December 5th is the anniversary of the United Fruit Company massacre against striking workers on the Colombian Caribbean coast in 1928. Between 1000 and 2000 banana pickers were killed in a bloodbath. The company responsible is known today as 'Chiquita.' Over 25,000 plantation workers went on strike in 1928 against exploitative conditions such as wages below 100 pesos or no compensation for work-related injuries. The strike immediately made headlines in local newspapers and threatened the reputation and profits of the Company. The strike lasted for over two months before the United Fruit Company activated its ties to the Colombian military, which began to besiege the banana plantation. On the night of December 5, the army opened fire onto thousands of workers. The number of workers killed varies widely depending on the source, but the US embassy in Bogota reported that "the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand." Official military figures say that only nine bodies were found at dawn.
