THE SECRET ACCOUNTS OF A

BANANA ENCLAVE

(complete magazine, 83 pages, 1999)

INTRODUCTION AND MEMBERS (2 pages)

CONTENT

Part 1 (22 pages)

"THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF

BANANA PLANTATIONS IN COSTA RICA"

"THE HISTORY OF THE FORO EMAUS: A GRASS ROOTS AND ECUMENICAL STRUGGLE FOR THE DEFENSE OF LIFE"

"REPRESSION IN THE ATLANTIC ZONE OF COSTA RICA"

Part 2 (15 pages)

"THE MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY OF EUROBAN: OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PROBLEMS AROUND THE BANANA INDUSTRY"

"SAD RECORD FOR LIMON: BANANAS THAT POISON"

"TWO ECONOMIES COME FACE TO FACE:

BANANA PLANTATIONS TRANSFORM THE LANDSCAPE"

Part 3 (22 pages)

"THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPHYXIATION OF THE WORKERS:

TRAPPED WITHOUT EXIT?"

"A PHENOMENON OF OUR TIMES: THE LIFE OF MIGRANTS"

"THE STRUGGLE OF THE WOMEN OF LIMON:

FROM SILENCE TO WAILING"

"TRANSNATIONAL COMPANIES AND GOVERNMENTS

AGAINST THE PEOPLE: THE STRUGGLE OF SARA DE BATAAN"

Part 4 (20 pages)

"A PRODUCTIVE ALTERNATIVE FOR A NEW BEGINNING:

THE ORGANIC BANANA"

"THE CERTIFICATION OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS:

NATIONAL AGENCIES SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED"

"NEW SOCIAL FUND RENDERS FRUITS:

QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE BANANA PLANTATION ZONES"

INTRODUCTION

"A LONG HISTORY OF EXPLOITATION"

In these pages, the Foro Emaús synthesizes aspects of the problems of the banana industry that are often ignored now is a decisive moment of the struggles of the banana workers of the Costa Rican Atlantic Coast. The campaigns carried out by transnational companies and their local agents against this sector, attempt to hide the problems around health, cultural, social, economic, labor, and environmental issues, such as the daily poisonings,and the repressive system that pretends to squash the workers and to deny communities the right to life.

After reading the reflections and the analyses presented here nobody can ignore the true story behind the curtains of this cruel history.

MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS OF THE FORO EMAUS:

Asociación Ecologista Costarricense-Amigos de la Tierra (AECO-AT) (Costa Rican Ecologist Association-Friends of the Earth), 223-3925

Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos (ANEP) (National Association of Public Employees), 222-8360

Asociación Pro-Desarrollo y Ecología (APDE) (Pro-Development and Ecology Association), 758-2233

Asociación Servicios de Promoción Laboral (ASEPROLA) (Services and Labor Promotion Association), 285-1344

Corporación Educativa para el Desarrollo Costarricense (CEDECO) (Educational Corporation for Costa Rican Development), 240-5866

Centro Teológico Bautista Caribe (Caribbean Baptist Theological Center), 798-4703

Asociación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo de los Cerros de Escazú (CODECE) (Association for the Conservation and Development of the Mountains of Escazú), 228-0183

Coordinadora de Organismos no gubernamentales con Proyectos Alternativos de Desarrollo (COPROALDE) (Coordinator of non-governmental organizations with Alternative Development Projects), 226-7283

Comite Ambiental Barrio El Molino, Guápiles (Environmental Committee Barrio El Molino, Guapiles), 710-6397

Coordinadora de Sindicatos Bananeros (Banana Workers Unions Coordinator), 256-5225

Fondo de Microproyectos Costarricense (FOMIC) (Costa Rican Fund of Microprojects), 227-9082

Iglesia Luterana Costarricense (Costa Rican Lutheran Church), 226-6618

Fundación Güilombé (Güilombe Foundation), 224-1770

Instituto Centroamericano de Asesoría Laboral (ICAL) (Costa Rican Advisory Institute of Labor), 283-8740

Fundación Nairí (Nairí Foundation), 229-2767

El Productor R.L. (The Producer R.L.), 255-0729

Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana (Latin American Biblical University), 233-3830

Sindicatos de Trabajadores de la Universidad Nacional (SITUN) (National University Workers Union), 238-0986

Comisión de Valoración y Promoción de la Mujer, Diócesis de Limón (Commission for the Recognition and Promotion of Women, Diocese of Limon), 768-8276

Comisión Diocesana de la Pastoral Social, Diocese de Limón (Diocese Commission of the Social Pastorate, Diocese of Limon), 768-8276

Unión Nacional de Empleados de la Caja y la Seguridad Social (UNDECA) (National Union of Workers of the Social Security System), 233-6538

Asociación Ambientalista La Cuenca, Sitio Mata, Turrialba (Environmentalist Association of La Cuenca, Sitio Mata, Turrialba), leave messages at 531-1054

Asociación Voces Nuestras (Our Voices Association) 224 86 41

"THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF BANANA PLANTATIONS IN COSTA RICA"

By Gerardo Vargas, Director of the Social Pastorate of the Diocese of Limon and Coordinator of the Foro Emaus

In national institutions and in different international forums, the Foro Emaus and the banana workers unions in Costa Rica have denounced the violations of workers’ rights that continue to be perpetrated on the banana plantations. However, despite some superficial legal reforms, the banana plantation management disregards these, to employs pressure tactics by means of pro-management workers associations, and by laying off independent workers who claim their rights. After the laying off of union leaders, many workers, men and women, tend to become fearful. We also find that "black-listing" continues to be a common practice used to persecute those who fight for their rights. These workers are sent to carry out the most undesirable duties, or are laid off on the spot.

In addition, for already almost two decades banana plantation management has employed the strategy of requiring workers to join the Solidarista Associations, these negotiate working conditions that favor the interests of management, and completely limit the independence of workers.

According to the Pastoral Letter of the Bishop and Priests of the Apostolic Vicariate of Limon dated the 25th of December of 1989: "The freedom of workers to organize, besides being a right, is the only means they have to demand the implementation of justice and to search for better employment alternatives. However, we find that Solidarista Association are tending to eliminate the other forms of worker organizations."

Another problem in the banana plantations is the exploitation and the discrimination of women. In most cases, they receive lower salaries, carry out long working days, and do not have adequate protection for the manipulation of pesticides. Generally, these women are single mothers who rent homes, and are exposed to continual sexual harassment on the part of foremen and at times, on the part of their own working partners.

They must leave their small children in precarious conditions, where they are exposed to abuse by adults. This occurs constantly, according to the reports of the Clinics for Adolescents of the Social Security Program. In addition, most of these women fear joining unions, as this results in almost certain umemployment home.

In addition, despite denunciatons before public auditories, in almost all the banana plantations, under-age workers are hired for dangerous jobs, in this way violating national and international laws, As a result some minors have died due to pesticide intoxication, as the National Ombudsman (Defensoría de los Habitantes) and the National Institute of Infant Care (PANI) reveal in their reports.

The banana industry, especially during this recent period of expansion, attracted thousands of foreign migrant workers, mostly from Nicaragua, to the banana plantations. The majority, because of their condition as illegal migrants, are subject to demeaning working conditions: they receive low salaries, they, live crowded in poor housing conditions, they suffer high exposure to pesticides, have a deficient diet, and are subject to immigration police black-mail. In like manner, although in smaller numbers, the same situation occurs with the Guaymi Indians on the plantations in Sixaola near the border with Panama.

In this context, the enormous pressure for land in the Atlantic Zone has even generated violence on the part of large land owners, especially in the zones of Sarapiqui and in the county of Pococi.

In the Caribbean region are negatively offected by the banana industry important indigenous populations, Cabecar land , Bribri peoples are seriously threatened by the environmental impacts of the banana industry with the contamination of their rivers, pressure on their lands, the low lands in particular, as well as the negative effect on their cultural values when their youth become salaried workers on the plantations.

The demands of European and North American consumers, who divide in almost equally parts nearly 100 million cases of bananas a year (1996: 105 million, according to official figures), induce the banana companies to serve a cosmetically perfect product on their breakfast tables: bananas that are big, yellow and without blemishes. This requires the use of large amounts and varieties of pesticides and fertilizers in. Because the market is dominated by these transnational companies, the bananas that do not comply with these characteristics are thrown out as waste that contaminates areas around the same banana plantations.

The banana industry utilizes 35 percent of all the pesticides imported to Costa Rica every year. This represents, incidently, almost 30 percent of the final cost of production of export bananas. Generally, the pesticides used form part of what are known worldwide as the "Dirty Dozen".

With respect to deforestation, 30 percent of the current banana plantations were covered with forests when they were bought by the banana companies. The intense process of deforestation has affected the existence of species such as the howler monkeys, protected bird species, sloths and species like the manatees, as well as an enormous variety of insects.

The banana companies, in their quest for profit, have broken the laws and have deforested the edges of rivers in order to plant bananas. They have not even fully used the felled trees, for many were cut down and burned or left to rot, despite the fact that much of it was precious wood.

The consequences of this indiscriminate deforestation appeared later on in river overflows and floods, resulting in eroded and contaminated soils. The waters of the canals made in the banana plantations, carried toxic chemicals and plastic bags to rivers and then to the sea, resulting in the death and destruction of fish and coral reefs.

To have an idea of the magnitude of the solid wastes abandoned on the banana plantations themselves, for every kilogram of bananas exported, 2.5 kilograms of waste are produced in the form of plastic bags, reject bananas, empty recipients of pesticides, and plastic cords.

With this level of contamination, it is logical that the productivity per area is adverity. The result is that every 15 years the banana companies search for new lands and slowly abandon the lands they have contaminated, as occurred in the Southern Zone, with lands saturated with copper sulfate.

The amounts of pesticides used on the banana plantations and their high toxicity, are directly related to the system of intensive monoculture production which provokes the multiplication and resistance of natural pests.

Since the European market of Costa Rican bananas is regulated by licenses and quotas, and on the other hand, is free in the United States and other countries that are not members of the European Union, a battle between private enterprise and governments has been waged in recent years with the European Union in order to open the field for a dollarized banana, a matter that is still in conflict with the interests of the ex-colonies of Europe. Finally, it appears that only new production was threatened, This was able to be placed in other markets, including in Europe, once the exports from other Latin American countries were restricted. Let us recall that Costa Rica is the second largest exporter of bananas in the world, second only to Ecuador, who doubles our yearly exports.

Almost all the large transnational companies are of US capital, I a minority of cases, they are associated with national banana entrepreneurs, or they are independent, modacen, nevertheless these must sell their fruit to transnational commercial houses who control the market.

The panorama of the transnational companies can be summarized thus: Bandeco commercializes under the brand name Del Monte; Standard Fruit Co., under the brand name of Dole; Cobal, Banacol and Uniban sell by way of Chiquita; and the Geest Caribbean Co. has its own commercial brand. Geest Caribbean is now Costa Rican-Panamanian, and Del Monte was recently bought by Chilean capital.

The current norms are for the most part unknown, contradictory and difficult to apply, since there is no political will to enforce them. The excuses are a lack of budget support, or administrative slowness that escapes the competence of the entities in charge. These justifications are employed both in terms of the environment and working conditions. In addition, one can say that in practical terms, the law of the jungle, or survival of the strongest, is the law of banana plantations, ignoring the national and international norms for the banana industry.

Because of their silence, both dominant political parties (PUSC and PLN) are also responsible, as they have not manifested any concern form the violation of environmental and human rights that occur on the banana plantations. In fact, there are cases where some politicians are also banana entrepreneurs. This makes their silence and their efforts to improve their own interests understandable.

The complaints of consumers in organizations favoring fair trade and healthy food have forced companies to reassess their publicity strategies. The goal was to convince consumers that in their plantations in Costa Rica important changes were being realized to improve environmental conditions. The same could not be said regarding working conditions, since virtually nothing has changed since 1990 regarding union rights.

New brands were then created such as "Friendly Bananas", without chan-ging their pesticide components, but simply with ecological makeup. The greatest audacity came later, when they were able to get a Costa Rican environmentalist foundation to certify with unverifyable criteria that the banana plantations could receive an ecological seal, created by themselves, called "Eco-OK". The problem is that all the plantations that belong to Chiquita Brands carry the seal of environmental respect, when the truth is that very few changes have occurred, cheating European consumers. This situation presents a great challenge to European solidarity organizations and to the Foro Emaus, who is forced to unmask this lie that affects the struggles of workers in general, and the possibility that small producers of real organic bananas to have priority in the markets of Europe and the United States.

"The history of the Foro Emaus”:

A GRASS ROOTS AND ECUMENICAL STRUGGLE FOR THE DEFENSE OF LIFE

By Hernán Hermosilla of the Foro Emaus

For almost a century, Costa Rica has been a banana producing nation. At the end of the XIX century the transnational United Fruit Company installs its operations in Costa Rica. Later on it moves from the Caribbean to the Southern Zone, and eventually abandons the country on account of the strike of 1984. Several companies return to the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica with millionaire investments.

From 1985 onward the transnational companies begin to pressure the government to develop a Plan for the Promotion of the Banana Industry, which gives them juicy benefits by way of tax exemptions and fiscal grants. This included a legal change, that went from a business entity directed by the National Banana Association (ASBANA), to a National Banana Corporation (CORBANA), in which governmental representatives also participate. This new turn implied the authorization to expand its territories into new agricultural land, the deregulation of environmental and worker norms, and a strategy to eliminate the independent unions, replacing them with pro-management Solidarista associations.

Since then, there has been a veritable worsening of the quality of life in the surrounding communities and a negative effect on the environment and biodiversity. Labor rights began to deteriorate rapidly, and a new stage began, characterized by the violation of the human rights of Costa Rican banana workers and of other ethnic minorities of our country and Panama, as well as an intense exploitation of a foreign labor force, in particular those without a clear migratory status.

In the mid-1980s a management strategy began to be tried out in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica aimed at destroying labor unions, that at that time had a strong presence in the banana plantations. This was achieved with the combination of various factors, among which was the approval of a Law that permitted the creation of worker-management associations known as Solidarista Associations; the employment of legal devices to discontinue the Collective Conventions and by pressures placed on the easily manipulated permanent committees, and the signing of Direct Agreements between groups of workers and the banana companies, not to mention the complicity of the national press, linked to powerful economic interests.

This situation was further aggravated by errors committed by the labor union movement, such as the abuse of the right to strike, and ideological dependence which connected its leadership with of political parties, and not responding to the vital needs of workers and their families. This situation was taken advantage of by the promoters of Solidarismo.

