Glum and pessimistic, United Fruit Co. officials in Boston and Guatemala City waited last week to see what Guatemala proposed to pay for 233,973 acres of company land at Tiquisate, expropriated by the land-reforming government. A curt official telegram to Almyr Lake Bump, the U.S.-owned firm's Guatemala manager, finally brought the answer: $594,572, or $2.54 an acre—and that in 25-year, 3% government bonds. The company's unofficial valuation: $11.5 million. "The measure constitutes a heavy blow to the voracious imperialist company," gloated the Communist weekly Octubre. "Practically confiscation," snorted United Fruit.
Keeping...
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