Poder y medio ambiente. La palma aceitera en el Pacífico costarricense, 1950-2007

This paper examines the power strategies used by the United Fruit Company during the second half of the twentieth century in order to control the palm oil production chain in Costa Rica , thus ensuring its access to the profits as well as to the environmental resources. The paper focuses on technical and scientific sources, environmental factors, and the consequences for agricultural workers. It shows that the United Fruit Company provided small-scale, peasant farmers with certain production alternatives, along with access to credit and technology. Yet it also set entrance barriers to the more productive segments of the production chain by limiting access to genetic resources, means of industrialization, transport and commercialization. The State played a central role in levelling the field by supporting the construction of industrial processing plants. The ability to manoeuvre between segments and transfer power were the principal means used to maintain control over the chain. This paper firstly analyses the evolution and intellectual development of these concepts of political economy and the conceptual framework applied. Secondly, I will present the case of power relations in the palm-oil industry in the south of Costa Rica from 1950 to 2007. Finally, some conclusions will be presented. The principal sources for this paper include secret reports from the United Fruit Company's own laboratories; internal mail and memorandums; bulletins, and scientific papers. In relation to the cooperative sector, detailed interviews and a poll of 100 independent producers were carried out.