United Fruit

BEFORE 1970, Chiquita Brands International was known as the United Fruit Company, one of the most storied and controversial business in the history of the Americas. The United Fruit Company was established at the beginning of the 20th century, founded through the merger of four banana importing companies.

United Fruit played a key role in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-sponsored removal from power of Guatemala's democratically elected government in 1954. It also assisted in the attempt to overthrow Cuba's communist Fidel Castro regime in 1961. The company became important in trading, especially tropical bananas and pineapples, from the third world plantations to the United States and Europe.

The company, its predecessors and successors included, is an archetypal case of multinational influence extending deeply into the internal politics ...