Honduras Fights Back: A History of Resisting U.S. Encroachment

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In the city of La Lima in Honduras, there is a reception facility for repatriated immigrants. Almost every day, this place receives over a hundred deported Hondurans from the United States.

Escalating illegal immigration has become one of the focal topics in this year’s U.S. presidential election. American politicians have accused Honduras and other Central American countries of being “exporters of illegal immigrants.”

The 1954 Banana Workers’ Strike in El Progreso, Honduras. Photograph by Rafael Platero Paz. However, as long as the extreme poverty issues in these countries are not resolved, the illegal immigration problem in the United States will be difficult to eradicate.

Looking back at history, the United States bears an undeniable responsibility for the long-standing poverty in countries like Honduras. Honduras was once referred to as the “banana republic,” which served as an “oasis” for unchecked American capital and a “cage” where local impoverished workers were trapped.

A PANDORA’S BOX OF BANANAS

In 1870, an American captain named Lorenzo Baker brought a shipload of bananas from Jamaica and sold them in New Jersey. Since then, bananas have been one of the best-selling fruits in the United States. A large number of trading companies were set up, transporting bananas from Central America and the Caribbean to the United States.

In the early 20th century, U.S. corporations like Cuyamel Fruit Company obtained concessionary rights to vast lands in Honduras.

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, with multiple armed interventions and instigated coups, American capital gradually gained control over the major economic sectors in Honduras. U.S. companies like Cuyamel Fruit Company occupied vast lands in the northern part of Honduras, constructing large-scale banana plantations. They also controlled vital economic sectors such as transportation, electricity and manufacturing.

By 1913, over 90 percent of Honduras’ foreign trade was monopolized by the United States. Under the monopoly control of American multinational corporations, Honduras developed a highly concentrated economic structure centered around banana production, and became heavily reliant on imports for essential goods like food, resulting in a vulnerable economy.

“We must make a rupture in the fledgling economy of this country to increase its difficulties and facilitate our objectives. We must prolong its tragic, turbulent, and revolutionary life,” H. V. Rolston, then vice president of Cuyamel Fruit Company, wrote in a letter in July 1920.

Estevan Elvir, now 91 years old, once worked on banana plantations in the Sula Valley in north Honduras. He recalled that American companies had complete control. Workers would receive their wages from Americans and spend it all in the company-operated stores.

Elvir said that working conditions there were extremely poor, with workers frequently subjected to beatings, and some even killed. “No one could renege or denounce because the manager had more power than the president of the Republic himself,” he said.

In fact, the United Fruit Company once controlled the economic lifelines of several Central American countries. Through the operation of railway companies, the fruit company acquired vast lands along the rail lines and freely utilized local resources such as timber.

Eugenio Sosa, director of the National Institute of Statistics of Honduras, told Xinhua that “one of the promises of these companies is that they would build a national railway spanning the country, but they failed to fulfill it and only built a few branches. The railroad went no further and never managed to cross the entire country.”

“The other characteristic is the influence that U.S. companies began to have in politics. They practically installed and removed presidents because several strong companies exercised control. If a company did not do well with the government, an armed group would be formed, sponsored by another government, and there would be electoral fraud, and the government would be overthrown, which, in this way, caused a lot of political instability,” Sosa said

TRANSFORMATIVE STRIKE

In the early 1930s, the United States sought to expand its overseas markets. Previous “dollar diplomacy” and “big stick” policies had created strong anti-American sentiments in Latin America. To address this, the United States introduced the “Good Neighbor Policy,” which, despite its claims of promoting “equality” and “non-interference,” continued to exert control over the region.

Amid U.S. exploitation, plundering and interference, the people of Honduras never ceased to resist. Throughout the early 20th century, Honduran workers repeatedly went on strikes to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

Elvir recalled how striking workers were treated: “At best, they faced jail time; at worst, they disappeared. After four or five days, we’d find their bodies in the Ulua or Chamelecon rivers, weighed down with rocks or rails to keep them submerged.”

In April 1954, dockworkers in Tela threatened to strike over wage issues. By May, workers from the mining, railway, textile and tobacco industries, along with banana plantation workers, farmers and small landowners in northern Honduras, joined the strike.

The massive strike lasted over 60 days, ultimately ending in victory as most of the workers’ demands were met.

