The dark history of bananas - John Soluri

翻译人员: 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

On a December night in 1910, the exiled former leader of Honduras,

1910年12月的一个夜晚， 流亡中的前任洪都拉斯领导，

Manuel Bonilla, boarded a borrowed yacht in New Orleans.

曼努埃尔·博尼拉（Manuel Bonilla） 与一群全副武装的共犯，

With a group of heavily armed accomplices,

在新奥尔良登上一艘借来的游艇。

he set sail for Honduras in hopes of reclaiming power

他启航前往洪都拉斯，

by whatever means necessary.

希望用任何必要手段夺回权力。

Bonilla had a powerful backer,

博尼拉有强大的后盾，

the future leader of a notorious organization

臭名昭著团体的后任头目，

known throughout Latin America as El Pulpo, or "the Octopus,"

因为他们涉及范围之广，

for its long reach.

在拉丁美洲被称为El Pulpo, 也叫“章鱼”，

臭名昭著的El Pulpo是一家美国公司，

The infamous El Pulpo was a U.S. corporation

trafficking in, of all things, bananas.

专门走私——香蕉。

It was officially known as United Fruit Company—

在今天，他们被正式命名为 “United Fruit Company（联合水果公司）”

or Chiquita Brands International today.

或 “Chiquita Brands International”。

First cultivated in Southeast Asia thousands of years ago,

数千年前，香蕉在东南亚首次种植，

bananas reached the Americas in the early 1500s,

香蕉在 1500 年代早期到达美洲，

where enslaved Africans cultivated them in plots alongside sugar plantations.

被奴役的非洲人在糖种植园旁 用块地耕种香蕉。

There were many different bananas,

有许多不同的香蕉，

most of which looked nothing like the bananas in supermarket aisles today.

大多数不像今天超市里的香蕉。

In the 1800s, captains from New Orleans and New England

在1800年代， 纽奥良和心英格兰从的船长们

ventured to the Caribbean in search of coconuts and other goods.

冒险岛加勒比海 去寻找椰子和其他货物。

They began to experiment with bananas, purchasing one kind,

他们开始用香蕉做实验，

向加勒比海牙买加、古巴 和洪都拉斯的非裔农民

called Gros Michel, from Afro-Caribbean farmers in Jamaica, Cuba, and Honduras.

买一种叫“大米歇尔”的香蕉，

Gros Michel bananas produced large bunches of relatively thick-skinned fruit—

“大米歇尔”香蕉束大而皮厚，

ideal for shipping.

适合船运。

By the end of the 1800s, bananas were a hit in the US.

到19世纪末, 香蕉在美国很流行，

They were affordable, available year-round,

香蕉价格便宜, 全年有售,

and endorsed by medical doctors.

得到医生的认可。

As bananas became big business,

随着香蕉成为大生意，

U.S. fruit companies wanted to grow their own bananas.

美国水果公司想自己种香蕉。

In order to secure access to land,

为了确保进入陆地

banana moguls lobbied and bribed government officials in Central America,

香蕉公司高管游说并贿赂 中美洲政府官员，

and even funded coups to ensure they had allies in power.

甚至资助政变来确保安全， 还有盟国当权。

In Honduras, Manuel Bonilla repaid the banana man

在洪都拉斯，曼努埃尔·博尼拉报答

who had financed his return to power with land concessions.

那个以土地出让金资助他 东山再起的香蕉人。

By the 1930s, one company dominated the region: United Fruit,

到20世纪30年代 联合水果公司主宰了这个地区，

who owned over 40% of Guatemala’s arable land at one point.

该公司曾有一段时间拥有 危地马拉40%以上的耕地。

They cleared rainforest in Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras,

他们皆伐了雨林在哥斯达黎加、 哥伦比亚、危地马拉、洪都拉斯，

and Panama to build plantations,

还有巴拿马以建种植园，

along with railroads, ports, and towns to house workers.

连同铁路、港口， 还有城市为收容工人们。

Lured by relatively high-paying jobs, people migrated to banana zones.

受相对高薪工作的吸引， 人们移居到香蕉区。

From Guatemala to Colombia,

从危地马拉到哥伦比亚，

United Fruit’s plantations grew exclusively Gros Michel bananas.

