Programmed to Chill Jimmy Falun Gong

[originally published on Patreon February 15, 2024]



Today I discuss more criminals involved in the banana trade, introducing the Vaccaro Brothers and Sam the Banana Man Zemurray. I discuss that intersection between organized crime and Wall Street that intersected precisely in the banana trade through these figures. 



I go through Zemurray's career, from his start in Alabama, his Cuyamel Fruit Company, the Honduran coup of 1911 and the concurrent takeover of Honduran national debt by JP Morgan bank, and the ensuing takeover of Honduras by United Fruit Company. Then, I discuss Zemurray's takeover of United Fruit Company (brokered by Sullivan & Cromwell) as well as the decisions Zemurray took at the helm of the company.



After that, I discuss Zemurray's role in the creation of the modern state of Israel, especially regarding the multiple votes at the United Nations for the Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. Then, I cannot avoid discussing Zemurray's children who just so happened to have become scholars of Central American studies. 



[note: at the time I wrote and recorded this episode, I had not purchased The Heritage of the Conquistadors: Ruling Classes in Central America from Conquest to the Sandinistas by "Samuel Z. Stone", but I subsequently purchased the book and confirmed that it does not mention Samuel Zemurray or Cuyamel whatsoever.
The book does mention United Fruit Company, though the author does not see fit to mention that his grandfather at one time ran said company.]

Finally, I end the episode mentioning the Melville Collective's guerrilla actions against UFC offices in 1969.

Songs:
Osbie's Banana Song by the Thomas Pynchon Fake Book
Yes, We Have No Bananas by Louis Prima

[originally published on Patreon March 15, 2024]



Today is the opening salvo for a 15-part series on the rolling waves of crimes involving the Octopus that is United Fruit Company, the banana trade, Guatemala specifically, and Central America more generally, culminating in the Guatemalan Genocide.



In this episode, I discuss the origins of the Octopus. aka Boston Fruit Company aka the United Fruit Company aka the New Orleans Banana Trust. I know for a fact that much of this history has not been pulled together in this way before.



I trace the official and sanctioned history of Boston Fruit Company via Lorenzo Dow Baker, Andrew Preston, and get into less savory types such as Henry Meiggs and JP Macheca. I cover how Preston and Meiggs used railroad construction as land-grab exercises which also necessarily required slave labor. This in turn spawned the Banana Wars including an approximate 28 different interventions/invasions in 11+ countries.



Along the way I go over the Innocenti and related quasi-masonic quasi-klan terrorist groups, the Reconstruction-era wars with the federal government, the growth of Italian/Italian-American organized crime, the Crescent City Lynchings, and how it all intersected with the fruit trade. Here we see con men and mafiosi in bed with Wall Street, fucking over Central America in unison. This sets the stage for what is to come.



Banana In Your Fruit Basket by Bo Carter

I Like Bananas Because They have No Bones by George Elrick

Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas by Harry Chapin

[originally published on Patreon February 9, 2024]


As if I didn't discuss the Tupamaros enough, I revisit the story in light of even more information I found. In particular, I look at a RAND report on the MLN-T and cross-reference it with several more books on the group. This leads us to the interestingly-named Plan Satán, as well as much more context for the Mitrione kidnapping. I also found more information on the Nixon administration's decisions at the time.



Then, CJ and I act out a dramatic reading of Dialogue Before Death (1971), a portion of Mitrione's interrogation tapes by Tupamaros. We also discuss the curious publisher of this book, as well as more on the calculations that went into the decision to execute him.



Then, I look at an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the MLN-T through the eyes of one of their inspirations - Abraham Guillén, author of Estrategia de la guerrilla urbana (1969), as well as similar assessments made in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. I make a major tangent looking at the "Abraham Guillen Press/Arm the Spirit" publisher. 



I make a few final notes about the Tupamaros including that they confirmed Hevia was in contact with them before he defected back to Cuba. Additionally, I tell the story of Henry Engler, the Swedish Tupamaro, as well as what Wikileaks disclosures showed us of diplomatic handwringing about Uruguayan cancer center negotiations in 2007. Diplomats be lying.

