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Banana Republic: Difference between revisions
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Any backwards tropical country (almost always fictitious, more often than not Latin American), that is ruled by a small corrupt clique. Also known in Spanish as "República Bananera" or "República del Plátano". Usually a [[People's Republic of Tyranny]] or a [[Puppet State]]. Will probably contain [[Jailbird of Panama|Jailbirds of Panama.]]
The terms has its origins in the [[wikipedia:United Fruit Company|United Fruit Company]], an honest-to-god [[Mega Corp]] with a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] approach. With the help of their buddies in the CIA, and some "well-intentioned" American presidents, United Fruit created countless US-friendly military dictatorships throughout the tropics dedicated to growing '''''bananas'''''. In these countries, United Fruit paid extremely low wages and close to zero taxes. Marxist and Maoist guerrillas surfaced everywhere<ref>[[
Since it was usually the Communists who opposed the dictatorships <ref>(even though they didn't necessarily establish democratic/egalitarian societies once they got to power; see Cuba)</ref>, in Latin America, the term is associated with countries that have governments that are controlled by multinational corporations, and not with just ''any'' decadent dictatorship per se. In Europe and the U.S, the connotation tends to fall more closely with that of any dictatorship in any tropical country, capitalist, socialist, or what have you. Although, possible exceptions notwithstanding, there aren't really any left in Latin America these days, [[Truth in Television|they can still be found]] in Africa and Southeast Asia.
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* Isthmus in ''[[James Bond|Licence To Kill]]''. It's [[Meaningful Name]] betrays it as an [[Expy]] for Panama.
* Parador from the romantic comedy ''Moon over Parador'' is another classic example (with a wonderful performance by [[Raul Julia]] as the [[Evil Chancellor]]).
* [[wikipedia:Val Verde
* La República De Los Cocos (The Republic of The Coconuts) in ''Su Excelencia'' is like this to the point of having 4 presidents in 20 minutes.
* The unnamed island country in [[Harold Lloyd]]'s silent 1923 comedy ''Why Worry?''.
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* Colombia during the 20th century. The United Fruit Company had a lot of power in the government, which allowed them to exploit the workers without any consequences. This incited a number of protests that led to the "Masacre de las Bananeras," in 1928 in which the Colombian army shot the protesters by the order of the government under the influence of both the United Fruit Company and the US government, who threatened to invade if the Colombian government doesn't protect the company's interest.
* [[wikipedia:Republic of Molossia|The Democratic Republic of Molossia]] has been described by its "president" as a banana republic. It's actually just two plots of land owned by Nevada resident Kevin Baugh. That didn't stop it from getting [[Kickassia|invaded]] by [[Channel Awesome]].
* The [[Dominican Republic]] under Trujillo and [[
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