This process culminated in fewer than ten years with the elimination of the Collective Conventions, the principal legal instrument the Labor Unions counted on to regulate greater equity in worker-management relations.

Since 1989, the international situation began to change rapidly.

Because of the changes in the Soviet Union and in the Socialist countries of Eastern Europe, the transnational banana companies that controlled banana production and commercialization, saw in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the opportunity to increase their banana markets into the ex-socialist countries, and made plans to expand banana production in Costa Rica. This proposal for the expansion of banana plantations in Costa Rica, received the seal of approval from the government economists.

The uncontrolled expansion of banana plantations

The aim of increasing the area under banana production was to have a greater amount of boxes of export bananas by the early 1990s, no matter what the social or environmental costs. The result was an uncontrollable banana expansion. The Project of Expansion was based on several conditions:

a) Availability of new lands. This was made possible by pressuring small farmers to sell their land and after buying them up, cutting down the primary and secondary forests on them, so that with the subsequent forestry inspections, permits for changes in land use could be obtained, these now being "appropriate lands for banana plantations."

b) Financial capital. The companies had the financial capital by way of their own funds and by way of credits from the nationalized bank that made banana loans a priority.

c) Abundant supply of labor. The supply of labor was abundant with the ex-small farmers that now became salaried peons, and with the migration of labor from other regions of the country (Central and North), as well as the unstoppable mass of undocumented migrants, principally form Nicaragua, fleeing from grave economic, social and political conditions.

d) Low salaries. The banana companies, taking advantage of the crisis in neighboring countries, specially in Nicaragua, lowered the salaries and reduced the few non-salary sources of income the Costa Rican workers enjoyed up to 1985. From then on the companies began to implement policies of subcontracting labor, the suspension of minimum wages (with the suppression of the Collective Conventions) and the destruction of labor stability.

The population of workers on the banana plantations is estimated at 80,000 men and women workers, of which around 15,000 have permanent work, while the rest must compete for 35,000 temporary positions, wandering from plantation to plantation in search of work (as long as they are not on the computerized black lists for having rebelled against some injustice or for having a pro-union inclination, in which case they are not employed at all).

The Social Cost of the Expansion

Only 30 percent of the banana workers have stable employment. The remaining 70 percent must roam the region. The companies argue that all this is legal, as they apply the three month trial period of hiring workers without having any further responsibilities to the workers. But the companies avoid union organizing of workers, and in the case of illegal migrants, they refuse to pay them other workers’ rights such as the required year end gratuity, vacation payment, and social security. This occurs especially if the contact has been made between the company and an unscrupulous contractor.

Since 1990 the salaries of the banana workers have not gone beyond an average of 250 dollars a month, a relatively higher wage than that earned in other agricultural activities, but one that does not pay the physical deterioration of the workers and the elevated cost of living. A banana worker has a useful life of some 15 years for the company. After that, the system ex-pels the worker who is no longer hired after the age of 40.

Despite the fact that Costa Rica is a nation based on laws and one with a democratic tradition, workers’ rights are systematically violated on the banana plantations. This has been denounced before the ILO, specifically for violation of International Conventions 87 and 92, signed and ratified by the Costa Rican State. The employers, however, do not obey the sentences; they prefer, instead, to pay the stipulated fines.

The small farmers who had land around the plantations were pressured to sell their land to the companies and emigrate or join the plantations as cheap hired labor. This situation was aggravated by State entities such as the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA), which advised the small farmers that their property rights would be rescinded if they did not incorporate themselves into the banana plantation complex.

The State began to destine its best resources to favor the Plan for Banana Development, in detriment of other agricultural activities, and especially of small farmers. The State eliminated credit for small farmers and suspended its technical support for marketing. In numerous occasions, the banana companies even obtained the technical permits from State employees to cut down trees (that prevent aerial fumigation) and traditional banana plants that could be carriers of the banana disease "sigatoka" or others, on the land of small farmers. After 1989 a process of land concentration began. The land under banana cultivation went from 3500 hectares to more than 5000 hectares in only three years. This is a grave turn around regarding land distribution, where the best lands now went to cultivate a monoculture for exportation.

The profits of this expansion benefited the transnational companies almost exclusively, there being very few banana producers of national capital. Moreover, about 75 percent of the profits continue to remain in the hands of the exporters.

The Attitude of the Church

The Church, by way of the then Vicarage of Limon (today Diocese), pastored by Mons. Alfonso Coto Monge, along with the Clergy, carried out a socioeconomic and pastoral diagnostic at the end of the 1980s. To conclude, they decided to publish a Pastoral Letter "On the Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry". This document, published on the 25th of December of 1989, documented the crude reality of the negative impacts the banana industry had and its implication on social life, the environment and on the pastorate activities in the region.

The Letter recalled that initially (in 1985) there was talk about expanding by 8000 hectares the area dedicated to banana production, but in three years the area expanded by 21,000 hectares. The document warned about the consequences of this unplanned expansion, expressing its opinion about what was occurring in the following areas:* The dignity of Men and Women* Family Life* Economic Policies* Land Tenure* Labor* Culture* Environmental Health and Ecological Unbalances* Pastorate Activities

The document, prophetic in its warnings and courageous in its denunciations, was rejected by the business sector, the government and the officialist press that kept up a constant attack for almost a semester against the Bishop and his priests, for involving themselves in social and economic issues, instead of religious ones.

However, it was received as "good news" by a wide gamma of grass roots sectors, including labor and the environmental sectors of our society. This was a novel occurrence, since in previous years, the only voice ever heard was that of the banana business sector and the Solidarista Associations. The text of the Pastoral Letter also warned against being fooled by the pseudo-Christian message presented by Solidarismo: "We must point out that the work of labor promotion carried out by the Social School Juan XXIII (Promoter of Solidarismo), is not linked to the pastorate work carried out by the Apostolic Vicarage of Limon, according to its Global Plan, and therefore its task does not have in this particular Church an ecclesiastic character." This warning is important, as the Social School Juan XXIII has been the instrument, par excellence, for the disarticulation of labor unions.

In the same document, the Church defends the rights denied to banana workers, both from a Christian perspective, as well as from a legal one. It demands "(...) employment stability, payments due to the workers, minimum wages, the required rest periods, the permanent and systematic formation of worker organizations, the freedom to organize independent of ideological and political interests, a just salary, the right to strike within the proper limits, good working conditions, and the integrated promotion of the family and the community in the areas of culture, religion and social communal services."

With respect to the concentration of land, the Bishop states: "Sadly, we are witness to how, little by little, the small landowners begin to disappear, and suffer diverse forms of pressure which force them to enter the Plan of Banana Development, under the pretext that their lands are (apt for) this crop (...)".

In regard to the environment, the priests, along with the Bishop, state: "We would like to point out the gravity of the growing deforestation, contamination of rivers, the accumulation of inorganic residues and agrochemicals which are causing infections, an increase in digestive and skin diseases caused by fumigation and the use of toxic chemicals, and the negative effects this has on some animal species in danger of extinction."

After analyzing this document, various organizations began to prepare a dialogue with the authors. The Church represented a moral reserve and an authoratative voice that commented on social issues that affected the common good, specially the condition of the poorest sectors. The words of simple and humble people who had been silenced for fear of losing their jobs, or who had not received a response to their complaints, were an inspiration to grass roots organizations involved in these matters and to others that subsequen-tly became interested.

The Foro Emaus is Born

The onslaught of attacks coming from Solidarismo, the mass media, and the propaganda of the business sector, incited numerous organizations to come together, among them, labor, environmental, small farmer, ecclesiastical, indigenous, and communal organizations, to discuss among themselves and with the Church of Limon, the need to articulate efforts in order to form a united front against the problems caused by the Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry.

In this spirit of democratic cooperation, a large number of grass roots leaders from different corners of the Atlantic region and from the rest of the country, converged to discuss these issues at the Casa Emaus a center for pastoral training located on the sea shore, near the center of the city of Limon. Many non-governmental organizations arrived, including environmental associations, Christian, labor, small farmer, and human rights organizations. With this coming together of leaders of grass roots organizations and the ecclesiastic leadership, the Foro Emaus was born. After various encounters, the result was a proposal of concerted action, with a commitment to mobilize before the authorities and become the interlocutor between governmental authorities, the business sector, and national and international public opinion.

With the constitution of the Foro Emaus, the socioeconomic and environmental problems caused by the banana industry began to be studied from an integrated perspective, as was suggested in the Pastoral Letter. Thus emerged a grass roots proposal to halt the irrational banana industry, by way of organized and concerted action, and to fight for a just and environmentally sustainable form of banana production.

After deliberations carried out the 13th and 14th of June of 1992, the Foro emmited a communique entitled "Stop the Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry", where it agreed on the need to carry out public denunciations. This materialized in the "March in Favor of Life and Human Rights" which took place on September 2nd of that same year, in the streets of San Jose, calling to stop the social and environmental disasters in Limon and Sarapiqui.

More than 2500 people marched through the streets of the capital to demonstrate to the national and international public opinion (citizenry and the press) the grave conditions on the banana plantations and in the towns of the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica. The event included a dialogue with the representatives of the different parliamentarian factions of the Legislative Assembly and of the national government, to whom proposed laws and alternative solutions were presented.

The number of messages, posters, banners, flyers, and the creativity demonstrated by the participants from the Atlantic Region, as well as the people from the Capital who attended in solidarity, contributed to consolidate the idea that the Foro Emaus was a viable and a necessary space to fight for the interests of the grass roots sectors, in a spirit of openness, democracy and ecumenism. But above all, it was the conviction expressed by those affected, for the need to continue fighting, and take advantage of the generous expression of solidarity of the Costa Rican people, the aperture achieved in the press, and the demonstration of support of some political and business sectors, that made changes seem possible, and that there was hope for justice despite the power of adversaries.

From 1992 to date

With the expansion of the area dedicated to banana production (today at 54,000 hectares), the problems denounced at the start of the "Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry", persisted after 1992, and new problems were aggravated despite the policies of fixing quotas by the European Union, the pretensions of the transnational companies to increase the export quotas every year continued. Meanwhile, new data from academic and research institutes appeared confirming the gravity of the environmental damage caused by the banana industry, as well as problems in the area of labor health. The banana companies, both national and transnational, carried out urgent publicity strategies to try to convince the consumers that they were incorporating the best technological advances to deal with the environmental demands of the international community. For this reason, it was imperative to fight to unmask this fraudulent ideological strategy.

The same could be said regarding the internal legal maneuvers that sought to stimulate the over exploitation of workers with new ideas about labor relations, such as "excellence and total quality" which in practical terms was (and is) an intensification of the use of labor with psycho-labor techniques involving individual competition, which result in more work, lower salaries, and worker division. The causes that motivated the creation of the Foro Emaus, continued and became worse, with the aggravated situation on the banana plantations and in the communities. This required the intensification of the work of the Foro Emaus, in its educative, organizational efforts with the workers, the communities and the organizations involved.

Since then the Foro Emaus has attempted to have the organizations participate actively in the process of denunciations and proposals. More than the sum of its parts, the Foro Emaus is a space of coordination which seeks the consensus of preoccupations and initiatives, and where the sum of the forces may advance the struggles of the poor and the rights of the communities.

As a result of that collective will, the Foro Emaus has distributed duties and responsibilities in the Foro Emaus, in different commissions created to undertake the work based on the real needs of the population. The Foro Emaus has an Executive Secretary and a Coordinating Committee elected annually, with the responsibility to coordinate the execution of actions of the Foro Emaus.

The Assembly of the Foro Emaus is made up of delegates of the more than 35 organizations that carry out work in different areas of the Atlantic Region. The members with full rights are organizations such as the banana workers unions, small farmer organizations, indigenous associations, ecological institutions, historical churches, NGOs dedicated to organic farming, labor education, and national labor unions with regional presence.

The headquarters of the Foro Emaus is in the city of Siquirres, at an equidistant point from the most important urban centers of the Costa Rican Atlantic Region.

"REPRESSION IN THE ATLANTIC ZONE OF COSTA RICA"

By Gilbert Bermúdez Umaña and Ramón Barrantes Cascante for the Banana Workers Unions Coordinator

This document has been distributed to the following entities:

National and International Labor Union Movement, National and International Non-Government Organizations, International Development Organizations, World Trade Organization, European Union, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, International Court of Human Rights, International Labor Organization (ILO), Congress of the United States of America, Department of Commerce of United States of America. The Banana Workers Unions Coordinator of Costa Rica, made up of the Agricultural Plantation Workers Union (SITRAP), Industrial Union of Agricultural Workers, Cattle Raisers and Annexes of Heredia (SITAGAH), Chiriqui Land Company Workers Union (SITRACHIRI), and the Workers Union of PAIS, S.A. (SITRAPAIS) (in formation), denounce before national and international public opinion, the mistreatment and the violation of human rights and workers rights by the banana companies against thousands of male and female banana workers.

In effect, the labor unions that are members of this Coordinator, by this means, once again, make public the aggressions to which we are subject by the business sector of our country, which has orchestrated a fierce campaign against the labor union Organizations, the affiliated workers and labor union sympathizers, present in the banana plantations of Costa Rica.

This campaign has different levels, which go from verbal intimidation against the male and female workers who sympathize with the Unions, to threats against the physical integrity of labor union leaders, and the laying off of labor union members and leadership, "blacklisting" these, and other mistreatments against our fellow male and female workers.

Thus, our fellow workers confront situations characterized by the following:

1. Long work days and low salaries

With the intention of raising their competitiveness, the banana companies have implemented a series of changes in the forms of production which go against the most fundamental rights of banana workers. These aggressions include infringing the right to proper rest periods, the imposition of long working days, which most often go from twelve to sixteen hours a day, many times without the payment of overtime. The salaries, also, are extremely low, when one considers the high cost of living on the banana plantations.

Moreover, the male and female banana workers have not received a real raise in salaries for approximately ten years. What has increased are the work loads, and working hours, which explain the "high salaries" that are quoted in the government and business spheres. The truth is that these "high salaries" received by some banana workers are the fruit of over exploitation with long working hours that exceed the legal limits.

The salaries on the banana plantations have in fact decreased. To cite one example, in 1993 the work day of 8 hours earned the equivalent of 250 dollars a month, but in 1997 this same time worked earns the equivalent of only 187 dollars. This descending curve, which began in the early 90s, continues today.

The increased competitiveness of banana companies rests on the shoulders of banana workers, male and female, Costa Rican and foreign, on their growing poverty and exploitation. This contradicts what the President of Costa Rica has expressed publicly, when he says that the country will not compete in the international markets on the basis of "poverty and low salaries, but on education and technology", in order to maintain and raise the living conditions of the population. This, however, is not the case for thousands of men and women who work on the banana plantations.

