costa rican farmers bamboozled by
banana company
coecoceiba/friends of the earth
costa rica
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In 1967 the government of Costa
Rica sold 10.000 hectares in one of the
most fertile and biodiverse regions in
the country to the Standard Fruit
Company for the ridiculous amount of
1000 colons (US$2). This transaction
reaffirmed the submission of most Costa
Rican governments to transnational
capital.
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The Standard Fruit Company devoted the
majority of these lands to banana
cultivation, and the rest to growing the
bamboo used to prop up the banana trees. As
a result, this small area was called
‘Bambuzal'. Although technological change
in the 1990s made the bamboo unnecessary,
the banana company continued to exert its
dominion over the 875 hectares where it was
formerly grown.
Years ago, farmers occupied Bambuzal
with the rationale that this area was not
included in the 10,000 hectares that the
Costa Rican government donated to Standard
at the end of the 1960s. Campesinos and
campesinas have since created a subsistence
economy there that has enabled them to
improve their quality of life. They have
also preserved their own tree species, and
protected several water sources. After some
years had passed, they asked the Costa Rica
agrarian courts to grant them titles to
this land.
this land is my
land!
Before sweeping the land out from under
the farmers' feet, Standard waged various
battles to intimidate them and to delay the
verdict. Eventually they sold part of the
land to another transnational to be used
for electricity production; this was
illegal because the land was still tied up
in litigation. Standard also engaged in
other maneuvers involving foreign banks in
an attempt to complicate the legal
ownership of the land. Eventually Standard
brought criminal charges against the
farmers, claiming that they had usurped the
land. In collaboration with the Costa Rican
government, the company contracted private
security forces and public police to harass
the farmers using force, repression and
tear gas. Two farmers died: one asphyxiated
and the other shot five times in the
back
The farmers, counting on a quick
verdict, have instead witnessed the
government's unfailing support for the
banana corporation as the case languishes
in court. They are denouncing their
eviction from land that was legally
declared theirs to cultivate until a
judgement was reached, and lamenting the
burning of their farms, the destruction of
their crops, and the indiscriminate cutting
of trees by the banana company.
The right to land is a fundamental human
right for farmers, who produce food, manage
resources sustainably and create models for
greater social justice and better wealth
distribution. This right is a traditional
and collective one that has long been
defended by farmers around the world. In
this case, true justice will be served only
when the land is returned to those who make
the best use of it: the farmers of
Bambuzal.
