The Banana Republic in Art
In the encyclopædic, historical poetry in the book Canto General (General Song, 1950), the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904–73) denounced foreign multinational corporate political dominance of Latin American countries with the four-stanza poem "La United Fruit Co."; the second-stanza excerpts read:
. . . The Fruit Company, Inc.
Reserved for itself the most succulent,
The central coast of my own land,
The delicate waist of America.
It rechristened its territories
As the "Banana Republics",
And over the sleeping dead,
Over the restless heroes
Who brought about the greatness,
The liberty and the flags,
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Famous quotes containing the words banana, republic and/or art:
“I never liked bananas much anyway. Two-thirds of the way down even one banana I am willing to concede defeat smilingly and give the rest to the nearest monkey.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
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