldiers killed was one.<ref>{{cite web|author=US Bogotá Embassy|url=http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery29dec1928.htm|date=29 December 1928|title=Dispatch from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated December 29, 1928|location=Colombia|website=icdc.com|access-date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020726204104/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery29dec1928.htm|archive-date=26 July 2002}}</ref>}}

The dispatch from the U.S. embassy to the U.S. Secretary of State, dated January 16, 1929, stated:

{{blockquote|I have the honor to report that the Bogotá representative of the United Fruit Company told me yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand.<ref>{{cite web|author=US Bogotá Embassy|url=http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery16jan1929.jpg|date=16 January 1929|title=Dispatch from US Bogotá Embassy to the US Secretary of State, dated January 16, 1929|location=Colombia|website=icdc.com|access-date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606191231/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/colombia/caffery16jan1929.jpg|archive-date=6 June 2012}}</ref>}}

The Banana massacre is said to be one of the main events that preceded the [[Bogotazo]], the subsequent era of violence known as [[La Violencia]], and the guerrillas who developed in the bipartisan [[National Front (Colombia)|National Front]] period, creating the ongoing [[Colombian conflict|armed conflict in Colombia]].{{citation needed|date=May 2008}}