On the other hand, we have also been expressing our great concern over the fact that all these situations have a negative impact on family life among banana workers, as well as on the development of religious and spiritual values. In fact, the long working days make it difficult for workers and their families to dedicate much time to education, re-creation, culture and religious faith.

2. Lack of labor union liberties

Currently the banana companies promote models of worker organizations, that permit them to make labor relations more flexible and controlable. At the same time, the companies carry out disloyal labor practices which impede the workers from organizing into labor unions.

There is no real freedom for unions to organize on the banana plantations and packing plants, despite the great number of national and international laws that require it. Every person, man or woman, who tries to form part of a labor union, or who simply sympathizes with a labor union, is automatically laid off, or is persecuted and harassed until he or she renounces his or her affiliation to the union. As part of this anti-union policy, the banana companies circulate the so-called black lists among themselves. Recent examples of this problem are the cases cited below: A. The Company PAIS, S.A. wants to impede the creation of a labor union at all costs

This company, property of CORBANA, S.A., located in Sixaola, is attempting all kinds of strategies to prevent the creation of a union in the company. The workers who are discontent with their salaries, poor working conditions, and poor treatment by the company, decided to form a union in order to defend their rights collectively. In turn, the company fired 11 workers, among them, 5 of the 7 members of the Board of Directors of the newly formed union. This was done with the clear intention of decapitating the movement.

Following this, the Company began a process of moral intimidation of the workers so that they would not join or would leave the labor union. The company also impedes the access of the labor union leaders to the workplace, in clear violation of the Freedom of Labor Union Organizing of the Political Constitution and the Labor Code, backed by the International Agreements of the ILO.B. The Company el CEIBO, S.A.: labor union leader receives death threat

One of the members of the Board of Directors of SITRAP received a death threat by one of the upper officials of the Company El Ceibo, S.A.

This action took place in the context of an ongoing battle between the company and the labor union, where the following points need to be highlighted: -Labor union leaders are denied access to the work place, receiving threats against their physical integrity from the private guard of the company.

-The disaffiliation of workers from the labor union is unlawfully promoted.

-There is discrimination of workers affiliated to the labor unions, who do not receive the same rights and worker guarantees.

-There is unlawful laying off of workers affiliated to labor unions.C. The Company CANFIN, S.A.: Massive laying off of workers affiliated to the labor union SITAGAH

In this company, member of the COBAL group, and subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, with headquarters in Puerto Viejo of Sarapiqui, 21 workers affiliated to the union SITAGAH were laid off on the 12th of October of 1996 (a holiday). This constitutes a clear violation of workers’ rights.

Moreover, these workers suffer the cruel situation where they are unable to obtain work in other banana companies because CANFIN, S.A. passed the "black list" with their names on it to the rest of the companies, denying them the UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO EMPLOYMENT.

3. Poor Work Conditions

As part of the policies of "minimizing costs" some companies maintain unfavorable working conditions that threaten the health and life of those who work on the plantations and in the packing plants. The workers are not adequately trained regarding the fundamental norms of labor health, often resulting in work place accidents, where furthermore, many companies do not pay the work place risk insurance, leaving the workers vulnerable to any accident at the work place.

As a result of this situation, we find many illnesses among banana workers, most of which are caused by the contamination by the inadequate use of agrochemicals, a problem which has received little attention by both the government and business sectors.

4. Complicity of the Government

The governmental authorities reveal a dilatory attitude in all the processes that the labor union Organizations present to the offices of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, making them "accomplices" to the business sector strategy against the banana workers and their organizations. This complicity is open in many Inspectors of Labor, and veiled in the case of the middle and higher levels of the Ministry of Labor.

This situation leaves the workers and their union organizations completely defenseless in their struggle to defend their interests and rights, which are guaranteed in the National Legislation and backed by the International Agreements of the International Labor Organization.

As a sample of the complicity of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security with the business sector, we offer the following cases in which this Ministry has slowed and blocked processes, delaying any resolution, and giving the companies time to continue doing as they wish. Unresolved cases by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (M.T.S.S.) in Siquirres.

RIO PALACIOS, S.A.: Process in the Ministry of Labor since 1994 where labor union Persecution and Disloyal Labor Practices are denounced.

PACUARE, S.A.: Process in the Ministry of Labor since 1994, still unresolved.

ZENT, S.A.: Process in the Ministry of Labor since 1994 still unresolved.

SIQUIRREYA, S.A.: Process with the resolution to file the case away, rendering the process questionable. CODELA, S.A.: Process filed away without resolution since 1993, regarding Company non-compliance with worker labor union quotas, and for Disloyal Labor Practices and labor union persecution. Unresolved cases by the Inspector General of Labor of the M.T.S.S. in Sarapiqui, presented by the labor union SITAGAH

BANANA COMPANY GACELA, S.A.: Request for inspection the 17th of July of 1995. This process has not been resolved and is still in the Office of the Minister.

BANANA COMPANY GUAPINOL, S.A.: Process initiated in 1995, still without resolution, without even the required private hearing. The company has refused to give information to the Ministry of Labor. There are also three more cases regarding illegal layoffs of representatives of workers (Henry Prudente, Abel Miranda and Francisco Javier Espinoza).

BANANA COMPANY EL ROBLE, S.A.: Process initiated in March of 1996, without resolution and in violation of due process for not submitting a report within three days after the hearing, as the law demands.

BANANA COMPANY GAVILAN, S.A.: Process initiated in 1996. This case involves the unwillingness of the company to take out the union quota, and the layoff of a woman worker member of the Board of Directors of the labor union, as well as the harassment of workers affiliated to the union.

DESARROLLO BANANERO DEBA, S.A.: Process initiated in March of 1996, harassment and persecution of affiliated workers, unjustified laying off of member of Board of Directors of the labor union.

BANANA COMPANY NOGAL: Process initiated in 1996, without receiving a hearing and still unresolved.

BANANA COMPANY OROPEL, S.A.: Process initiated one year ago without resolution, and another more recent process also without resolution.

BANANA COMPANY CANFIN, S.A.: Process initiated in early 1996. A private hearing was called for, where the company refused to appear and only the union appeared. Because the company presented a petition of nullity, although in an improper fashion, the case was sent to the Office of the Minister without resolution. This case is in addition to the denunciation made to the Minister in a note the 8th of July of 1997, in reference to the laying off of 21 workers the 12th of October of 1996, for the simple reason of the workers requesting a meeting with the administration during a holiday.

BANANA COMPANY GUAYACAN, S.A.: Process initiated in 1996 without resolution.

It should be pointed out that in all the cases due process is violated, where justice is neither prompt nor resolved, in violation of the Legislation of Public Administration which requires the presentation of a report three days after the private hearings.

In face of this situation, the Banana Workers Unions Coordinator of Costa Rica requests the following from the national and international labor union Movement, national and international Non-Governmental Organizations, international organizations of human rights, European and North American entities where decisions are made regarding the international problems of the banana industry:

"THE MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY OF EUROBAN:

OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PROBLEMS AROUND THE BANANA INDUSTRY"

By EUROBAN Secretariat

We, the organizations that integrate the European network EUROBAN, wish to express the following to the public opinion:

Articles and paid advertisements have been divulged in the mass means of communication which reproduce opinions about a supposed international campaign to malign Costa Rica, and whose aim it is to damage the banana industry economy of Costa Rica, and consequently, the country’s sovereignty and the well being of its people. On occasions it is insinuated or openly stated that EUROBAN or its member organizations are accomplices to this supposed international conspiracy.

We would like to point out that the non-governmental organizations members of EUROBAN, even before forming part of this network, have been involved in international cooperation and solidarity, either with sister organizations or with other counterparts of civil society. This work is based on the principles of human rights, participative democracy, the right to development and social well being, and the self determination of all peoples. We see that the current world order does not permit the realization of these rights in equitable fashion in the North and South, despite their being proclaimed in international conventions. Our cooperation is not compatible with the logic of placing our own economic benefit over the concepts of solidarity with those less favored, or over concepts of economic and political self determination.

The network of organizations EUROBAN takes on the same spirit of cooperation and solidarity to propose and coordinate actions geared to make the international banana market, currently monopolized by a few consortia, more accessible to national producers; substitute production techniques that destroy the environment, for others that are more ecologically acceptable, and guarantee appropriate and stable working conditions on the plantations, thus contributing to the well being and economic and environmental sustainability of banana production. ***

A large part of our work is directed to the consumers in the countries of the European Union, because the aforementioned goals can only be achieved if certain unconscious attitudes of consumption change, i.e. the preference for "cosmetic bananas" produced by an excess of agrochemicals in order to achieve the banana "prototype", or the demand for ever-cheaper bananas, without considering the economic stability, and the income or health of the workers. That is, we honor our own responsibility and we begin our work "at home", because we consumers are the indispensable complement to the production and commercialization of bananas in the international banana economy.

Another responsibility of the consumers and our organizations is to influence the modification of the Single Internal Banana Market that the European Union implemented in 1993. EUROBAN, in general terms salutes the regulation of the banana market in order to counter the growing oversupply of bananas which cause a double disaster: first, the deforestation that results from increasing the area dedicated to bananas, especially when current factors promise greater volumes for sale; and second, when the companies are forced to close down the banana plantations and sources of employment, when the markets contract unexpectedly. Likewise, we support conventions such as the Mark Accord, signed between Costa Rica and other banana producing countries with the European Union, because we consider it is important that countries and producers know how many bananas they may be guaranteed to sell. For this reason, we have positions contrary to those represented by the USA and Chiquita in the Mark Accord and the regime of the Single Banana Market in Europe.

These two parts were appealed before the World Trade Organization, and obtained a resolution in our favor requiring the European Union to modify its regulations in 1999 regarding the importation of bananas. We should take advantage of this situation in order to introduce changes that truly promote the social-economic and environmental sustainability of production, and equity in commercialization.

We would have liked to include in the quotas of the Mark Accord, and above all in the regime of the Single European Market, the individual and associated producers who are currently marginalized from the world market, and those who introduce improvements in the social, labor and environmental aspects of their plantations, by establishing preferential quotas for the most advanced in these areas. With this aim we are carrying out monumental efforts before the European Union. In this context we are organizing and calling for participation in the First International Banana Conference, to be celebrated in May of 1998, in Brussels, Belgium, headquarters of the authorities of the European Union. ***

EUROBAN is an alliance of organizations from different countries, with different cultures and languages. We came together because we have common objectives. Due to the nature of our alliance and to the reason of our work, we respect the self determination of individuals and nations. It is well known that a constant factor in the emergence of long lasting humanist ideals is the confluence of different cultures and ideologies. With astonishment we read in newspaper publications, that defenders and followers of an ideological current in Costa Rica, who consider themselves a "national and international model", violently reproach the Foro Emaus and the Social Pastorate of the Diocese of Limon, along with other international cooperating organizations, among them the NGOs of EUROBAN, for being carriers of "un-Costa Rican" thoughts. With equal astonishment, we read that we are supposed puppets who defend the interests of dubious forces, for which we need to be "investigated". When we learned through the press that a Costa Rican delegation went to Belgium and Germany, apparently to "investigate" a local NGO, EUROBAN took the initiative to meet with this delegation, to which the Embassy of Costa Rica in Bonn can testify, only to learn that there was no space for that meeting in the agenda of the delegation. We invited those who criticize us to meet and converse with us. We suggested that belligerent scenarios should not be drawn based on supposed conspiracies against the national interests, when such conspiracies do not exist.

In the Foro Emaus, the Social Pastorate and the labor unions, we have found authentic interlocutors and national counterparts who are concerned with the social, labor and environmental conditions in the banana regions. Our interest in jointly finding alternatives, derives from experiences we have had in similar areas in our own countries. In these times of globalization and electronic intercommunications, in which commercial exchange no longer recognizes frontiers, and where information travels the world over in seconds, it is not possible to ignore realities or resolve problems independently.

If highly toxic substances are produced in our countries, and are then employed as pesticides in the banana zones, exceeding the levels acceptable in our countries, then it is a moral duty to ask ourselves who is responsible, what are the damages caused, and to look for alternatives. If we are inhabitants of the region with the highest levels of banana consumption in the world, and we know that those who work to produce these bananas cannot satisfy their basic needs, and suffer employment instability and poor working conditions, it is equally our moral duty to look for alternatives. The higher the level of development and technical capacity of the professionals in a particular country, the easier it will be to find alternatives.

We recognize that there may be conflicting interests, but we would like to call on intellectual honesty in the debates and on the disposition to dialogue.

This document is signed by the following non-governmental organizations, members of EUROBAN: Banana Link, International Center for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), World Development Movement (WDM), England; Irish Fair Trade Network (IFTN), Ireland; Confederation General du Travail (CGT), France; Centro Nuovo Modellodi Svilupp (CNMS), Italy; Union Internacional de Trabajadores de la Alimentación, Agrícolas, Hoteles, Restaurantes, Tabaco y Afines (IUF/UITA/IUL), GEBANA -Association for Fair Trade, Switzerland; Oxfam Wereldwinkels, Belgium; Plataforma Rural, Spain; International Movement of Reconciliation, Banana Campaign, Austria; BanaFair/Banana Campaign, FIAN -Food First Information and Action Network, BUKO Agrar Koordination- Congress of Development Action Groups, Pro Regen wald, Development Services of the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Bavaria, Germany; Naturskyddsforeningen - Swedish Society for the Conservation of Nature, Sweden.

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EUROBAN Secretariat, c/o IFTN, 17 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel/Fax: +353-1-4753515. E-Mail: iftn@connect.ie

"SAD RECORD FOR LIMON: BANANAS THAT POISON"

By Marvin Amador of the Costa Rican Ecological Association and Friends of the Earth

Even though it is practically unknown to the majority of the national population and possibly to the consumers of the United States and Europe, the export bananas produced in the country, require great amounts of toxic chemical products. The use of these products has grave consequences, not only for the consumers, but for the workers on the plantations, as well as for the natural ecosystems and even for the human populations near the plantations. For a long time, large scale export banana production by the activities carried out by national and transnational companies have generated serious economic, social and environmental problems, especially in the Atlantic Zone of the country. With respect to the environment, the intensive and indiscriminate use of toxic chemical products, especially pesticides, stands out, among other grave damages to natural and human ecosystems.

For the most part, given the demands of the market, and the high levels of utility required by their producers, bananas are a crop that need the application of large amounts of artificial agrochemicals that are highly toxic and persistent in the environment. For this reason, besides many other environmental problems, large scale export banana cultivation has a grave effect on the health of humans and on the natural environment, caused by the contamination of the soil, of the atmosphere, of superficial and subterranean waters, which consequently cause severe acute and chronic effects on the health of the workers.

