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Organization

United Fruit Company

U.S. fruit company with large land holdings in Guatemala; later part of United Brands, whose Chiquita brand carries the name on.

9 links, 9 backed by primary records. 4 more in open data

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Also known as
United Fruit, UFCO
Wikidata
Q1771942
Legal records

U.S. antitrust action against United Fruit

  1. 1958 Settled with U.S. Department of Justice: consent decree divesting its holdings in railroads and marketing operations 1

Connections 9

people who worked here

  • Thomas G. Corcoran lobbyist and the company’s main conduit to the sources of power Primary record 1

board members

settled with

involved in

  • Guatemala’s agrarian reform, 1952 its land was taken, by differing counts: 234,000 acres in February 1953 and 173,000 in February 1954 (CIA timeline); 209,842 acres at Tiquisate in March 1953 (Schlesinger and Kinzer) Primary record 12
  • Guatemala’s agrarian reform, 1952 the dispute over value: Guatemala offered $627,572 in bonds at the company’s declared tax value; the company, and the State Department for it, demanded $15,854,849 for the Tiquisate land (Schlesinger and Kinzer); the CIA history says land appraised at just over $1 million that the company valued near $20 million Primary record 123
  • Guatemala’s agrarian reform, 1952 expected to feel the impact more than any other entity in the country, given its land holdings Primary record 4
  • The 1954 coup in Guatemala according to the CIA history, company officials encouraged Castillo Armas with money and arms, and its public-relations adviser sent journalists to report on Communist activities Primary record 1
  • The U.S. antitrust action against United Fruit defendant in a U.S. antitrust action; in 1954 it refused a settlement Primary record 5
  • The U.S. antitrust action against United Fruit the CIA history says the administration proceeded with its suspended action once the company’s usefulness to PBSUCCESS was at an end; “The United Fruit Company did not profit from victory” Primary record 1
Timeline 2 dates
  1. 1955 Walter Bedell Smith board member of United Fruit Company
  2. 1958 United Fruit Company settled with U.S. Department of Justice
Proof 5 sources
  1. Operation PBSUCCESS: The United States and Guatemala, 1952–1954 (CIA History Staff, Nicholas Cullather; released 1997), Central Intelligence Agency, 1994. Primary record Archived copy
    in 1958 the company signed a consent decree divesting it of its holdings in railroads and marketing operations.
    Thomas G. Corcoran was the company's main conduit to the sources of power.
    Thomas Corcoran, United Fruit Company lobbyist, meets with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs, Thomas Mann, to suggest action to oust Guatemalan President Juan José Arévalo.
    arranged for former DCI Walter Bedell Smith to join the company's board of directors.
    the addition of Walter Bedell Smith to the board of directors in 1955
    Guatemala confiscates 234,000 acres of United Fruit land.
    Guatemala confiscates 173,000 acres of United Fruit land.
    land appraised at just over $1 million. United Fruit claimed the actual value was near $20 million.
    Company officials encouraged Castillo Armas with money and arms, and the rebel leader began seeking support from Central American leaders and the United States.
    Bernays laid down a PR barrage that sent correspondents from Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Chicago Tribune to report on Communist activities in Guatemala.
    Once United Fruit's usefulness to PBSUCCESS was at an end, the Eisenhower administration proceeded with its suspended antitrust action
    The United Fruit Company did not profit from victory. Castillo Armas restored many of the company's privileges, but they were worth less than before.
  2. Bitter Fruit: The Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala (Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer, Doubleday, 1982), Doubleday, 1982. Scholarship & press
    a total of 209,842 acres of uncultivated land on the Tiquisate plantation
    the government offered $627,572 in bonds, based on United Fruit's declared tax value of the land.
    The note demanded $15,854,849 in compensation for the Tiquisate land
  3. Dispatch From Operation PBSUCCESS Headquarters in Florida to PBSUCCESS Headquarters, CIA, 2 June 1954 (FRUS Guatemala 1952–1954, doc. 169), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 2 Jun 1954. Primary record
    it lent some credence to the Guatemalan communist-government claim that U.S. policy is being conducted in the interest of the “big capitalists.”
  4. Introduction, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Guatemala, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, 2003. Primary record
    given its massive land holdings, it would feel the impact of the agrarian reform more than any other entity in the country.
  5. Editorial Note on the National Security Council meeting of 17 June 1954 (FRUS Guatemala 1952–1954, doc. 196), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Primary record
    The Justice Department proposed a settlement but United Fruit continued to insist that the company had done nothing wrong
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