To close out, I mention some of the wavy stuff relating to the Tupamaros' imprisonment, and discuss the Tupamaros leadership entering Uruguayan politics, culminating with Jose 'Pepe' Mujica becoming the President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015.

[note: at some point, probably talking about Guillén, I accidentally said FIA instead of FAI. FAI meaning the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, of which he was a member]

Songs:
Adios by Los Tupamaros
Anna was a Stool Pigeon by Laura Jane Grace
En Esta Tarde Gris by Julio Sosa

[originally published February 7, 2024]



I finish the story of Manuel Hevia Coscullela, the Cuban spy, based off his memoir, Pasaporte 11333 : ocho años con la CIA (1978). I examine what exactly Hevia was doing for the agency and what USAID's Office of Public Safety was up to. I discuss Lyndon B. Johnson's visit to Punta del Este, Uruguay for the Organization of American States (OAS) summits/conferences and how that affected the domestic political climate.



I get obsessed with the story of Uruguayan military officer Colonel Ramon Trabal - assassinated by "the Raul Sendic International Brigade" in Paris, a story which quickly enters the funhouse hall of mirrors. 



Then, to double back on the discussion of Gittinger's PAS files, entrapment ops, and MKULTRA death squad selection processes, I cover Hevia's explanation of the L and Q files. Just wait. He also explains the construction of a "parallel apparatus" and, in relation, discusses a police pimp. 



Afterwards, Hevia ran a restaurant as part of ops the CIA and Uruguayan police were running in Uruguay. Finally, Mitrione appears in Hevia's story, and I go through some details left out in the prior episodes. Ice cold.



[episode artwork based off the book cover]



Songs:

Dirty, Dirty Feeling by Elvis Presley

De Cuba Traigo un Cantar by Carlos Puebla

[originally published on Patreon February 1, 2024]



I continue the extended story of the Tupamaros by examining the life of Manuel Hevia Coscullela, the Cuban double (or triple) agent embedded in the CIA in Uruguay. I obtained his memoir, Pasaporte 11333 : ocho años con la CIA (1978) and translated various passages into English. As far as I know, this is the first time this has ever been done.



Hevia's story begins before the Cuban revolution, and I explain his education and upbringing as well as his activities before, during, and after the Cuban Revolution. Hevia was involved with the Cuban AAA during the revolution and with Che's JUCEPLAN after the revolution. Hevia got in bed with some unsavory Uruguayans at their embassy and then defected, snitched and flipped for the CIA (wink), and was sent to Uruguay to work for the agency.



From there, we get into Uruguayan deep state politics which is not uninteresting but which sets the stage for all the Mitrione stuff to come later. This is the story of deep espionage.



[episode artwork based off the book cover]



Songs:

Todo por la Reforma Agraria by Carlos Puebla 

Yo También Soy Miliciano by Carlos Puebla

[originally published on Patreon January 25, 2024]



Today I'm rejoined by Dr. Pig Bodine aka CJ (@pussy___teeth) to continue our discussion on the 1972 film State of Siege by Costa-Gavras. We open with a discussion on the death squad as a general concept and in its specific applications in Uruguay. 



Then, we discuss exactly why the Tupamaros were so effective and, despite that, why they were brought down so quickly. As it turns out, they were brought down due to the same factors that made them so effective: espionage and infiltration. We discuss both Cuban, Uruguayan, and CIA intelligence. I introduce Manuel Hevia Cosculluela, the double (or triple) agent embedded within this story. 



Then I tell the story of the Mormon Tupamaro within the story of the incredible jailbreak from the Punta Carreras prison of 1971. After, we discuss the infiltration against the Tupamaros by fascist drug and weapons smugglers.



We talk about the JCR, the Junta Coordinadora Revolutionaria, and place the Tupamaros within the continental revolutionary context. Finally, we cover the downright cocaine cowboy shenanigans of Mitrione's son. Believe it or not, however, we are not done with the MLN-T.



artwork by @DEEP_RED_BELLS

Songs:

Death Squad by Sacred Reich

Por una Cabeza by Carlos Gardel

Falling From Sleeves by Calexico

Abre los Ojos by Los Muertos de Cristo

Sprawl by Calexico

Miami Vice Intro by Jan Hammer