Banana Rebublic

The Central American bananas were the inspiration of O. Henry for the creation of the term Banana republic.

The pejorative expression «banana republic» is used to describe a country that is considered politically unstable, impoverished, backward and corrupt, whose economy depends on a few products with little added value (symbolized by the bananas), ruled by a fraudulently legitimized dictator or military junta, subjected to the hegemony of a foreign company, either through bribery of rulers or through the exercise of financial power.

The expression "republiqueta bananara" is also often used (not to be confused with the historical term "republiqueta").

Origin and evolution of the expression

Cabbages and Kings (Repollos and Kings) by O. Henry, a book published in 1904 that popularized the pejorative expression "Banana republic".

The expression "banana republic" was coined at the beginning of the XX century by O. Henry, humorist and short story writer American shorts who spent several years in Central America, to refer to Honduras, the country in which O. Henry took refuge after being accused of embezzlement in Austin, Texas. Back then, the term "republic" was also a euphemism for dictatorship. The expression could also have referred to Guatemala, which had agreements with the United Fruit Company, a company that basically controlled the country's economy.

In the constitution of this small, maritime banana republic was a forgotten section...
In the constitution of this small and maritime banana republic there was a forgotten section...

Or. Henry, Cabbages and Kings, 1904

Thus, the expression "banana republic" was originally invented as a very direct reference to a "servile dictatorship", which favors (or directly supports in exchange for bribes) the exploitation of large-scale plantation and monoculture agriculture without attention to improving the living conditions of the country's inhabitants. The situation could be generalized to the rest of Central America and to the exploitation of its main product (bananas or plantains) by the United Fruit Company, an American company that exerted enormous influence on the internal politics of Central America since the end of the century XIX until the 1970s, either through the abuse of their economic power, threats of violence or bribery of rulers, and even staged a CIA-backed coup against Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz.

At that time we had a treaty with about every foreign country except Belgium and that banana republic, Anchuria.
At that time we had treaties with almost all foreign countries except Belgium and that banana republic, Anchuria

Or. Henry, Cabbages and Kings, 1904

Subsequently, the name "banana republic" was popularized to extend it in a derogatory manner to any country in the world that is considered to be plagued by political instability, corruption and illegality in its daily life, generally from the Third World. In fact, these traits have been invoked to describe Eastern European or Central Asian countries as "banana republics" after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, countries that are believed to see the same traits as the Central American republics. at the beginning of the XX century.

The term is generally popular among the citizens of the country considered as such.

The testimony of Smedley Butler

Caricature of the Grand Garrote policy Big Stick) of the government of the U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who kept all the countries of the Caribbean under a fierce rule so that the Panama Canal would be built smoothly.

Possibly, the most active officer in the so-called "banana wars" was Major General of the United States Marine Corps Smedley Butler, who in 1935 wrote in his famous book War is robbery:

I have served for 30 years and four months in the most combative units of the U.S. Armed Forces: in the Marines. I have the feeling that I have acted during all that time as a highly qualified bandit at the service of the big Wall Street companies and their bankers. In other words, I have been a gang member at the service of capitalism. [...] In 1923 I "understood" the affairs in Honduras in the interest of U.S. fruit companies. In 1927, I strengthened the interests of Standard Oil in China. When I look back, I think I could have given Al Capone some suggestions. He, like a gangster, operated in three districts of a city. I, like Marine, acted on three continents.