linguistic:voice_change, stylistic:tone, quality:corruption
Representation of the "Banana Massacre"

The " Banana Massacre " occurred December 5-6, 1928, in Ciénaga near Santa Marta, Colombia. Banana plantation workers had been striking against the United Fruit Company to earn better labor conditions when members of the local military fired guns into crowds.

This event, which occurs in Chapter 15 of One Hundred Years of Solitude, was depicted with relative accuracy, minus a false sense of certainty about the specific facts surrounding the events. For instance, although Garcia Márquez writes that there must have been "three thousand...dead," the true number of victims is unknown. However, the number likely was not far off, because it is considered that the "number of killings was over a thousand," according to Dr. Jorge Enrique Elias Caro and Dr. Antonino Vidal Ortega. The lack of information surrounding the "Banana Massacre" is thought to be largely due to the "manipulation of the information as registered by the Colombian Government and the United Fruit Company."