Balas = Bullets in Spanish.
'Alas Bullets' presents an interpretation of the bloody history of US banana companies operating in Latin America. 'Alas', the expression of grief and regret, references "Alas poor Yorick", Shakespeare's most quoted words on how fleeting life is. Here, the manipulation of language graphically and conceptually demonstrates an exploitative international relationship. The English word 'alas' becomes the Spanish word 'balas', literally 'bullets' in the flesh of the banana. And if we take it a step further, ironically, the Spanish language cannot be ignored for the conquest of indigenous peoples.
Chiquita Brands International, formerly United Fruit Company, admitted to hiring paramilitaries to provide security for their workers in the Colombian banana factories. From 1997 to 2004, these paramilitaries murdered union leaders that supported worker rights, farmers and their families; entire villages were wiped out. Chiquita is now being sued by thousands of family members of the deceased. Del Monte and Dole are also implicated but have not admitted to any wrong doing.
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