MARVIN REES MADE a very good case for debt cancellation to help Honduras and Nicaragua get back on their feet after the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch ("Real Disaster Relief," January-February 1999). However, what I have found missing almost universally in the comments on the disaster is the implication of our businesses, especially United Fruit and W.R. Grace, in causing the disaster in the first place. Stripping away the jungle in Central American countries to provide bananas and other foods for American consumers left nothing to prevent the flooding caused by the hurricane.
When will the mega-corporations involved in agribusiness learn that they cannot denude the landscape of poorer countries to please the palates of people in wealthy countries and to turn a larger profit for themselves?
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