“The 1954 strike was our second independence after our declaration of independence in 1821,” said Andres Alvarez, an 87-year-old retired Honduran train driver. “Before that, calling Honduras an independent and sovereign country was a lie,” he said. “After the strike, our working conditions and benefits got a whole lot better.”

Starting in 1975, the Honduran government canceled all concessions and contracts with American banana companies, and nationalized some of the lands the United States controlled. Honduras also took over American-controlled docks and railways, gaining control of banana production, transportation and sales. These steps marked the beginning of Honduras reclaiming its sovereignty and building its national economy.

“Our people’s anti-imperialist struggle is historic and has been united with labor movements as well,” former President Manuel Zelaya, also a presidential advisor, told Xinhua. “The struggle is where what we have today in Honduras comes from.”

“BLATANT INJUSTICE”

However, for the people of Honduras, the injustices have not come to an end.

“Americans enjoy privileges in our country, while we are treated like dogs in the United States. It is a blatant injustice,” Juan Manuel Guerra said, his voice trembling as tears welled up in his eyes. Before being recently deported by U.S. authorities, the 57-year-old Honduran had lived in the United States for five years.

During their stay in immigration detention centers in the United States, the majority of immigrants experience inhumane treatment. “I felt like I was being kidnapped. I stayed there for 17 days, and my family had no idea about my situation. They (the U.S. authorities) didn’t allow me to make phone calls, and I was completely cut off from the outside world. I slept on the floor every day until I was released,” said 25-year-old Bernard from Honduras, who would not give his last name.

“Poverty, illness, weakness, exploitation … These are what the U.S. companies have left behind. On the contrary, they have taken wealth from here. Honduras is the fifth-richest country in Latin America in terms of resources, but it is now the second-poorest country in Latin America,” said Elvir.

On June 28, 2009, a military coup took place in Honduras, forcing then-President Zelaya to step down. For nearly half a year afterward, the political situation in Honduras remained turbulent. Reports suggested that the United States was involved in the coup, after which the Honduran people who had resisted faced repression and displacement. Violence and poverty compelled some to seek refuge in the United States.

Zelaya said that many of the 20th-century political coups in Latin America and the Caribbean were related to the interests of American multinational corporations.

“I once asked a U.S. senior official if the United States had a manual for instigating coups. He told me there wasn’t just one manual, but four manuals for instigating coups, and one is currently being prepared,” Zelaya said

UNITY AND AWAKENING

At the end of 2021, Xiomara Castro, wife of Zelaya, was elected as the first female president in the history of Honduras. After taking office, Castro began to change the oligarchic political situation supported by external forces.

Despite persistent pressure from the United States, the government of Honduras showed resilience and formally forged diplomatic ties with China in March 2023. During her visit to China three months later, Castro said Honduras firmly supports and abides by the one-China principle, and firmly believes that friendly cooperation with China will bring Honduras more and better development opportunities.

“Cooperating with China not only contributes to the economic development of Honduras, but also reflects its independence and autonomy in the new international order,” said Allan Fajardo, an academic from the National Autonomous University of Honduras.

Castro has pledged to strengthen regional integration and democracy, and advocate for the construction of a more just, equitable and prosperous region. Honduras has actively spoken out against external interference in the Haitian crisis and mediated the diplomatic dispute between Ecuador and Mexico.

Zelaya believed Castro’s election as the first female president of Honduras and the decision to establish diplomatic relations with China “means the creation of a new era.”

“Our country is actively participating in the development of the Global South,” said Zelaya.

Sandra Deras, CEO of Nana Banana Honduras, highlighted the transition from American-owned banana fields to a majority of Honduran-operated businesses in over 50,000 hectares of banana plantations in Honduras. “We are the owners of this land, the owners of banana planting resources, and we always prioritize the interests of the Honduran people,” Deras said.

Currently, most of the bananas produced by the company target domestic market demands. Deras emphasized that planting one hectare of bananas can provide employment opportunities for two families, and that as a developing country, Honduras needs to create more job opportunities to prevent immigration to the United States.

Today, Honduras is pursuing new development opportunities and international status by collaborating with the Global South, which marks a step forward from the so-called “banana republic” towards a more independent and diversified nation, said Fajardo.

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