联合水果公司的种植园 只种植了“大米歇尔”香蕉。

These densely packed farms had little biological diversity,

这些拥挤不堪的农场 几乎没有生物多样性，

making them ripe for disease epidemics.

因此它们成为疾病传染的温床。

The infrastructure connecting these vulnerable farms

连接这些脆弱农场的基础设施

could quickly spread disease:

可能迅速传播疾病：

pathogens could hitch a ride from one farm to another on workers’ boots,

病菌会骑着工人的靴子、

railroad cars, and steamships.

火车和轮船， 从一个农场传到另一个农场。

That’s exactly what happened in the 1910s,

这正是1910年代发生的事情，

when a fungus began to level Gros Michel banana plantations,

一种菌类开始使“大米歇尔” 香蕉种植园夷为平地，

first in Panama, and later throughout Central America,

先在巴拿马，后来在中美洲,

spreading quickly via the same system that had enabled big profits and cheap bananas.

这种菌类通过同样的系统迅速传播

这些系统使人们能够 获得巨额利润和廉价香蕉。

In a race against “Panama Disease,”

在与"巴拿马病"的赛跑中，

banana companies abandoned infected plantations

香蕉公司放弃了病株的种植园

in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala,

在哥斯达黎加、洪都拉斯和危地马拉，

leaving thousands of farmers and workers jobless.

这导致成千上万的农民和工人失业。

The companies then felled extensive tracts of rainforests

这些公司随后砍伐了大片雨林

in order to establish new plantations.

以建立新的种植园。

After World War II,

第二次世界大战后，

the dictatorships with which United Fruit had partnered in Guatemala and Honduras

曾经与联合水果公司合作的 危地马拉和洪都拉斯的专制政权

yielded to democratically elected governments that called for land reform.

屈服于民选政府，后者呼吁进行土地改革。

In Guatemala, President Jacobo Arbenz tried to buy back land from United Fruit

在危地马拉，雅各布·阿本茨 总统试图从联合水果公司

and redistribute it to landless farmers.

手中买回土地并重新分配给无土地农民。

The Arbenz government offered to pay a price based on tax records—

阿本茨政府提出要根据税收记录支付价格——

where United Fruit had underreported the value of the land.

联合水果公司低估了这块土地的价值了。

El Pulpo was not happy.

El Pulpo不悦。

The company launched propaganda campaigns against Arbenz

该公司开展了反对阿本茨的宣传活动，

and called on its deep connections in the US Government for help.

并呼吁其在美国政府的深厚关系给予帮助。

Citing fears of communism, the CIA orchestrated the overthrow

1954年，中央情报局利用对共产主义的恐惧，

of the democratically elected Arbenz in 1954.

策划了推翻民选的阿本茨的阴谋。

That same year in Honduras, thousands of United Fruit workers went on strike

同年，在洪都拉斯， 数千名联合水果业工人举行罢工，

until the company agreed to recognize a new labor union.

直到公司同意承认新的工会。

With the political and economic costs of running from Panama Disease escalating,

随着从“巴拿马病”逃出的 政治和经济成本不断上升,

United Fruit finally switched from Gros Michel

联合水果最终从“大米歇尔”改变过来

to Panama disease-resistant Cavendish bananas in the early 1960s.

20世纪60年代早期， 巴拿马病的抗病毒“卡文迪什”香蕉。

Today, bananas are no longer as economically vital in Central America,

如今，中美洲的香蕉 在经济上已不再那么重要，

and United Fruit Company, rechristened Chiquita,

联合水果公司，又称奇基塔，

has lost its stranglehold on Latin American politics.

对拉丁美洲政治失去了控制。

But the modern banana industry isn’t without problems.

但现代香蕉业并非没有问题。

Cavendish bananas require frequent applications of pesticides

“卡文迪什”香蕉需要经常使用

that create hazards for farmworkers and ecosystems.

对农场工人和生态系统造成危害的杀虫剂。

And though they’re resistant to the particular pathogen

虽然它们对影响“大米歇尔”香蕉的

that affected Gros Michel bananas,

病原体有抗药性，

Cavendish farms also lack biological diversity,

“卡文迪什”农场也缺乏生物多样性，

leaving the banana trade ripe for another pandemic.

这使得香蕉贸易容易 受到另一次全球疫情的影响。