In Costa Rica, among all the agricultural activities, the large scale monocrop cultivation of export bananas uses the greatest amounts of agrochemicals. On average, up to 44 kg of active substances are applied per hectare per year on the banana plantations. In 1987, the cultivation of bananas consumed 35 percent of the important pesticides of the country. The cost of fighting pests re-presents 35 percent of the total cost of the commercial production of bananas (Von Duszlen, 1988. Thrupp, 1988).

Types of chemical products used in banana production

The majority of the chemical products used on the banana plantations has been classified as highly toxic, according to the table of toxicity classification of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Among the pesticides most utilized on the banana plantations, the most prevalent are different nematicides, such as Terbuphos, Ethoprophos, Phenamiphos,, Oxamil, Carbofuran, and Aldicarb. These nematicides are organophosphates and carbamides of the type that easily cause acute intoxications. The use of the majority of these nematicides is severely restricted in developed countries, due to their high acute toxicity. These nematicides are, moreover, highly toxic to different types of fauna (aquatic organisms, birds, reptiles, bees, cattle, etc.).

Another chemical that is commonly utilized is the herbicide Paraquat (Gramoxone). Despite the fact that it is considered moderately toxic by the WHO, there is evidence that Paraquat is extremely dangerous to human health, so much so, that it was included in the PIC list (Principle of Informed Consent), of the Conduct Code of the FAO. This chemical is a product that can cause intoxications, burns, dermatitis, and possibly, pulmonary lesions in exposed workers. Besides, it is very persistent in the soil.

Pesticide management on the banana plantations

The banana companies select the pesticides according to the fruit residue tolerance of the buying countries, and not according to the level of toxicity to the environment or to human health. Thus, Paraquat, Aldicarb and others of minor use, such as Carbofuran, Methomyl, and Methyl-Parathion are included in the PIC list, besides being part of the Dirty Dozen of the Pesticide Action Network.

Generally, on the banana plantations there is no adequate control of transportation, storage, mixture preparations, and pesticide applications. These products are applied with ground aspersions (in the case of nematicides and herbicides), air aspersions (in the case of fungicides), by bag-wrapping the bunches (in the case of insecticides), and finally at the packing plant (in the case of fungicides and disinfectants).

On the plantations, the application of pesticides without adequate control equipment is commonplace; during the process of aerial fumigation, the presence of workers in the fields is not avoided, nor are homes nor bodies of water.

The effects of pesticides on human health and the environment

The toxicity of the pesticides used in the banana plantation activities has received notoriety by their effects on the health of workers. Reports of burns and other skin and eye lesions caused by the application of the herbicide Paraquat have been common. Likewise, reports of the killing off of aquatic organisms after fumigation and after heavy rains, caused by the runoff of pesticides, have also been common.

For these reasons, aerial fumigation is considered one of the most serious causes of environmental and human health problems generated in the banana activities.

In the packing plants, men and women workers suffer lesions on the skin, which are difficult to cure. These are caused by the continual contact with the toxic substances in the water, such as aluminum sulfate and potash, as well as the fungicide Thyabendazol (Mertect).

According to the Department of Toxic Substances of the Ministry of Health, 58 percent of the systems of application on the plantations show deficiencies regarding security for workers and for the environment.

In the Valley of La Estrella, Abarca and Ruepert (1992) detected residues of Chlorpyriphos (used in the plastic bags to protect the banana bunches), and Cholrthalonyl (used to combat Black Sigatoka) in superficial waters. The latter was found in concentrations up to 8 micrograms per liter, where concentrations of 3 to 6.5 micrograms per liter are considered chronic for fish. In the same zone, in seven out of nine samples of subterranean water, Cholrthalonyl was detected in concentrations up to 0.98 micrograms. In seven out of eight samples of sediments, Cholrthalonyl, Chlorpyriphos, Terbuphos and Ethoprop were detected. These levels drastically surpass the permissible levels established by the European Union for potable water, which are 0.1 microgram per liter for individual pesticides and 0.5 microgram per liter for total pesticides.

According to the diagnosis carried out by the Ministry of Health in 1992, at that time 82 percent of the banana plantations did not have systems to treat the liquid residues contaminated with agrochemical products.

Bananas: toxicity record in Costa Rica

The incidence of worker intoxications with pesticides in the Province of Limon (the principal producer of bananas for export), is 77 percent of the entire country. The incidence of work related intoxications in banana plantations, relative to other agricultural crops in Costa Rica, was of 59.5 percent and 63.9 percent in 1995 and 1996, respectively.

The areas of greatest banana production, which include the Atlantic Region and the county of Sarapiqui in the Northern Huetar Region, present the greatest incidence of intoxications by pesticides in Costa Rica: 63 of every 1000 banana workers present problems.

Nationally, in 1990, 75 percent of the intoxicated field workers were from Limon and 78 percent from Guapiles (in the Atlantic Region). Of these, 25 percent and 20 percent respectively, were from the packing plants. Moreover, 17 percent of the denunciations corresponded to women, including pregnant women.

Due to the high incidence of intoxications, it has been determined that women have greater problems in packing plants (79%), while the men present greater accidents during the application of pesticides (62%) (Vergara, 1991).

The calculated rate of work related pesticide intoxications in the banana plantations is of 6.4 percent per year. This is more than a 100 percent difference with the rate of 3 percent of intoxications presented by agricultural workers in developed countries (WHO/UNEP, 1990).

With respect to chronic intoxications and long term effects, the most notorious case has been that of the sterilization of more than 2000 workers in the banana zones of Costa Rica, who were exposed to DBCP during the 1970s (Ramirez y Ramirez, 1980; Thrupp, 1991).

"TWO ECONOMIES COME FACE TO FACE:BANANA PLANTATIONS TRANSFORM THE LANDSCAPE"

By Gerardo Alfaro, Fundación Güilombé

For many decades in Costa Rica and in all of Latin America, politicians, intellectuals, technicians and promoters have visualized rural populations and their surrounding environment as cold objects of study or as simple targets of their policies. The promotion of modernization, development, progress and civilization policies was justified in this supposed backward world. They covered up, with less than good intentions, the fact that these humble inhabitants were rooted in ancestral cultures carriers of knowledge and productive practices that move with the forces of Mother Jungle, and that generally, they are in balance with them.

This caused the proliferation of myths regarding the superiority of the urban-industrial-capitalist world over the rural world, and the superiority of Occidental science and technology, over these local knowledges and practices. Education and technical extension campaigns were promoted in the means of mass communication. In these, all this beautiful magical-natural world of the countryside was ridiculed, as a way to create conditions to promote repeated policies of "modernization of agriculture", which has not been more than simply a process of dismantling peasant and local traditional economies, and their productive and life practices, in order to give way to the concentration of thousands of hectares in hands of transnational companies, along with the simultaneous impulse of productive practices based on monocultures and chemical agriculture. This implied the destruction of vast ecosystems of tropical humid forests, the impoverishment, proletarianization and/or peasantification of thousands of rural families, and loss of food security of these families and of their countries.

This article hopes to describe the characteristics of these two antagonistic worlds and to suggest possible explanations about how the world of markets imposes itself upon the "natural" economies, and how this has caused a radical change, in only a few years, in the natural and human landscape in the majority of the rural scenarios of the Costa Rican Caribbean. We will take the case of the expansion of the banana industry towards the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s as an example. Monoculture versus organic bananas

It is important to conceptualize what we understand by these two economies, as this will help us understand the process of transformation of space to which the monoculture of banana is taking Costa Rica.

The open market natural economies are those peasant economies in which the families depend more on the exchange of resources and energy with the ecosystems, and less with the exchange of merchandise in the national market. On the contrary, the economies open only to capitalist market carry out a minimum exchange of energy and resources with the ecosystems, but do carry out a strong exchange of merchandise with the markets.

In the process of imposition of the latter over the former, as is the case of the expansion of banana monocultures, this is the key that explains how this transformation of the human and natural landscape as lived in the Costa Rican Caribbean in the last years occurs.

The strategy of imposition of the market economies over the economies based on the exchange with Nature has been based on:

1. Press and educational campaigns regarding the economy and society of Costa Rica, trying to dislodge the ancestral dialogue among the traditional population, its productive and life practices and the forces and resources of Mother Nature that surrounds them. Peasant knowledge is ridiculed, regarding aspects of climate prediction, soil management, management of ecogeographic units, cycles of flowering-fruiting-reproduction of tree species, plants, insects, birds, animals, cultivation practices related with the lunar phases, curing with botanical remedies, animal husbandry, association of crops, etc. The official agronomists, until recently, looked down on the peasants who still practiced their naturalist knowledge.

2. The promotion of agrarian policies conducive to placing traditional producers at a disadvantage when faced with markets, by fixing the prices of their products, by increasing the prices of agricultural inputs, by not providing basic services such as roads, transportation, markets, health, etc.

3. The promotion of policies which favor large transnational companies producers of bananas, pineapples, etc. with the aim of pressuring the small traditional producers to sell their lands, or for the use of the few zones still with forest ecosystems, in order to cut them down.

This was the context in which transnational companies such as Standard Fruit Company, Chiquita Brands, Banacol and other pressured the Government at the beginning of the 1990s to promote a Plan of Banana Promotion. This plan gave them great fiscal and tributary benefits, favorable exchange rates policies, authorization to use new lands, deregulation in environmental and labor norms, freedom to eliminate workers Unions pressures by means of implementing pro-management Solidarismo.

Under this plan, in the early 1990s, there was a massive, aggressive and uncontrolled expansion of banana monocultures, at the expense of displacing small diversified farms of thousands of small traditional producers in the forest regions where they co-inhabited harmoniously.

This process brought on the transformation of a human-natural landscape with banana production in the midst of tropical agro-ecosystems immersed in Black, Indigenous and Mestizo Peasant cultures, to a landscape characterized by the deterioration of the balances of ecosystems, and banana workers and their families with a very low quality of life.

Green Gold or "Green Hell"

The uncontrolled expansion of banana monocultures in the Caribbean promoted by large transnational companies in the last 10 years, is recognized today as a radical change of Dantesque dimensions, in the natural and agrarian, ecological and human landscape! Those happy and healthy peasants with their small farms, resembling beautiful diversified gardens that dominated much of the area along the Saopin Highway to Limon, in Matina, Cuba Creek, Siquirres during the first years of the 1990s, were erased with one sweep, and replaced with a hideous landscape, an interminable sea of banana plantations, tattered banana workers with sad faces, women and children with pale semblances and anguished by the psychological pressures of this green hell. Where are those little houses surrounded by dense forests, cacao crops where the monkeys and birds, and butterflies lived? Annihilated! For ever, annihilated by the greediness of powerful Mr. Banana Dollar.

We have only taken the recent expansion of banana plantations as an example of these processes, however, this history is but the last link in a process that historically began 100 years ago in the Atlantic. We can imagine now the dimensions of the changes that the "green gold" has had on our original Caribbean of a Black cadence, mixed with the whispers of the interminable chants of the Bribris or Cabecars, spiced with the Mestizos, and having as a backdrop the gigantic, shady magical tropical forests that our valiant and combative writer Carlos Luis Fallas Sibaja (Calufa) described in his book "Mamita Yunai", when the banana plantations only were beginning to transform this natural landscape.

To conclude, this landscape is the one that dominates today in the majority of the Caribbean regions of Costa Rica; it is a model of exploitation that erodes, contaminates and violates the biodiversity of the planet, including human life.

TWO ADVERSARY CONCEPTIONS:

CARIBBEAN TROPICAL GARDEN VS BANANA MONOCULTURE:

Caribbean Tropical Garden

The central social actors are the peasant families (mestizo-black-indigenous), carriers of ancestral knowledge and naturalist practices. 2.Bananas are cultivated under forest shade cover with up to five vegetational levels (they are veritable domesticated tropical forests), within the agroecosystem of the tropical garden of Talamanca: mixture of trees, crops, medicinal plants and an enormous biodiversity of flora and fauna in equilibrium. 3.Low density of crops combined with other crops: keeps the richness of the soil. 4.Selection and natural cure of seeds that are most adapted, and that promote genetic diversity and generate natural resistance against "pests" and diseases. 5.Use of lands with moderate inclines which take advantage of the natural drainage and avoid fungal diseases. 6.The fertility of the soil is maintained by a recycling of organic matter, the optimum use of solar illumination and of the soil. Moreover, green manures, vegetable cover and compost are used. 7.The workers are the owners of the means and the products, there being a just and dignified relation with work, providing a healthier life. 8.A vital relationship of co-existence and rootedness is established with Mother Earth. 9.Because these families come from a mystic dialogue with Mother Tropical Jungle (whose occult and eternal message is: "Be ye diverse"), they apply a management of the farm based on a strategy of multiple use of the natural resources and ways to appropriate them. In such a way that the farm becomes a mosaic agro-ecosystem where everything is mixed with everything (bananas with cacao, coffee with wood trees, fruit trees for firewood, medicinal plants, tubers, insects, birds, animals, human beings, etc.), in a great holistic equilibrium. The absence of a rupture between Human Being and Nature in the process of work with the environment, implies the presence of a great emotional equilibrium. In this way, the natural and balanced landscape of the small Caribbean farms and their people, offers us an unmeasurable benefit by any economistic calculation: a profound psychic equilibrium!

Banana Monoculture

1.Systems of production where the main social actors are the banana entrepreneurs (owners of the means of production and merchandise); on a second plane, the banana workers, uprooted from their link to the land and their ethnoecological ancestral knowledge, and subject to the exploitation of their work, intoxicated by agrochemicals, in the midst of an unhealthy environment, unbalanced, and without a real quality of life. 2.The system of production is carried out by the planting of enormous extensions, resulting in the erosion and total elimination of the biodiversity. This model of plantation is used by the large companies, both in conventional plantations, as well as in supposedly alternative plantations, in which only a few of the poisons are avoided. 3.Indiscriminate use of poisons in the form of insecticides, nematicides, fungicides and herbicides, which cause disasters in the ecosystems even in places far away from the point of contact. 4.Methods and practices of aerial fumigation, highly contaminant of air and water sources. Many of the communities around the banana plantations are very affected. 5.Deforestation on the margins of the rivers, speeding up problems of sedimentation. 6.Death of animal life where the contaminated canals discharge their waters. 7.Deforestation and erosion of extensive regions considered to be a sample on the most rich biodiversity of the planet. 8.Acute, as well as chronic damages to the health of workers of the banana plantations. 9.Thousands of tons of plastic wastes, such as bags (impregnated with insecticides), boxes and ropes, as well as thousands of tons of organic wastes which often end up in the nearby rivers. 10.The production and commercialization of export bananas are in the hands of three companies that control 60 percent of the world market. 11.Violation of labor union rights and environmental rights of workers. 12.This system of production comes from a break between Humans and Nature, implying a break of the workers with themselves (negative self image and self esteem), and a break, consequently, with the rest of the fellow workers. This implies profound emotional imbalances which generally pass through the workers, generating acute problems of alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, delinquency, violence, and family instability and disintegration. This is the daily world in which the banana worker and his family lives! The monotonous landscape of the omnipresent banana greenery, the foul smelling gutters, the stench of poison, garbage scattered about everywhere, the buzzards, the houses each one like the next, each quadrant like the other, each banana plantation like the rest, all contribute to a psychologically asphyxiating environment lived and expressed by the worker and his family day to day, and which forms part of this infernal game of rupture and self negation.

"THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPHYXIATION OF THE WORKERS:

TRAPPED WITHOUT EXIT?"

By Marlene Castillo Jiménez

Banana exports in Costa Rica gene-rate juicy profits and better living conditions to a very reduced group of people, most of whom are foreigners. Meanwhile the mass of men and women workers who contribute their labor in work days, that at times surpass 14 hours a day, live in subhuman and demeaning conditions.

The duties of planting, gathering, and packaging bananas occupy a mostly peasant or migrant population who have been pummeled by government policies that destimulate small scale agriculture, and who have been forced to sell their lands, and seek stable salaries because their income no longer is sufficient for the subsistence of their families.

All these people are pushed to work in the banana plantations by conditions of extreme poverty, by personal and collective histories of violence, abandonment, discrimination and, above all, by a lack of opportunities. These conditions have marked their lives and they face a profound process of the loss of a peasant identity, and the absence of a viable life project to call their own.

Once the duties begin on the banana plantation, these occur together with long and extenuating work days; subhuman personal relations of exploitation and degradation; insufficient salaries to satisfy the basic needs for the subsistence of the family; the loss of spaces of workers to call their own; and the intensive use of agrochemicals that damage the environment and human health. This conjunction of situations and characteristics make these people feel evermore diminished, exploited, trapped, demeaned, frustrated, guilty and impotent, both at an individual and at a collective level.

Long extenuating work days

The duties of planting, gathering, and packaging bananas require the direct participation of human beings. These duties are planned by taking into consideration the number of boxes the company needs to dispatch daily or weekly, which is variable; this depends on the contracts made with the buying countries. It does not matter that the legal working day is eight hours, nor that the physical limitation of the human body required to carry out the duties are surpassed. If the contract stipulates a quantity of boxes that require work days of 14 hours or more, men and women workers must continue working until the stipulated amount is completed, without receiving compensation for overtime, since salaries are paid according to boxes packed per day.

Nobody must complain of physical hardships nor solicit not to carry out a duty because of illness or exhaustion. Whosoever does, receives demeaning answers and threats of being laid off by the foremen, which often carry through. No one dares refuse to carry out a duty nor to express the hardships a duty has on the worker. The company has created a particular "socialization", an organizational culture in which the selfsame fellow workers are the ones who humiliate those who show their tiredness or physical ailments caused by the long work days.

The law of silence rules, as well as the law of who can withstand the most. The bodies must comply with the assigned duties at the greatest speed possible, without it mattering what the person feels. The workers allow their bodies to be exploited and their rights be denied, as long as they are not demeaned or their valor questioned by fellow workers or foremen. This type of exploitation directed at the body is the key to obtain the submission and silence of the workers.

Insufficient Salaries

Much is said about the salaries on the banana plantations being greater than those earned in other jobs; the companies pride themselves of this. This has also made the banana plantations become the centers of attraction of a labor force, in which often the supply surpasses the demand. This situation serves as a constant threat to those who need a job and fear that any complaint will bring on their disemployment, since many others are waiting in line and willing to work unconditionally.

Never the less, the high salaries in the banana plantations, more than a reality, are a myth. If it may be true that they often surpass the salaries in other rural employment, it must also be considered that the work days are practically double of what is legally stipulated. Moreover, the work in the banana plantations is not ruled by the minimum regular work day, but rather the contract is done for hours worked. This goes in detriment of the men and women workers because even though they may work more than the legal workday, all the hours are paid the same.

Despite the fact that the workers dedicate all their energies, physical and mental, to their work on the plantation, the economic retribution they receive is not sufficient to satisfy the basic needs of food and housing for their families.

Living in precarious conditions, the people work long days in order to achieve a capital they never see, because the fruit of their work, their salary, is insufficient. This, of course, generates a high level of tension, frustration, impotence and personal lack of satisfaction, which often is expressed in violent treatment toward sons and daughters, wives and husbands, hypersensitivity, low self esteem, and a sensation of being trapped. Many women and men workers experience their condition as a personal fault or incapacity to improve their life condition, resulting evermore in a poor self image and falling into passivity. The person does not realize that far from being guilty, he or she is the victim of a social system that exploits, utilizes and impoverishes him or her more every day. Thus is formed a strategy of survival that co-lors daily life with defeat and senselessness. Many people take refuge in alcohol, drugs and other evasion mechanisms, which far from resolving the problems, accentuate the situation of violence and poverty in which they live.

This is complemented with a series of strategies the company has in order to hoard the spaces in which men and women workers might be protagonists, express their creative capacities and their organizational possibilities. This, obviously, comes to sever the already deteriorated identity of the working class.

The companies take over spaces of the working class

The human and social scene of men and women workers of the packing plants and of the banana plantations is a world of interactions, group processes, support networks, strategies of resistance, processes of identity creation and the seeking out of dreams and illusions, all of which crash abruptly against the structures of exploitation and dehumanization.

The company or management group has well designed strategies that impede and neutralize the personal and collective development of men and women workers. One of these strategies consists in taking over the spaces and initiatives that have always been of the working class. For this, the company employs three key pieces: physical infrastructure and human resources, the presence of the Solidarista movement, and long work days.

With the physical infrastructure and human resources, the company takes charge of the social and recreational activities, arranges them to the convenience of the management, without considering the men and women workers for whom the activities are supposedly organized. They are programmed at a time and place decided by the management representatives. Often the men and women workers find out about these events at the last minute, without having the opportunity to voice an opinion or to participate in the organization of the event.

It is said that the workers participate and have a say by means of the Solidarista Associations, but these, if it is true that their structures include the presence of workers, look after the interests of the management, and not that of the working class. This occurs with the sporting activities, with the events of non formal education and many other activities. The Solidarista Associations, that are made up of management employees and laborers who represent the management class, offer a wide gamma of possibilities set up to the convenience of the management. On the other hand, the working class finds itself disarticulated and demobilized.

The management representation steals the protagonist role of the working class, generating in the latter a loss of a sense of belonging and identification with the activities that have traditionally been their own. The men and women workers no longer own anything.

This sense of loss of control, dependence and a false sense of protection, together with an absence of expressions that give the working class an identity as a collectivity, are part of the effects of this strategy. The company is the only protagonist in everything, it is the only identity that exists, the only one that is expressed. The men and women workers as individual or collective identities do not exist, consequently they have nothing to express. They do not decide, do not have opinions, do not chose, nor do they dispose of their time. They are trapped, carrying out the will of the company, without possibilities of growing as persons and having a life project.

Patriarchal relations

Generally, the interpersonal relations on the banana plantations are mediated by power that is obviously not distributed evenly. Thus, these relations are violent, exploitative, demeaning and discriminating. They are the pillars which hold up a patriarchal ideology that considers some people to be superior to, or more valuable than others.

The relations are vertical and authoritarian, with their corresponding counterparts of submission and alienation between administrators and foremen; between foremen and laborers; between experienced workers and newcomers; between men and women; between adults and children. The former subjugate and exploit the latter, who in turn obey and comply with resignation what is demanded of them.

Contaminated environment

The banana industry is characterized by an intensive use of agrochemicals highly effective in the control of pests. The transnational companies seek out pesticides that are the least expensive, readily available, and that are effective against pests. So they access extremely toxic products, some of which are prohibited in the United States and Europe.

Their toxicity affects not only the flora and fauna of the banana regions, but also the health of workers and of the surrounding communities. Pesticide application is done by aerial fumigation as well as manual fumigation by workers, who are subject to allergies, respiratory diseases, chronic cephalic ailments, sterility, organic diseases, and even acute intoxications, some of which have claimed mortal victims.

The intensive use of agrochemicals is part and parcel of a relation of predation and aggression against Nature, against human beings, and against life in general. This goes against the relation which the peasant working class has with the land and all life forms, a relation that is that of caretaker, of respect and mutual protection. As laborers they live profound processes of alienation and loss of identity. They are victims, and at the same time accomplices, of the destruction, and with this they experience a sense of guilt and of meaninglessness to life and their place in it.

To summarize, the companies have achieved the demobilization of any possibility of solidarity among workers, or of recognizing in their fellow workers the corporal ailments they themselves suffer, or of experiencing relations of care and respect towards Nature and towards their own bodies, or of being critical of, and differentiated from, the company that exploits them. In a state of submission and exploitation, these people behave ignorant of their own bodies and what they feel, of their traditional values of solidarity, care for the earth and for life in general. They recognize as real only what the company demands. It does not matter if this contradicts their own wishes or their most profound identity.

In this way individuals and groups are formed who have no identity or project of their own, resulting in easy prey for exploitation. Impotent as persons and collectivities, trapped in the daily anguishing monotony of work, without possibilities of accessing their own spaces of education, technical training, or possibilities of learning trades other than those related to the banana plantation, and with consumer needs created, and at the same time limited, by the company, and finally with the destruction by the managerial class of possibilities of organizing, little by little, these workers, men and women, begin to feel diminished as human beings, not only in their work, but in their family life and own in macies.

SOME ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS OF DEVALUATION

The following are some of the traits with which men and women banana workers feel their self worth as human beings diminished.

Demeaned, because they can scarcely read and write, they do not dress in the latest fashions, and come from peasant traditions, commonly associated with little intelligence, simplicity and social inferiority.

Frustrated, because despite their efforts to work arduously, their life conditions do not improve.

Infantilized, daily in their interpersonal relations, both at work and at home, by bosses, fathers, spouses and companions. Ignorant, because they know of no other reality than that of the banana plantations, and they have always worked in labors considered socially inferior, requiring only great physical labor.

Abandoned by the health and social security institutions that are indifferent to the violation of human rights on the banana plantations; by their families or spouse who have left them or treat them with violence; by the government whose policies go against the small independent farmers; by their own bodies that begin to falter and weaken under the hard working conditions; by their original families who have stayed behind, in other regions and in other activities; by the banana company that gives them house and salary, but at the cost of an exploitation that silences and annihilates them as people and as collectivities.

Dull, for not knowing the rules of etiquette, ways and habits of city people and intellectuals.

Impotent, when confronted with an aggressor with a name but without a face, infinitely superior in economic and social power, and of whom they are dependent: the banana company.

Finished, because they feel without the strength to fight or to resist their bosses, as well as the national social and political reality.

Useless, because the body with which they have always earned a living loses strength and begins to fail because of the exposure to agrochemicals and long work days.

Trapped, because even though they feel the anguish of the daily routine, they depend on a salary to clothe and feed their family, they have no other sources of employment and they have not learned any other skill, since from early ages they have only worked on the banana plantations.

Disillusioned, because the anguishing routine provokes a state of stagnation of which they are aware: they remain there by inertia and because the social environment offers no other opportunities.

Guilty, because they live in poverty, ignorance and an absence of opportunities or possibilities of growth as persons. They consider these circumstances as personal failures and not as direct effects of a system and an exploitative and unjust company that has impoverished them and has denied them the possibilities of development and of a more dignified life.

"A PHENOMENON OF OUR TIMES: THE LIFE OF MIGRANTS"

By Jeanette Vargas Quesada of the Social Pastorate of the Diocese of Limon

Men and women capable of risking everything they own with the sole aim of offering a more dignified life to their loved ones.

Pushed by the instinct of survival, in search of better living conditions, humans are displaced to other nations. Because of its condition as a border country with a relatively high level of development with respect to the rest of Central America, Costa Rica is one of the principal receptors of Nicaraguan migrations.

With 70 percent unemployment, the highest in Latin America, Nicaragua faces the consequences of long periods of war, laced with serious natural catastrophes which have buffeted this nation since its independence.

In 1990, the peace process diminished the armed conflict in Central America. In spite of this, the condition of the people did not improve. On the contrary, today they are the ones who have to pay the poor record of their governments.

The poorest populations are forced to abandon their place of origin, using different methods of transport, risking their life and that of their families. They migrate as a desperate answer to the situation they live in.

In search of work

Like many other compatriots of his, David left his home, left his land. His brothers, sisters and parents stayed behind. With the address of an aunt who lived in some neighborhood of San Jose, he began his long journey to Costa Rica full of hopes and dreams.

Even though Rivas, his home town, was not that far from the border, he had not seen the border before. With a passport, a tourist visa and 200 Cordobas, he approached the border post of Peñas Blancas. Like him, hundreds of people were in line to exit Nicaragua.

At the entrance control to Costa Rica, he changed his Cordobas, learning about a new currency: 4000 Colones to reach San Jose. He took out the telephone number of the house where his aunt worked as a maid, and called her. When he arrived in San Jose, Rosa waited for him at the park La Merced, to take him to the room she shared with three of her sons and two more nephews.

The fifteen year old boy spent one month looking for work in the Capital city, and he was only able to work for one week washing cars at midnight.

"On the banana plantations in Limon there is a lot of work, and you earn good money. Why don’t you go there?" his aunt said. So David departed one Monday morning to Cariari de Pocosi. He asked for work and they sent him to La Catalina, a banana plantation. Because he no longer had any money to pay for transportation, he spoke with the foreman, and on the following day he had work and a mattress on which to sleep.

By that time his tourist visa had expired, and his room mates began telling him about the risks of walking in town without his documents. For fear of being caught and taken back to Nicaragua, David spent five months without going to town.

When he did, he was lucky, because two of his friends were asked to show their documents, and finally had to pay all their salary in order to be let free.

In the afternoons he played baseball with his friends, on Sundays, domino and beer at the bars of the banana company. Weekends with a radio, a checker board, the bar and the loneliness of the banana plantations.

The rule of arbitrary acts

"Emigration is a massive phenomenon of our times, a permanent phenomenon that takes on new forms and affects all the continents and almost every country, posing human and spiritual problems." (John Paul II)

. In face of the situation of forced migration, the Nicaraguans in Costa Rica are subject to multiple arbitrary acts by the Costa Rican authorities, and subject to exploitation by their bosses. They have no access to health, education or housing. They live almost clandestinely, nor do they enjoy worker guarantees.

