During his administration the state defaulted on its financial obligations to Minor C. Keith, who was building a railway to the Caribbean port of Limón. To compensate him, cabinet minister Bernardo Soto signed a deal that gave Keith 800,000 acres (3,200 km2) of tax-free land along the railroad, plus a 99-year lease on the operation of the train route. Keith would later use those lands and his command of the railroad to build a powerful banana trading concern (see United Fruit Company).
