Bananas they are a great source of potassium, they are tastier than apples and more convenient then oranges, what is there not to love? Perhaps if you knew how it was produce, the lovable banana wouldn't be so appealing.

Back in 1951 the United Fruit organization was trying to buy some land from Guatemala, so they had an appraiser look at the land in question, and they offered the Guatemalans 56 k for it. This was back in the fifties so 56k was a lot more than it is today.

The Guatemalans felt like this offer was a little low, so they said something like, "our land, our bananas, give us 16 million or no deal." So what the United Fruit organization did was team up with the CIA and started a smear campaign.

Once America was a convinced that Guatemala was a communist threat it was easy for the government to send in some military and take the land. They actually didn't succeed in taking the land, but they did manage to replace the president of Guatemala with a reasonable dictator who would settle with the offers that his predecessor refused.

Now banana companies don't really start wars as much, they mainly just get in legal battles for making their employees sterile, like as in can't have kids, ever. The whole war thing is taken by more popular compan
ies, the kind of companies that began by selling cocaine in a nice flavored and carbonated beverage.

Everyone knows this company as the awesome company that refreshes polar bears after artic swims, enlivens star athletes, and as the company that practically invented Santa Clause too. Though, outside of the fun little facade in the states, the company is basically an emotionless war machine squeezing every penny they can out of little Colombia.

Yeah, basically everywhere in Colombia is a war zone, what with all the drug cartel and what not, but apparently working for one of the unions in this company is like carrying a coffin on your back, which doesn't make any sense. Though, you can see the obvious implications.

Back in 1996, just 15 years ago, there were five union leaders murdered at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Cerapa Columbia. People die sure, but what did the company do to fix the situation, other than make sure it was never publicly known, well they did fight a law suit filed by International Labor's Rights Fund.

The lesson here is to be grateful that you have coke and bananas that you can consume whenever you like for fairly reasonable prices. The other lesson is to be grateful that you do not live in Guatamala or Colombia.

Though the industry down there probably does wonders for their economy. So there is a positive to it too.