Cool USA Facts!

In 1928, the Columbian army killed ~800-3000 striking workers in Cienaga, Columbia, after the US threatened to invade with U.S. Marine Corps troops if the Colombian government did not act to protect the United Fruit Company's interests, in the Banana Massacre. The banana plantation workers were demanding written contracts, eight-hour work days, six-day work weeks and the elimination of food coupons. The troops set up their machine guns on the roofs of the low buildings at the corners of the main square, closed off the access streets, and after a five-minute warning opened fire into a dense Sunday crowd of workers and their wives and children who had gathered, after Sunday Mass, to wait for an anticipated address from the governor. 1