Hacker Cinema
Why the Kremlin Hates Bananas
1953 · Film · documentary · 11 min
Directed by John Sutherland
A propaganda short commissioned by the United Fruit Company on the benefits they bring to Central America, such as creating jobs and delivering educational opportunities, which is something the Soviet Union could never understand.
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The United Fruit Company was a particularly egregious example, too. They had the CIA kick off a 45 year long civil war in Guatemala, deposing a democratically elected government by way of a violet coup and replacing them with a pro-American right-wing dictatorship.
The CIA called it "Operation PBSuccess." [1] And they didn't call it that because it failed! The CIA produced some spectacular propaganda footage including this gem called "Why the Kremlin Hates Bananas" [2]
United Fruit also massacred a bunch of striking workers in 1928 in Colombia. Well, they paid the Colombian Army to do the leg work. This episode was named the Banana Massacre. [3]
I do believe their CEO Eli Black gave notice by means of walking out of the 44th floor window of his office in the Pan Am building in New York. [4] His replacement was quoted as saying "it's important that I don't get too knowledgable about the past." Seems like a smart dude.
So that's Chiquita Bananas for ya. Just wait till you learn what Dole got up to in South America.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27état
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZtAKHnqkf4
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_M._Black