Above: thousands of banana workers in Nicaragua carry symbolic coffin during five-day march from Chinandega to Managua last November. They demanded that the government honor its pledge to provide medical help and financial aid to field workers harmed by the use of a pesticide that caused sterility, cancer, and birth defects in children. The workers say they were never told that the pesticide, DBCP, was dangerous. Warning labels on the chemical drums were useless since they do not read English. The companies also ignored safety precautions and provided inadequate protective gear. "Walking through the plantations, we breathed in the vapors," said Manuel Guido Montoya, recalling that he and co-workers would get drenched in the chemical. Over the objections of the Bush administration, Nicaraguan courts have begun awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to workers who filed lawsuits against U.S.-based corporations such as Shell Oil, Dow Chemical, Dole, Del Monte, and Chiquita Brand International. In December a Managua court ordered Shell, Dole, and Dow to pay $489.4 million to 450 workers. The companies refused to take part in the trial and said they will not pay.
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