a Twitter thread from @SpiritofLenin

1.

On this day in 1928, a US-backed Colombian regime opened fire on a crowd of striking banana workers, ki!!ing up to 3,000 men, women & children. Their bodies were then buried in mass graves. The massacre was conducted on the orders of the US-owned United Fruit Company & the US gov

2.

The striking workers were demanding a 6-day work week, an 8 hour day, better housing & to be paid in money instead of food coupons. The US and Colombian govs labeled the strikers as communists in an attempt to discredit them & to justify them being attacked.

3.

The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) & the US gov demanded the Colombian regime of Miguel Abadía Méndez crush the strikes. The US threatened to Invade Colombia or cut off trade if the strike wasn’t put down. The US even sent a warship to anchor offshore during the operation.

4.

Colombia’s gov sent hundreds of members of its military to defeat the strike, installing machine guns on the roofs of the low buildings near the main square. The United Fruit Company then called striking workers to the central square of Ciénaga to "negotiate".

5.

However, once the strikers were packed in, a soldier read a decree declaring the striking workers outlaws and demanding they leave the packed square in minutes and return to work. Then immediately, the soldiers on the crowd, which was filled with women and children.

6.

US state department telegrams detail US coordination with Colombia to defeat the strikes. The telegrams even express glee when reporting the number of strikers ki!!ed was above 1,000.

7.

This wouldn't be the only crime the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) were complicit in. In 1954 they played a role in the ousting of Jacobo Arbenz the democratically elected PM of Guatemala being overthrown in a coup.

https://twitter.com/SpiritofLenin/status/1538158164763353088?t=b6yYiPmItW6FwroSJtLHTQ&s=19

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Friendly Neighborhood Comrade (@SpiritofLenin)

On this day in 1954, the U.S. government overthrew Guatemala’s democratically elected president Jacobo Árbenz and installed a military dictatorship to protect profits of the United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita).

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