Angela had worked in Costa Rica for eight years to support and raise her eight children. She first started at a restaurant, where she worked from two in the afternoon to three in the morning, suffering the screams of her female boss when Angela would complain about not feeling well.

She then looked for work in sales, but had no migratory documents. She went to the banana company and they also asked her for her documents. So she worked packing yucca from six to six, standing all day long with her hands in water washing the tubers. The day she cut her finger while preparing the yucca, her boss fired her. He told her to return in two weeks to collect the money of the last three days he owed her.

Migration control

"The immigration policies of numerous nations are in crisis.

The last decade of the 20th Century, like the first of the 21st, will be characterized as the era of migrations." (Stephen Castles, The Migratory Age).

For several years, the governments of Costa Rica have intensified the restrictive measures of their migratory policies, with the aim of slowing down the enormous influx of Nicaraguans, even though the Ministry of Labor recognizes that Costa Rica needs the labor force and that Nicaragua has an over supply of labor due to the economic crisis in that country.

In a presentation during the Bilateral meeting carried out in San Jose, January 30th of 1995, Costa Rica recognized the presence of a high percentage of "undocumented" Nicaraguans in the national territory. It estimated a population of around "300 thousand Nicaraguans who have not normalized their migratory condition".

There are no statistics to serve as reference in order to define precisely the number of undocumented or "illegal" Nicaraguans there are in the country, but surely the number offered by the government is extremely conservative. One could well say that there are more than half a million Nicaraguans. An important reference point regarding the influx is that approximately 600 persons enter the country daily at only one of the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border control posts. A temporary or permanent "residence" is one of the traditional mechanisms of legalization, however, not everyone can gather the requisites or enough money to obtain such a status. The condition of refugee is another means, but only serves under situations of war.

In 1995 a seasonal work card was created, but its processing depended on the willingness of the employer to normalize the situation of the workers. Few were benefitted by this, since for the companies this implied greater economic costs for having to pay minimum wages and insure the workers.

Currently, the governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua are discussing the need to create a control mechanism that would regulate, and at the same time facilitate the use of Nicaraguan labor in Costa Rica. Nevertheless, despite the agreements and treaties between the two countries, the great majority of undocumented Nicaraguans in the country still have few possibilities of becoming documented.

A reality that cannot be hidden

The participation of the means of mass communication have contributed to strengthen an attitude of rejection of Nicaraguans by the common Costa Rican citizen. If it is true that some migrants have committed abuses, the description of these cases by the press has generated xenophobic attitudes in the Costa Rican population.

The people in general are uninformed about the magnitude of the problem and of the critical situation the Nicaraguan people are currently suffering. At the same time that the influx of Nicaraguans to Costa Rica grows, so do the measures of migratory control. Despite the fact that there are migration control posts along the border, and a strict vigilance is maintained, the influx of Nicaraguans to Costa Rican territory continues.

The economic, political and social crisis that our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters are living, is even more severe if we consider that the demands of the international market force governments to sacrifice their people in order to satisfy those demands. Given the crude reality suffered by Nicaragua, the emigration of its sons and daughters will not stop. They continue to arrive to Costa Rica, legal or illegal, professional or illiterate, workers and those who are fleeing the law; they all constitute a cheap labor force for construction, sugar cane harvests, coffee picking, domestic work, and banana plantations.

"THE STRUGGLE OF THE WOMEN OF LIMON:

FROM SILENCE TO MOANING"

By Erlinda Quesada, Coordinator of the Commission for the Recognition and Promotion of Women,Diocese of Limon

When does silence become a moan? For many years the women of Limon have lived under precarious health conditions. In her own home or at school, her sons and daughters are sexually abused. She has to suffer the harassment of her superiors, for fear of losing her employment.

She has no access to credit for not owning anything that could back her up. In the meantime her sons and daughters ask her for food, education and clothing. She has given the best of her life to a transnational company that considers her as discardable matter when her productive forces begin to wane.

The women of Limon today keep a silence of mourning: because her right to organize in a labor union is denied her; because in so many homes her work is not valued; because she has been humiliated and her rights violated; because she cannot discover the world on her own.

She is presented as an object of pleasure, a source of profit in the so called beauty pageants and an exhibition piece in commercial propaganda. She is seen as incapable of occupying executive positions and of taking decisions. In politics she is used to attract votes, receiving always the lowliest posts. She screams in silence to be allowed to be simply a woman.

How is silence not to become a moan when her voice is suffocated by physical and psychological aggression, and when her load is grinding her ribs?

This moan is becoming louder and louder, and many structures are beginning to creak with the need to silence the soft voice of women that fight for their rights.

When the women demand respect and equal opportunities in all fields, the hope of a new society is born where there is true equality, where people are valued for being persons and not for the power they wield or their social status. It is for this transformation of mentality and structures that the Pastorate for the Recognition and Promotion of Women of the Diocese of Limon fights for. Not for power, but for the establishment of justice, to recover the dignity of the sons and daughters of God, created in His image.

We find the continuation of the woman Veronica who washed the face of Christ, in the woman who works all day in a packing plant with her feet soaking and her hands stained, in the youth who is forced to stop studying in order to work, in the multitude of adolescent mothers who have to face the difficult task of being mothers and fathers at the same time. Let us unite our voices of hope and security, because if we fight for justice, we will always have a light that guides us and will not let us lose our way.

These are the Good Tidings announced by the Samaritan woman to the mothers that lamented next to the Holy Sepulchre.

Let us show solidarity so that together, like Miriam (who is mentioned in Exodus of the Holy Scriptures), we can advance singing and dancing so that justice is implanted

"PRINCIPAL PROBLEMS OF WOMEN IN THE BANANA PLANTATIONS"

Extract from Foro Emaus (1997) "Bananas for the World and the Damage for Costa Rica?"

It is important to highlight the active role of women in banana production. The first problem that affects women is that of poverty. As is well known, generally around the world, women have less access to economic resources and to land. Costa Rica is no exception, and particularly in the banana regions, female poverty is aggravated for various reasons:

Work is poorly paid, and for many women it is occasional, depending on the amount of the harvest.

The work requires heavy time schedules, which must be combined with domestic work.

There are salary differences between men and women on the banana plantations. Women tend to earn less for the same work, as was denounced in the III Conference of Banana Unions in 1995.

In these regions there are no other employment alternatives that permit women to earn their own keep and that of their families.

Another problem that affects women who work on the banana plantations is the difficulty they find in having their labor rights respected, such as maternity leave and blood tests to measure the amounts of pesticides in their blood. Especially women who wash the clothes of banana workers who spray these pesticides, suffer grave contamination. Women’s right to unionize is also disregarded. Those women who are able to organize, suffer union persecution, expressed in the assignment of heavier tasks or unexplained salary reductions that they must constantly appeal. In some banana plantations, sexual abuse and harassment by fellow workers and foremen have been denounced. In similar fashion, some women have problems in being assigned housing.

Pesticide contamination is suffered by women in the region even in their own homes and without being workers on the plantations. This is due to two main causes: indiscriminate aerial spraying which contaminates the vegetable gardens some women plant in their houses for domestic use; relations with contaminated spouses or companions who work on the plantations. This has lead to conditions of sterility and congenital deformations of children born to them.

AGAINST SOCIAL AND WAGE DISCRIMINATION

In a recent conference on the social problems of the region of Limon, the following proposals were made:

1. There should be a clamor against social and wage discrimination, and in favor of equal opportunities.
2. The Unions should introduce mechanisms that facilitate a greater participation of women in activities. The creation of child care centers in the labor unions is a concrete initiative that moves forward in that direction, although we make it very clear that the fight for child care centers is not a fight that belongs only to women, since child care is a duty of both men and women.
3. It is necessary that each labor union, as well as the Unions Coordinator, seek resources for education and the training of women. This should be given priority.
4. We respectfully urge the labor unions, as well as the national and international Coordinations, to establish in their statutes or founding regulations, secretariats for the working woman.
5. That the perspectives of labor union participation in productive and organizational matters take women into consideration.
6. That labor unions, as well as national Coordinations, such as the Regional Coordinator, promote exchanges and stimulate debate and greater knowledge about the problems affecting women
7. That issues regarding the problem of women be highlighted in all bulletins, newspapers, educational material and labor union publications, in general.
8. Urge fellow women to assume a more active role in the fight for the rights denied them, both in society, and in the labor union organizations.

"TRANSNATIONAL COMPANIES AND GOVERN-MENTS AGAINST THE PEOPLE: THE STRUGGLE OF Sará de Batáan"

By Roy H. May, Professor at the Latin American Biblical University

The government promised wealth to the small peasant farmers: all they had to do was mortgage their lands and associate themselves with a banana company. Unfortunately, that promise did not keep. When the banana company went bankrupt, it was the peasants of Sara de Bataan who had to carry the load. They almost lost everything.

In the mid 1980s, the government established the Atlantic Zone as a "Banana Zone". It directed financial and technical resources to promote the production of bananas for export, under the direction of private enterprise, both national and international.

Even though the region was inhabited by peasant farmers whose banana production supplied the national market, the success of the government plan depended on the exclusive production of export bananas. In order for the peasants to enter the Banana Plan, the government deemed it necessary to pressure them with promises of wealth or threats to take away their land.

In March of 1989, the majority of the peasants of Sara de Bataan decided to form part of the Banana Plan by associating themselves with the transnational company Uniban (whose place would later be assumed by the magnate Federico Gallegos). Only a dozen peasants remained out side of the negotiations, suspecting the plan was too risky and had few possibilities of benefitting them.

In earlier years, the peasants had received their land from the then called Institute of Lands and Colonization (ITCO), which today is called Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) and maintains administrative responsibility of the lands and agricultural development of the zone. Since the 1960s, when the peasant farmers began to arrive, the policy was directed at helping the small producers. It promoted a peasant agriculture for self sufficiency and national markets.

The IDA would provide technical advice and fomented peasant fruit and wood production, among other forms of support. However, when the zone was designated for banana expansion, the government wished to redirect peasant production toward commercial banana production.

Forced Monoculture

In this context, an agreement was reached among the banana company, the IDA and the peasant farmers for the production and export of bananas. For their part, peasant farmers agreed to dedicate their lands exclusively to banana production, sell the fruit only to the banana company, and place their land in mortgage in order to finance the project proportionately. The banana company agreed to buy the fruit from the peasant farmers and take charge of selling the fruit, provide salaries to participant peasant farmers and provide the necessary technical advice.

For its part, the IDA agreed to supervise the organization of the peasant farmers in associations of producers, offer technical follow-up and infrastructure planning, provide land titles to the farmers who did not already have them, look for financing from lending organizations, and oversee the compliance with the tripartite contract.

The twelve farmers who decided not to participate were the only obstacle for the total monopoly of the banana company. They continued producing corn, beans, plantains for national consumption, which in their opinion were an adequate market. They also had reforested their small farms with wood trees and fruit trees, which required years to bear their benefits.

Intuitively, they implemented integrated agricultural systems oriented by their own experience with production and commercialization, and their knowledge of the ecological limits. They did not wish to lay bare their lands and dedicate them to banana monocultures. At the same time, they suspected that the government promises seemed to good to be true.

The IDA, instrument of repression

The rejection of these farmers irritated the other farmers, and the government saw them as an obstacle to their Banana Plan. These farmers began to suffer a series of pressures and threats that tried to force them to join the contract. The most serious was when the IDA sent official letters threatening them with cancelling the adjudication of their lands if they did not enter the Banana Plan. According to the letter:

"(...) if it were necessary, measures would be taken in those cases of land owners who are not in accord with the establishment of banana production, with legal procedures, which we, as the Institution are authorized to apply, be it by procedures of nullifying land titles, or by the revocation of the adjudication of the lands (...) We hope, therefore, that you reconsider immediately your position, so that you may join us in consolidating this grand project in the short term. We reiterate that our only intention is to procure the well being of the small farmers and we are sure that with this productive project we will achieve this". (1)

The peasant farmers who did not wish to enter the plan called on the Parish of Bataan and its parishioner, Father Walter Marchena. With a telegram, Father Marchena asked the IDA to desist from pressuring the peasant farmers. "Leave them in peace and free to cultivate their lands," the priest requested. (2) With a lawyer provided by the Church, they analyzed the tripartite contract in order to understand the legal requirements of the contract. Based on this analysis, they reiterated their decision not to enter the Banana Plan, for being too risky. The IDA began pressuring the Church. In a telegram directed to Father Marchena, the executive president of the IDA said:

"Sword, keep to your sheath, says a wise proverb. (...) We respect your inexpert criterion in this matter, but we do not share it. In the short term we will have the joy of seeing peasant farmers for the first time producing bananas and living under better conditions. Hopefully with the blessing of a Priest who is up to date on the agroindustrial systems Costa Rica is achieving. For this reason, I do not plan to, as you say: "Leave them in peace. Because the peace of the cemeteries is not what we want, while the men of my country have the strength to fight for Costa Rica". (3)

Justice is made

A short time later, the Church presented a Recourse of Unconstitutionality against the IDA in support of the peasant farmers and their lands. The verdict was favorable: the IDA could not take away their lands.

The fears of the twelve were well founded. By 1994, the company of Gallegos was in financial crisis. (La Nación, October 5th, 1994). The company could not carry out its obligations nor pay salaries or other benefits it owed the peasant farmers "partners" in the business. Neither could respond to the Banco Popular, from which it had received financing for the company. (La Republica, March 4th, 1995). The indebted peasant partners also could not respond. The consequent conflicts between the peasant partners and the Gallegos company included strikes at the processing plant and the takeover of the plantation.

In these conflicts, the Church was also present. The Diocese Commission of the Social Pastorate asked the Ombudsman to obtain reliable information regarding the real situation of the company and that the Ministry of Labor intervene in the conflict. Father Gerardo Vargas, in representation of the Diocese of Limon, collaborated as mediator.

Consequences of the company offensive

Nevertheless, the future of the peasant farmers remained frustrated. In the midst of this uncertainty, many returned to peasant production as a means of survival. Some formed a cooperative to resume banana production, taking advantage of some banana farms and the processing plant. Others left the land.

For months the situation did not change. Many diverse negotiations on the part of the Church and the peasant farmers did not bear fruit. Finally, in June of 1996 the Banco Popular announced its intention of auctioning off the lands, claiming it had no alternative. Nevertheless, with the new negotiations of the Church and the grass roots organizations of the region, at the last minute the bank suspended the auction and asked the government to resolve the problem. A few weeks later, the government announced that it would cancel the debt of the peasant farmers had with the Banco Popular. The IDA would acquire the land to distribute it again among the same peasant farmers.

