Well I recently finished reading a book by Rius (Mexican leftist cartoonist that has an excellent grasp on political history and explains it in the most simple ways) called "Osama Tio Sam" in which he tries to explain how the U.S. is the country with the best and most advanced communication systems but yet it's population is the worst informed in the world. "Media is controlled by the goverment serving the only purpose to entertain" he claims , adding that it "only complements the passionate world of sports and spectacle, which is the essence of life in North America" . Basically the U.S. population ignores what their governors do and it was a major surprise for everyone to watch the twin towers in the World Trade Center fall apart on the now long remembered 9/11 . And then everyone asks horrorized, why are they doing this to us? The American society also ignores what happens outside its borders and some still believe, just like the sons of Israel, that it's people are the ones chosen by God to guide the world. The book is also a great chronology on how the United States has committed "terrorism of state" , in its pure concept of the term , since the European immigrants founded the country about 4 centuries ago.
There is a small section of the book , which talks about Guatemala in the 1900's and it explains how back in the 1930's Jorge Ubico was literally elected to be president by the CIA (the most sinister agency that the U.S. could ever make) . My grandpa Mario Vargas(on my mom's side, R.I.P.) who used to work for the government owned railroad in Gu
atemala (shown in the picture) that went from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios (Atlantic port to the Caribbean) was used by the United Fruit Co. (a North American company that owned great portions of peasant and indigenous population lands in Guatemala for about 70 or 80 something years) and was used to carry their main product, the banana. The United Fruit Co. was at its best profitable time during Ubico's era. When this dictator was in power, it was a horrific era for Guatemala, he shot hundreds of sindicate leaders including politicians and college students. The classified indigenous population of that time were forced to keep small booklets in which they had to count how many days they were working for the United Fruit Co., if the days weren't enough they had to work for free for 6 months. My grandpa who witnessed the way that society functioned back in the day used to tell me all these stories with a sad look on his face.
atemala (shown in the picture) that went from Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios (Atlantic port to the Caribbean) was used by the United Fruit Co. (a North American company that owned great portions of peasant and indigenous population lands in Guatemala for about 70 or 80 something years) and was used to carry their main product, the banana. The United Fruit Co. was at its best profitable time during Ubico's era. When this dictator was in power, it was a horrific era for Guatemala, he shot hundreds of sindicate leaders including politicians and college students. The classified indigenous population of that time were forced to keep small booklets in which they had to count how many days they were working for the United Fruit Co., if the days weren't enough they had to work for free for 6 months. My grandpa who witnessed the way that society functioned back in the day used to tell me all these stories with a sad look on his face. I wrote an article on "Straight Outta Guatemala" that I named "Another Victim of Imperialism" which tries to explain the political difficulties that Guatemala has confronted with the imperialistic intentions of the U.S.A. and it was inspired by the stories that my grandpa used to tell me about the United Fruit Co. and a little investigation over the internet. I find it very interesting that an author like Rius developed this topic in his book 2 years later. I would've never thought that somebody would talk about it in the same kind of criticism I did, well I guess it was just a mere coincidence.
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