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Bananas are a big crop in Guatemala.

On the main roads here I encountered scores of Chiquita trucks bringing their wares to ports to be shipped all over the world.

The United Fruit Company, now known worldwide as Chiquita, has a long and checkered history here in Guatemala.

For example: In 1952, the United Fruit Company made the elected government of Guatemala a simple offer: "If y'all want democratic self-government so badly, you can have it for a small fee. It'll cost you about $19,355,000".

Then on June 27, 1954, democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was deposed in a CIA-sponsored coup to protect the profits of the United Fruit Company.

I imagine this is just one of the interventions made by the United States against "banana republics".