The promise of the IDA that "in the short term we will have the joy of seeing peasant farmers for the first time producing bananas and living under better conditions," was not kept at all. Moreover, the project completely failed. It only left a legacy of distrust, ecological destruction and poverty.

---

Notes1. Letter to Jose Antonio Mesen Ortiz, January 5th, 1990 signed by Sergio Quiros Maroto, executive president of the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA). Photocopy filed by the Diocese Commission of the Social Pastorate, Siquirres, Limon.2. Telegram to Sergio Quiros Maroto from Walter Marchena, the 11th of December, 1989. Copy filed with the Diocese Commission of the Social Pastorate.3. Telegram from Sergio Quiros Maroto to Walter Marchena, December 22, 1989. Original filed by the Diocese Commission of the Social Pastorate.

"A PRODUCTIVE ALTERNATIVE FOR A NEW BEGINNING:

THE ORGANIC BANANA"

By Javier Bogantes of the Fundación Güilombé

Bananas have been a desired fruit since pre-colonial and during post-colonial periods. Both colonizers and colonized became interested in this tasty and nutritious fruit. For the indigenous populations of the tropical regions, it became an essential source of nutrition, both for them and for their animals; they cultivated it in their gardens in the midst of forests and they celebrated it in their fiestas processed as fermented "chicha". Colonizers and neo-colonizers were always interested in the commerce of this fruit; they brought and took diverse varieties from far away places. Bananas were understood as a business that reached the most aberrant and absurd situation in the enormous plantations established at the end of the last century by diverse North American companies.

The banana monocultures were established in several countries of Latin America in regions inhabited by indigenous communities. Continuing with the policies of extermination employed against the indigenous communities of North America, the banana neocolonialists confronted these cultures. Supported by the go-vernments of the time, they violated all the possible forms of tranquility of these peoples, finally forcing them to flee from their land.

When the monocultures were established, the biodiversity and natural wealth of these regions disappeared. The enormous extensions of plantations became sources of contamination and social conflict. If it is true that the establishment of these production systems implied a considerable influx of currency and the creation of jobs, it is not possible to measure the environmental and social costs that the invasion of transnational banana companies caused these banana producing countries.

What can be affirmed is that when one walks through any of these regions of Ecuador, Colombia or Costa Rica, one finds a poor and depressing environment, social and environmental deterioration, in those places where these monocultures have been established. In regions such as Apartado or Uraba in Colombia, Bocas de Toro in Panama, or in Valle de la Estrella in Costa Rica, one senses this depressed environment.

When one looks with a conscience or with common sense, it is not necessary to carry out too many scientific studies to verify something that is evident: that the attack of agrotoxins which must be applied to these extensions of monocultures is unsustainable. The effects on the watersheds and the deterioration of the soils allow us to understand the disastrous alteration of the ecosystems where these companies have established themselves.

The knowledge of the behavior of Nature as a system, where all the diverse ecosystems are integrated permits us to deduce that these sources of contamination, these great banana plantations, can be affecting the surrounding ecosystems, among which the most affected are the aquatic ecosystems.

In order to verify this, sometimes it is only necessary to converse with children, who tend to tell us stories of dead fish in the streams, shrimp that disappeared or strange odors in some of the pools where they can no longer bathe.

The Earth: a living and sacred being

Organic farming has become a fad. Within a short time politicians and opportunists began to use the discourse, without understanding its implications and principles. A false organic world is worse than a conventional one, because the problem of the corruption of these saving concepts is that all hope is lost regarding the possibility of changing our relationship with Nature.

It is not exaggerated to say that organic farming is indispensable in order to achieve planetary sustainability. This is not only a technical agricultural system, but rather, it implies a transformation of the values that have prevailed regarding the relations among humans, and between these and Nature. In principle, it is necessary to change the attitude which considers that all other beings are there to be used at one’s will to satisfy one’s needs and greed. In this sense, we can comprehend the respect for the biodiversity of species and of cultures. It is necessary to reach a clear comprehension of the indigenous cosmogonical thoughts, based on the fundamental principle that the earth is a living and sacred being. This principle, in its technical application, will lead us to implement methods to avoid erosion, desertification and the sterility of the soil caused by over exploitation. If this change in attitude regarding the relation of human to the earth would extend to diverse labor and economic interrelations, it would be very possible to achieve not only a transformation in agriculture, but also one in urban settings, in all the aspects of infrastructure, and in the exploitation of mining resources.

Another principle related to the transformation of this anthropocentric conception, is that of fraternity. A change in attitude, to relate to Nature and the rest of living beings in a respectful and selfish fashion, can apply to intergenerational relationships, those between genders, and with all people we relate to. For this reason is has been stated that it is of little use if organic farming is applied as an innovative technique, but with a conventional mentality. It would be, to paraphrase Erich Fromm, a correct means in the hands of incorrect persons.

An element of great importance is, likewise, the concept of system, the understanding of the web that unites us in Nature, and the links that join the ecosystems. The understanding of these links strengthens our responsibility as actors in a system where everything is subtly related. It is in this sense that the application of a philosophy of the organic should not in any way promote a isolating process.

"The models "of resistance"

Traditional agriculture comprehends the interrelations between the autochthonous cultures and Nature, amons. The cultivation techniques, nutrition, cosmovision and beliefs. Magical knowledge is that which guides the activities of human beings with agriculture, hunting and health in many regions of the planet. This knowledge comes from the interaction with, and the profound observation of Nature.

Traditional agriculture practiced by indigenous cultures, undoubtedly maintained sustainable styles of production and life ways until they were subjugated and forced to flee, assuming then life ways of resistance. They had to, in many cases, flee to the mountains which were not apt for agriculture, and renounce farming when confronted by enormous difficulties.

That economy and agriculture of resistance continues to be practiced in many regions of Latin America. In Costa Rica, the indigenous cultures and some peasant and Afro-Caribbean communities continue applying these models of resistance. In the indigenous case, particularly among the Bribris, one should not forget two fundamental aspects: the first is that at the turn of the century they were forced to leave the valleys and retreat into the mountains. Even though later on they recovered their land when the banana companies pulled out, the degradation of the ecosystems was enormous. The process of recovery was exemplary, but still the Valley of Talamanca is extremely altered.

The other aspect is that this population, and all the indigenous populations in general, live in demarcated territories, which with a growing population, are no longer sufficient. From an ecological point of view, and in relation to traditional cultivation techniques, problems begin to arise. For example, the traditional practice of slash and burn works well when land can be left to recover up to seven years, depending on the specific conditions. Currently, there are families with many children and very little land who cannot wait so long to finish the cycle of leaving the land to rest. This begins to have deleterious effects such as erosion, sedimentation of rivers and a diminished soil fertility.

In such situations, organic farming can offer valuable possibilities, from a technical agricultural point of view, as well as from an economic and political perspective, because the perspective which the conventional system immediately offers is the package of agrotoxic inputs to counteract these problems. Likewise, plantation agriculture is proposed and conventional commerce, in which the farmers remain dependent on technicians, sellers of poison, and intermediaries. This has already occurred in Talamanca with plantains; in some regions these dangerous solutions have already been introduced.

Organic farming offers more integral solutions, from which the priority is the recovery of soils by means of terraces against erosion, live barriers, the use of legumes, green manure, diversification of crops and the use of fertilizers produced in the communities, as well as other techniques.

A successful and risky experience

Under the conditions presented in this article, the Fundacion Guilombe initiated a process of agroecological recovery of banana plantations. This process has been of great interest, because it has consisted in the practical integration of traditional systems along with diverse techniques of organic farming; we have also tried to achieve a model of commercialization that does not repeat the pitfalls of a market where those who most profit are the intermediaries. For this reason, we have created, along with several other persons of the community, the company called Ucanehu. It is a socialist entity in which the partners seek, above all, the greatest income for the producers and justice in the relations of exchange.

Organic bananas are a product about which much is said lately. There is great interest on the part of consumers, and of course, on the part of producers. But this also implies a risk, by the fact that this system of production under forest cover cannot have an intense density of banana plants. It is also important for this system to maintain a great diversity of crops and have a management of soils that prevents the loss of nutrients. These principles become endangered when the success of the business begins to tempt avoiding conditions that are a priority in order to achieve a sustainable production and life. Developmentalist criteria in this system could seriously endanger what is expected, that it is a productive process which is profitable for the producers, while maintaining the forest cover, and protecting the aquifers and the fertility of soils. The possibility of entering a market that has always been dominated by the great entrepreneurs and transnational companies has also been considered of vital importance.

Organic bananas should be managed with criteria that are even more strict than those employed with organic coffee and other products, specially because of the sensitivity of the tropical ecosystems, the great precipitation that in many cases surpasses 4000 millimeters a year, and the special conditions of the tropical soils which easily tend to lose fertility. Moreover, it is important that what has occurred with the certification of coffee does not occur with bananas. With coffee, the certification only sees what occurs on the farm, but does not regulate the contamination of the rivers caused by the processing plants. In this sense, great care should be taken with the use of fortuitous products, such as houselines or other implements used in the process.

From utopia to practice

We have passed from utopia to practice. There are now many producers, technicians, entrepreneurs, professionals, magicians and musicians that participate in this process. The actions expand and it is just a matter of time, for people to recognize the grave consequences the use of agrotoxins promoted by the Green Revolution has had on the health of humanity and the planet. Today, the same ones who filled their pockets producing agrochemicals, invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the new Biotechnological Revolution; it is also said that the problems of feeding the world will be solved, and that the efficiency of the fight against pests will increase. In this way Shell, Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz are preparing to become the owners of the germplasm of the countries of the South. They have established themselves in several of these countries and take advantage of institutions and diverse research organizations that sell or simply hand the genetic heritage of our countries and of humanity over to them. In 1987, Henk Hobbelink, a Dutch agronomist of GRAIN (Genetic Resources Action International), who has studied the matter and fought to counteract this new and enormous business of the transnational companies, told us: "The most preoccupying thing is that these companies have the opportunity to combine their leadership in plant production with their dominant position in the production of pesticides. The future of agricultural development in the South is threatened."

Organic farming is not a technique; it forms part of the vital field of humanity, agriculture, but also in the art of what is possible. With this policy, and together with the environmental, indigenous and alternative movements, important struggles are defined against the patenting of germplasm, for justice in commerce, for the revitalization of soils, for biodiversity as the heritage of humanity without it belonging to transnational companies or private enterprise. It is with intercultural communication, with agricultural practices, and with the comprehension of being able to see what is seen, as Moreliano Augusto expressed, that this agriculture of today and tomorrow will expand and correct the errors committed against Mother Earth.

THE RECOLLECTIONS OF MORELIANO AUGUSTO

Moreliano Augusto tells that bananas are a solar fruit. that the plant harvests the light of the sun and moon like no other plant. For this reason its fruit are yellow like the rays of sun and sweet like the honey of "chiquiz ". Moreliano Augusto is a man of 80 years, indigenous Bribri, who lives in the Tain¡ Reserve, in the mountains that are behind a plantation of 3,500 hectares of the Standard Fruit Company, in the Valley of la Estrella.

He recalls how before, the indigenous people only consumed the primitive banana called "golden fingers". And in the midst of the interrelations, the conflicts and recovery of lands that the United Fruit Company abandoned after the pest outbreaks, floods and diseases sent forth by the US Cares, or spiritual doctors, the variety called Gros Michel planted by the company is what remained. These plantations were almost exterminated by Panama disease. Gros Michel was replaced by Cavendish, but was attacked by a disease called Yellow Sigatoka. Since then, the banana companies have used great quantities of poisons to maintain their plantations.

Moreliano Augusto never understood the practices of the banana companies in those regions of Talamanca. He recalls how he saw hundreds of thousands of trees cut down with chain-saws and axes. How they deviated the course of rivers, how he sensed the arrival of poisons and smelled the beginning of contamination.

The evil of the sikua, or White Man, was warned by his fathers and grandfathers. At first he was forbidden from going down to the plantations. With time he came nearer in order to learn, and today he tells us how he saw the evil of the sikua expand through the land, the rivers, the subterranean waters, and even through the blood of men. The poison he smelled without knowing what it was when he crossed the devastated fields when he went to fish in the sea, today has expanded (according to the Bribri cosmovision, which is not far from the modern conceptions of the flow of systems) through all the entrails of the earth.

The chimuri (banana in the Bribri language) is currently an essential source of nutrition for the indigenous and peasant communities. It is an important food for the diet of pigs. The Gros Michel banana was maintained in the agroecological systems of the indigenous cultures. Under the shade of trees and among the cacao plants, the Panama disease was controlled, with a traditional management that clearly understands the way of harvesting the light of the sun and moon, of which Moreliano tells.

Two totally different systems were established in a specific geographical region, but they never converged: the monoculture, promoted by the values that have lead us to the socio-environmental planetary crisis (expansion, competitiveness, and production), and a traditional indigenous system of production, characterized by a sustainable style of production and life, and based on values of respect for Nature and other living beings.

A DEEP GAZE

Moreliano Augusto simplifies discourse by gazing, gazing deeply at the soil of his farm. After asking me if I saw what he saw, again he asked me, as if speaking to the trees, "How is it possible that the sikuas still do not recognize that the soil is alive, and like all living beings, it can cry or be happy?" This world vision is the framework in which we have tried to work with the production of organic bananas, experimenting with the web of Nature.

"THE CERTIFICATION OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS"

By Cileke Comanne and Javier Bogantesof the Fundación Güilombé.

Certification emerged in order to guarantee the consumer the quality of an organic product. With the growing distance between consumer and producer, the certification of organic products was taken up by certifying agencies, principally European and North American.

In order to guarantee the quality of organic products to consumers, seals were invented. These seals are a guarantee that a certifier gives a product, certifying that not only has the product been inspected, but that it also complies with the regulations and norms of organic production of the respective agency.

It is the seal of the agency which if recognized by the consumer, and it is the trust placed by the consumer in this seal that permits buying products without qualms. The regulations that guide organic production try to control the compliance with ecological techniques. The aspects that are regulated go from production in the farm, to processes of industrialization, transport, labelling and others.

With this situation that seeks to guarantee organic products to consumers, several certifying agencies emerged, particularly in Europe and in the United States. While some of these are non-profit organizations, the majority are profitable businesses, that often charge onerous sums in order to certify products of producers in the South, regardless of whether they are large or small.

