POSITION OF THE UNITED FRUIT COMPANY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R000700880005-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 1998
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 23, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP83-00423R000700880005-3
Place Acquired
Date Acquired -
Country - Panama
Subject - Position of The United Fruit Company
25X1X6
Date of Information - 23 June 1953
Source Description - 25X1X6
25X1A2g
- 25X1X6
1. The action of the Guatemalan Government in expropriating United Fruit
Company property may prove a blessing to Panama, as it is quite likely
that Panama will be the scene of increased United Fruit Company
activity to offset the loss in production in Guatemala. In August of
this year, bananas will be shipped from Almirante in the Province of
Bocas del Toro for the first time in 25 years. It is expected that
about 5,000 stems weekly will be cut at first and, if things go as
planned, by the end of four years the annual shipment of bananas from'
Almirante will reach 5,000,000 stems. This, together with the
production from Puerto A.rmuelles, would make Panama the-biggest
banana-producing country in which the United Fruit Company operates.
2. The United Fruit Company hires more employees and pays more taxes
and salaries than any other commdreial entity in the Republic, either
native or foreign. There are 12,000 employees of the United Fruit
Company in Panama with a pay roll of US$8,000,000 and both are
growing.
The United. Fruit Company never closed out entirely its interests in
Almirante. During the war it converted some of its lands to abaca
in cooperation with the U.S. Government which needed this during
wartime to make rope, etc. While this has grown to an annual business
of more than US$1,600,000, it is not the regular business of the
Company, which prefers to raise bananas. Another crop put in by the
Company--cacao--totaled more than US$2,000,000 in exports last year.
There are other secondary crops, such as: 1,500 acres of African palms
which produce a vegetable oil sorely needed in Panama; 550 acres of
mahogany; and some 1,750 acres of teak. These lumber tracts are
long-term projects, but it means forest riches for future decades.
This unevaiiiatei MoMnnt'cn for US Officials
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Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA21' 1g00423R000700880005-3