Literatura

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Banana massacre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banana massacre |

Leaders of the banana plantations workers' strike. From left to right: Pedro M. del Río, Bernardino Guerrero, Raúl Eduardo Mahecha, Nicanor Serrano and Erasmo Coronel. Guerrero and Coronel were killed by the Colombian army. |
Location | Cienaga, Magdalena
Colombia |Date | December 6, 1928 |
Target | Union workers of the United Fruit Company |
Attack type | shooting, massacre |
Deaths | Unknown (estimated 47 to 2,000)[1] |
1
The Banana massacre, in Spanish, Matanza de las bananeras[1] or Masacre de las bananeras was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred on December 6, 1928 in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta,Colombia.An unknown number of workers died[2] after the government decided to send the Colombian army to end a month-long strike organized by the workers'union in order to secure better working conditions. The government of the United States of America had threatened to invade with the US Marine Corps if the Colombian government did not act to protect United Fruit’s interests. Gabriel GarcíaMárquez depicted a fictional version of the massacre in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, as did Álvaro Cepeda Samudio in his La Casa Grande.
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[Edit]Strike
The workers of the banana plantations in Colombia went on strike in December 1928. They demanded written contracts, eight-hour work days, six-day work weeks and the elimination of food coupons. Thestrike turned into the largest labor movement ever witnessed in the country until then. Radical members of the Liberal Party, as well as members of the Socialist and Communist Parties, participated.[3]
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[Edit]Massacre
An army regiment from Bogotá was dispatched by the government to deal with the strikers, which it deemed to be subversive. Whetherthese troops were sent in at the behest of the United Fruit Company did not clearly emerge.
The troops set up their machine guns on the roofs of the low buildings at the corners of the main square, closed off the access streets,[4] and after a five-minute warning[1] opened fire into a dense Sunday crowd of workers and their wives and children who had gathered, after Sunday Mass,[4] to wait for ananticipated address from the governor.[5]
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[Edit]Number dead
General Cortés Vargas, who commanded the troops during the massacre, took responsibility for 47 casualties. In reality, the exact number of casualties has never been confirmed. Herrera Soto, co-author of a comprehensive and detailed study of the 1928 strike, has put together variousestimates given by contemporaries and historians, ranging from 47 to 2,000.[1]
Among the survivors was Luis Vicente Gámez, later a famous local figure, who survived by hiding under a bridge for three days. Every year after the massacre he delivered a memorial service over the radio.
Another version by official Jose Gregorio Guerrero said that the number of dead was nine: eight civilians and onesoldier. Guerrero added that Jorge Eliecer Gaitan had exaggerated the number of deaths.[6]
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[Edit]Justifications
General Cortés Vargas, who issued the order to shoot, argued later that he had issued the order because he had information that U.S. boats were poised to land troops on Colombian coasts to defend American personnel and the interests ofthe United Fruit Company. Vargas issued the order so the US would not invade --ñ-Colombia. This position was strongly criticized in the Senate, especially by Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, who argued that those same bullets should have been used to stop the foreign invader.[1]
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[ [Edit]Consequences
Guerrilla movements in Colombia like the Revolutionary...