It is important to mention the function of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), which has sought the coordination between producers, commercial firms and certifying agencies. This international organization has also taken on the challenge of promoting organic agriculture worldwide. To achieve consensus regarding the norms and regulations, these have been discussed in diverse assemblies which deal with organic farming in ecological, technical and social terms. With this aim, norms have been defined which include a system of accreditation for the certifying agencies and establish the guidelines of productive processes.

Exporting to Europe: the approval of the EU

Different European governments have established norms that must be kept so that a product may be sold as organic. In the last years, norms have been emmited in Costa Rica and Argentina; in Mexico, Peru and Brazil norms are also being defined. Since 1991, the European Economic Community (EEC) has established norms for organic production. In these norms it is established that the definition of a product as ecological or biological is synonymous with organic. This definition is of great importance in order to avoid ambiguous situations, since different seals at times manipulate these concepts without complying with all the required conditions, in order to profit with the alternative markets.

Any imported product to the European Union must be certified by a certifying agency approved by the Community. Another important aspect is that the European Community has set a time limit for the countries of origin of organic products to establish their own norms, duly approved by the powers in charge.

At this time, there are only three ways to export organic products to Europe: obtain a certification from a certifying agency approved by the Economic Community; obtain a certification which is approved by a certifying agency approved by the CEE (today EU); or to obtain a certification from a non-European agency, but approved by the EU. In Latin America there exists only one of these, which is the Agencert of Argentina, a certifying agency directly ratified by the EU.

The small producer and certification

The certifying agencies are businesses. Even though some are not for profit, the majority compete for markets and clients in order to remain in a field where competition has increased tremendously. Some times, the buyers have their preferences for the certification of a particular agency; the consequence of this is that the producers must pay several certifying agencies if they want to sell to several countries or several buyers.

The certification of an agency is extremely costly. The producer must cover the costs of air travel, room and board and salaries of inspectors, which range from 250 to 400 dollars a day. The internal costs of the agency must also be paid. And this must be paid every year, since the certification lasts only one year.

When there is a better coordination among agencies, or if the agencies have established agreements among themselves, it could be that the agency might give a second certification, after having approved the first certification. This, of course, is less costly, but unfortunately the majority of the agencies still do not have this type of agreement. While only products for export need to be certified, and the internal markets still do not require certification, we could ask ourselves what will happen when it is obligatory, both for international, as well as national markets.

Currently, the organic producers depend on the certifying agencies. They must pay if they wish to export. They also depend on the demands of the exporters and buyers of the products. Some certifying agencies are not for profit, and some can be more organic than others, in the sense of following the principles of justice upheld in the organic philosophy. However, many are in it for the money.

Dependence has never been positive for any producer, and it is even worse for small producers who embark on the dream of exporting in order to try to improve their economic condition. There are important experiences in Latin America of small producers who have united in order to have access to international markets, particularly in the case of coffee, sesame, cocoa and bananas.

Nevertheless, we should ask ourselves if in these new alternative markets, the same injustices of conventional markets are being repeated? Who takes the best slice? It is also true that diverse organizations have organized to work with Fair Trade seals, but it seems that the process of globalization, the mega-markets and extreme utilitarianism are also affecting the good intentions of fair trade or just markets.

The need for American Latin agencies

The most effective way to lower costs of the certification of organic products is to create agencies in the Latin American countries. These national agencies can reduce, in good measure, the costs of operation and charge salaries according to the rates of each country. The best way to create these agencies could be to seek the support and approval of known agencies who might be willing to aid in permitting the access to the mentioned markets.

Another advantage of certifying with national agencies is that the inspectors and certifying agencies are familiar with the crops and the environments they must certify. This would avoid situations, such as the well known case of foreign inspectors asking where the coffee was in a coffee plantation. In order to maintain the quality of an organic product, it is fundamental to know the particular characteristics of the diverse ecosystems. It is very difficult for a person who only is familiar with crops of a temperate climate to inspect crops of the tropics effectively.

The other typical aspect of organic export products from tropical or subtropical zones in Latin America is that the majority are in the hands of organizations of small farmers. The certification of groups of producers, that generally unite more than 200 families, requires a particular system of certification. It is impossible for an inspector to visit 100 percent of the farmers, as some agencies demand. In those cases, the internal controls, the social control and a good administration are fundamental.

The problem consists in how to obtain the international recognition of the consumers. One way is for a recognized agency to support the agency and establish a system of joint certification, giving continually more responsibility to the national agency. During a period of time, the products could carry the seal of both agencies involved, so that the buyers of the products wold begin to recognize and trust the seal. The difficult thing is to find agencies that are willing to support this process.

As many of the agencies are private enterprises, they are not very interested in the quick establishment of national agencies for the international markets. In Europe we can name at least two agencies we know of that by their philosophy and internal organization do have this ideal: KRAV, of Sweden and the Soil Association, of England.

Proposals and principles

In 1992, together with the Department of Agrarian Science of the National University, the Fundación Güilombé carried out the first course in Costa Rica on inspection and certification of organic products. A commission emerged from that course that achieved a permanent presence in the Department of Vegetable Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, among whose duties it was to develop a proposal of organic norms for Costa Rica. This proposal was later taken up by a commission formed by the Government in 1995. Unfortunately, serious changes were made to the original proposal.

Given that the problems regarding certification in the Mesoameri-can region are similar, and that several initiatives to solve them exist, Fundación Güilombé carried out a workshop in April of 1997, along with the support of the Humanist Institute of Holland (HIVOS) and of IFOAM, where 26 organizations participated. These came from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Central America and Colombia. The majority of these organizations are ones who in their countries promote and work for organic farming and certification, as well as the commercialization of organic products.

In that workshop there were several very interesting results. Proposals were made such as the redefinition of the principles of organic farming. A joint declaration was made with the proposal to create norms that are more in accord with the productive, environmental and social realities of the region. An action strategy for the creation of national certification agencies was also defined.

We synthesize the principles that were agreed upon, with the aim that the spirit that dominated the workshop may serve as an inspiration to continue these processes and struggles to achieve sustainable lifestyles and forms of production

The soil is a living and scared being.

A holistic focus is necessary for the understanding of the relationships between humans and Nature.

Respect and comprehension of biological and cultural diversities is required.

Environmental ethics inspired in the sense of belonging and in the interdependence of the living community are important.

Sustainable lifestyles and forms of production are sought.

Social justice between generations and genders are also sought.

Respect for human rights: laws and conventions regarding labor relations are indispensable.

Equality in the relations of exchange among those who participate in organic farming: producers, certifiers, buyers, technicians and others, is needed.

NEW SOCIAL FUND RENDERS FRUITS:

QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE BANANA PLAN-TATION ZONES"

By Omar Salazar Alvarado of the Social Fund of the Costa Rican Fund for Microprojects (FOMIC)

The Social Fund of the Costa Rican Banana Plantation Sector (FOSBAS) is an economic organism that has been functioning since January, 1995, offering credits and donations in support of productive, social and ecological initiatives of social groups and grass roots organizations related to the banana industry and its consequences. During 1995, the Fund worked only in the Atlantic Zone of the country (from Sarapiqui to Sixaola), but since January of 1996, it expanded into the Southern Zone of the country, with a presence from Palmar Sur to Rio Claro.

FOSBAS emerged as a result of the efforts of NGOs, Unions, and communal organizations, who entered in the impact zones of the banana industry, wrote up an agreement of institutional collaboration between the Costa Rican Fund for Microprojects (FOMIC) and the Swiss Cooperation Agency, Helvetas.

The economic funds came from the sales of bananas of the small Costa Rican producers to European (Swiss and German) markets, by the mediation carried out by Gebana, a Swiss organization that promotes and commercializes the Fair banana. Gebana hands over part of the profits for the financing of small projects.

The beneficiary population of FOSBAS is made up of the salaried men and women banana plantation workers and ex-workers, small farmers and landless peasants, women, youth groups, indigenous groups and migrant banana workers. But likewise, those benefitted were grass roots organizations (Unions, peasant organizations, cooperatives, women’s associations, Churches, cultural, ecological and indigenous organizations) and organizations of promotion and popular education that work in these zones.

Support is directed to those activities that are executed by new groups, social organizations and NGOs. These projects tend to alleviate or resolve social problems derived from the banana industry, and that considerably affect the human populations that are directly or indirectly inserted in the banana industry. Financing is divided in two parts:

1) Credits directed to productive projects of grass roots organizations, be they of rural or urban areas linked to the banana sector (with an adequate interest rate). The maximum ceiling to be approved for a project during 1996 was of 350,000 colones. The following activities were given first priority: traditional agriculture for internal or external markets, agroindustry, commercialization, small scale commerce and services, microbusinesses related to tourism, crafts, natural medicine, reforestation and protection of watersheds at a low cost and with community management, communal or family reforestation by way of forest tree nurseries of native species, small scale animal husbandry by communities or families, the use of alternative technology, the invention and production of substitutes for agrochemicals, and the validation of alternative instruments for production.

2) Donations for projects of a social character in such areas as health, informal education, organization, human rights, ecology and environmental protection, culture, support of community infrastructure and communication. The approximate amount donated per project is 150,000 colones. Results in two years of work

During the period of 1995-1996, the FOSBAS program has financed a total of 121 projects, of which 112 are social projects and 9 are productive projects.

The amount financed by FOSBAS for this period was a total of 11,657,501 colones in donations (social projects) and 2,880,000 colones in credits (productive projects), which reveals the social vocation of the project.

By county of incidence, we find that the support has been concentrated in those places where there is a greater presence of the banana industry in the zone. Pococi is the exception; it is one of the counties with the greatest banana production where the Fund has had particular difficulty in entering, maybe for not having emissaries, maybe for an inadequate promotion, or maybe because this sector is where there has been the greatest demobilization of the banana workers movement because of the proliferation of the Solidarista Associations.

The truth is that for 1997, FOSBAS made an enormous effort to enter the zone, partially achieving its aim in the first semester, with the reception of six projects, this being the same number of projects supported in the last two years.

Two areas need to be analyzed with special care: the areas of ecology and communication, both of which are considered to be of high impact in the zone. The first, because it points to concrete and delicate problems in the banana plantation zones; the second, because it is considered a means with great impact for the development of organizational initiatives and for the dissemination of information regarding the problems of the Zone.

In 1997, we began a program of identification and promotion of grass roots organizations in such areas. This effort has had positive results already in the first semester of 1997.

The evolution of the Fund in two years reveals an increase in the placement of funds, both in the amounts (from 5.75 million in 1995 to 8.78 million in 1996), and in the number of projects approved which grew by 68.1 percent. Nevertheless, the potential of the Fund is not used in its totality. The financial movements in 1995 left an unused amount of 1.6 million colones, and in 1996 the amount left unused was of 1.5 million. However, it is important to note that in 1995, the total available amount was approximately 5.6 million colones, and in 1996, it was nearly 11.9 million colones.

It is interesting to analyze the biannual evolution of the Fund, in three areas of priority: the first being credit or production; the second is the social area of organization, one of the most solicited; and the third is the fight for justice, where we support a movement that fights for the rights of the inhabitants of the zones of incidence.

General conclusions:

· FOSBAS has become a work tool for the organized inhabitants in the zones of impact of the banana industry in Costa Rica.

• * The numbers presented do not reflect the real impact that can be seen among the communities: the true sense of the program is crystallized in the strengthening of the organizations; in the support given to the revindication of lands, and to the struggles for the rights of workers; in the funding for environmental recovery; and in the help for the repair of communal infrastructures such as schools and health centers.
• * Hundreds of meters of canals, dozens of school buildings and health centers, hundreds of families helped with food during unjust evictions, new labor union branches, new forms of communication, the establishment of community tree nurseries, studies for the establishment of organic farming, etc. This is the real impact of FOSBAS.
• * Only in 1996, in social projects alone, more than ten thousand families in the banana zones were directly benefitted; this benefit, without being financial, has allowed these families to opt for better living conditions and has contributed to a better quality of life for the inhabitants.
• *The Fund is just beginning. There are aspects that still need fine tuning. The new process was begun in 1997 by means of a strategic planning, and we expect that for the next year, with the help of cooperation agencies, the Fund may grow in quantity, and above all, in quality so that it may attend the needs of the organized men and women inhabitants.

AREAS OF SUPPORT (AREAS TO BE FINANCED)

HEALTH. Education, information about eating habits, labor health, support to mobile and temporary health services, promotion of worker committees of occupational health, programs for the building of latrines, health clinic for sterilized workers, dissemination of information, education on the effects of pesticides, education and promotion of natural medicine, research of current problems of environmental health and labor health, campaign for the prevention of health problems.

INFORMAL EDUCATION. Seminars, workshops, talks, courses, etc. of basic education for direct beneficiaries, training of leaders, of instructors, of adults, technical training for productive projects, support to educational activities and training for the social and grass roots organizations.

ORGANIZATION. Promotion of the organization of each beneficiary sector, promotion of the capacity to defend the interests and empowerment of every beneficiary sector, institutional support for the consolidation of the organization of each beneficiary sector, partial support for the acquisition of equipment and work instruments of the organizations of each beneficiary sector, support to pay temporary technicians for specific activities programmed by the organizations.

HUMAN RIGHTS. Defense of violated human rights, promotion for the defense of rights, legal support, research into violations of these rights.

ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. Environmental education, support of education exchanges in the areas of ecology and organic farming, communal or family reforestation projects with the creation of forestry nurseries of native species, economic support of incidence in environmental struggles, audiovisual material about the environmental and ecological problems of the zone, legal advice to actions of protection, denunciations and popular mobilizations for the protection of the environment, support for environmental impact studies, support for lobbying in national and international ecological institutions.

CULTURE. Support for programs of cultural protection of ethnic minorities linked to the banana industry, cultural workshops for the workers of the banana sector, events for the reaffirmation of cultural identities of the beneficiary sectors, historical research and salvage of oral traditions among workers of the banana sector.

FIGHT FOR JUSTICE. Support for social struggles, support for struggles of revindication of the social organizations of the sector, support to the labor sector in the resolution of patron-worker conflicts, diagnosis of the problems affecting the social sectors that have something to do with the banana sector, travel support for lobbying efforts, support for legal efforts. Studies and dissemination of information regarding the problems affecting migrant banana workers, defense of the labor rights of migrant workers.

COMMUNICATION. Support for communication materials of organizations or groups, training of grass roots communicators, support to radio programs and grass roots newspapers.

SUPPORT FOR ORGANIZED COMMUNITY WORK. Partial support for community infrastructure I (construction of schools, school cafeterias, health centers, community centers), partial support for community infrastructure II (bridges, mini-aqueducts, streets, others of communal use, etc.).

FIN