Banana massacre
The Banana massacre (Spanish: Matanza de las bananeras or Spanish: Masacre de las bananeras) was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred between December 5 and 6, 1928 in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta, Colombia. The strike began on November 12, 1928, when the workers ceased to perform labor if the company did not reach an agreement with them to grant them dignified working conditions. As no agreement was reached, the strike lasted several weeks, costing the company severe financial losses, and ended in the massacre. After U.S. officials in Colombia, along with United Fruit representatives, portrayed the worker's strike as "communist" with "subversive tendency", in telegrams to the U.S. Secretary of State, the United States government threatened to invade with the U.S. Marine Corps if the Colombian government did not act to protect United Fruit’s interests.