Skip to main content
Skip to main content

The AFL-CIO's Cold War in Honduras, 1954-1979: The Conquests, Challenges, and Limits of Imperial Solidarity

The AFL-CIO's Cold War in Honduras, 1954-1979: The Conquests, Challenges, and Limits of Imperial Solidarity

College of Arts and Humanities | American Studies | English | History | Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center | The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Monday, April 4, 2011 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Taliaferro Hall, 2110
Shedding light on the U.S.'s imperialist interventions in Cold War Latin America, this presentation will examine both the AFL-CIO's enterprises in Honduras and how Left activists, banana corporations, and the federation's close collaboration with the CIA challenged the federation's authority.

During the Cold War, the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) worked closely with the U.S. State Department, CIA, and multinational corporations in an enormous anticommunist intervention in the labor movements of Latin America.  Honduras was the most "successful" of the AFL-CIO's projects, but the federation's control was never total.  Shedding light on the U.S.'s imperialist interventions in Cold War Latin America, this presentation will examine both the AFL-CIO's enterprises in Honduras and how Left activists, banana corporations, and revelations about the federation's close collaboration with the CIA challenged the federation's authority.  This case study also helps us understand Honduras's June 2009 military coup and the powerful resistance movement that has risen up to contest it.

Dana Frank is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Her two most recent books are Local Girl Makes History: Exploring Northern California's Kitsch Monuments (2007) and Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America (2005).  Since the June 2009 coup, Frank has spoken extensively in the U.S. and international media, and her work has appeared in several news publications, including The Nation and The Washington Post.

 


Add to Calendar 04/04/11 4:00 PM 04/04/11 6:00 PM America/New_York The AFL-CIO's Cold War in Honduras, 1954-1979: The Conquests, Challenges, and Limits of Imperial Solidarity Shedding light on the U.S.'s imperialist interventions in Cold War Latin America, this presentation will examine both the AFL-CIO's enterprises in Honduras and how Left activists, banana corporations, and the federation's close collaboration with the CIA challenged the federation's authority.

During the Cold War, the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) worked closely with the U.S. State Department, CIA, and multinational corporations in an enormous anticommunist intervention in the labor movements of Latin America.  Honduras was the most "successful" of the AFL-CIO's projects, but the federation's control was never total.  Shedding light on the U.S.'s imperialist interventions in Cold War Latin America, this presentation will examine both the AFL-CIO's enterprises in Honduras and how Left activists, banana corporations, and revelations about the federation's close collaboration with the CIA challenged the federation's authority.  This case study also helps us understand Honduras's June 2009 military coup and the powerful resistance movement that has risen up to contest it.

Dana Frank is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Her two most recent books are Local Girl Makes History: Exploring Northern California's Kitsch Monuments (2007) and Bananeras: Women Transforming the Banana Unions of Latin America (2005).  Since the June 2009 coup, Frank has spoken extensively in the U.S. and international media, and her work has appeared in several news publications, including The Nation and The Washington Post.

 


Taliaferro Hall