Where There Was Fire

DEBUT In Costa Rica’s affluent Barrio Ávila, Teresa Cepeda Valverde will soon be 60, the same age as her mother Amarga was when she died on a terrible night in 1968. That same night, Teresa’s father, José María, set the American Fruit Company’s banana plantation afire. The corporation, founded in 1910, has been managed by corrupt officials who pay handsomely to conceal dirty secrets from their mistreated workers. Though tasked with covering up evidence of the toxic effects of company-sanctioned pesticides, Dr. Vincent Smith, the company’s medical officer, pens letters of warning to the board. His advice is ignored, and the workers, spraying the plants with no protective gear, develop sterility and testicular diseases. José María is devastated to learn that he’s sterile. Assuming that his daughters, Lyra and Carmen, are not his, he goes on a rampage, killing Amarga, beating Teresa, setting the banana fields on fire, and then disappearing. Years later, unearthed company papers reveal the company’s duplicity. While a court case exposes corporate greed, the workers and their families must still contend with incalculable loss and lasting trauma.