On last night’s newscast, we showed you the first on-camera comments that Stann Creek businessman John Zabaneh granted after the US Treasury Department removed him off their list of drug kingpins.
You heard him say that his attorneys are reviewing his case to determine if he can sue the US Government for the tremendous losses he and his family suffered. He estimates that figure to to be in the vicinity of 100 million dollars in losses over 5 years.Â
Perhaps the most striking example of the real time effects of the kingpin designation is the Mayan King Banana Farms. It was one of the most successful agro businesses in the south, but the US sanction struck like a hammer blow, sending it into the depths of complete ruin.
Tonight we have a closer look at the farms then, compared to now. Daniel Ortiz reports:
This was a promotional video that the Management of Mayan King Banana Farms produced back in September of 2015, 3 weeks before Fyffes shut them down.
Because the banana farms are such an integral part of the South, the Zabaneh Family, and their Management Company, Meridian, thought it a perfect opportunity to turn it into destination that tourists could visit and enjoy for themselves.
As you can see, the farm was still producing at high volumes. There were rows and rows of healthy bananas neatly growing, upon 1400 acres of land.
This was an additional 500 acres that Fyffes convinced them to start cultivating. That’s important, and we’ll get back to that later, but this is what the Mayan King Farm looks like today.
With almost 2 entire years of neglect, nature has overtaken it almost completely. The wild bush and trumpet trees are slowly forcing the banana plants out of the fields they used to occupy exclusively. It’s rather hard to distinguish the cash crop from bushy overgrowth that needs to be cleared away. The equipment, and the banana packing sheds also look rather rusty from months of disuse.
It’s a massive undertaking to restore this farm back to what it was before the Fyffes shutdown, but, Meridian strongly believe that they can do just that.
Jose David Gonzalez - Director, Meridian Enterprise
"I believe the bananas have basically gone to the wild variety or basically the've been abandoned from receiving inputs so they are there, you can see them but basically they are just withering away."
Daniel Ortiz
"Do you think that they will be a rise sort of like a Phoenix return of Maya King under Meridian?"
Jose David Gonzalez
"Well, that is the hope."
But, there is an outstanding issue here. The Zabaneh Family and their management company believe that Fyffes owes them compensation for the damages they suffered when the Irish Fruit Packing company decided they would stop buying Mayan King’s bananas in October 2015. They believe that Fyffes acted irrationally, and costed them millions of dollars in investments, and earnings, all because they wanted to stay as far as they could from John Zabaneh’s kingpin designation by the US Government.
They are considering a lawsuit
Jose David Gonzalez
"From the beginning we had this open door policy with them but we did not get any engagement, there was just too paranoid. We think that there is a legal process in place and we're taking them to court because there is no other way to look at it but a breach of contract and an abrupt one at that because at the very least we would have liked a warning or at least a heads up for the people you know mainly. So there is a legal process in place and I think that is going forward and in fact this new revelation in the news of the delisting is actually going to strengthen our argument that there was nothing to fear and they shouldn't have done what they did so we're going to continue on with this process, this legal process, the lawyers are advising us and we'll see how that pans out but they are free to contact us and dialogue as well."
And to understand why the Zabaneh family and the Management company feels especially betrayed by Fyffes, it all leads back to that 500 acres of land, which they say that the multinational convinced them to start cultivating. This part of the field used to be filled with citrus. Zabaneh and his family had already given up control of Mayan King to Meridian Enterprise, and they say that Fyffes contacted them asking for an increase in production. It was like pulling teeth to convince the family that they should remove the citrus crops which they were already cultivating on this land. John Zabaneh’s only influence over decision making was as his mother’s representative, who owns the land that the farms are on. Day to Day management and operation was left to Meridian. Zabaneh recalls trying to convince his mother to take up Fyffes plan.
John Zabaneh - Managing Director, Mayan King/Midsouth
"These were the head knockers of the Fyffes, the people who made decisions, people from their headquarters in Costa Rica. Of course it was not my call or my decision on it to say yes or no, this was clearly to take out citrus farms to put in bananas, that's a serious decision and we're looking to close to 500 acres, somebody that has 500 acres is a big grower, is a huge grower to replace with bananas but they were so encouraging and so adamant that I had to use heavy influence over my mother because my mother, we all grew up with citrus and to take out citrus to but bananas? Anyway we end up doing it."
So, they did it, and then weeks later, Fyffes cut ties with Mayan King and Meridian Enterprise. That investment was never realized, and the Zabaneh family lost money from the citrus that had been removed.
John Zabaneh
"So we not only lost what right at the time that these farms were just starting to produce, boom they closed us down. The banana - never even realize any benefits from those farms and of course the citrus production, that acreage was no longer there. So you call it a double loss what ever you want call it."
So, with the Kingpin Designation lifted from John Zabaneh, Meridian hopes that business partners, the government and other partners will come back to the table to turn Mayan King Banana Farms back into a profitable enterprise once again.
Jose David Gonzalez
"We're hoping that with the new revelation in the news that the designation has been lifted, we believe that we will now be able to explore possibilities, more players will come to the table, government will be a lot more free to engage us."
As for Zabaneh, taking back managing control of the farms, he says that ain’t gonna happen. If Fyffes wants to settle or resume business relations with the farm, they need to speak with Meridian and its director.
John Zabaneh
"I have gotten messages from the high people in Fyffes but and I have heard through the vines different offers and so but I made it very clear that I am no Meridian, I am John Zabaneh. Don't come to me, my influence is not good, I am not a banana man so they will have to now discuss what ever to do with bananas with Meridian and don't look forward to my intervention.
Zabaneh told us that at the height his struggles, he received many offers from persons wanting to buy his family's properties at fire sale prices. He said that he and his family refused, knowing that the day would come soon or later when the US Government would lift the Drug Kingpin Sanction.
