Ramiro Aguilar Villamarín

Photographer / Videographer / Documentarist

As long as the price is right

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Focus: Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist, Videographer, Researcher, Reporter, Politics, Travel, Video Editor, Still Life, Environment, Science, History, Photo Assistant, Documentary, Multimedia, News, Creative, Video, Photo Editor, Photography, Portraiture, Culture, Director of Photography, Journalist Investigative, Freelance, Civil Rights and Social Inequality, Humanitarian, Life, Educator, Conservationist, Visual Communications , Film Editor, Multimedia Journalist

Outskirts of the city of Machal...e lucky, some aren’t.

Outskirts of the city of Machala. By the afternoon, when the working day has ended, banana workers gather around this roundabout to relax, chat and deal with foremen on the next day’s jobs. They have to negotiate each day their work for tomorrow’s, some are lucky, some aren’t.

Chiquita is one of the largest ...st their main source of wealth.

Chiquita is one of the largest world brands that buy Ecuadorian banana. This corporation, like the vast majority, does little or nothing for the wellbeing of the ones that take care and harvest their main source of wealth.

Banana workers survive day by d...12 and 15 dollars per work day.

Banana workers survive day by day, only a few one have a fixed fee of 25 dollars per work day, while others, especially women and elders, are paid between 12 and 15 dollars per work day.

Lenin Merino (R.I.P.) worked on...e onslaught of the coronavirus.

Lenin Merino (R.I.P.) worked on banana plantations since he was 12 years old. He told us on January 2020, that he was exposed to countless agrochemicals which dealt a great impact on his health throughout the years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, his worn health got worse. He passed away on July 12^th, 2020. With 31 years old, his body didn’t resist the onslaught of the coronavirus.

A part of the agrochemicals, es...y located near the plantations.

A part of the agrochemicals, especially pesticides, that are used on Ecuadorian banana plantations are forbidden on other countries. These toxic compounds are released over the plantations, affecting the workers, their homes and their neighborhoods which are usually located near the plantations.

Left: It’s usual to f...of an exporter at Machala city.

Left: It’s usual to find trucks like these, where the boxes and stickers of the bananas are changed so the conventional product may pass as an organic produced one. Right: A Fair Trade publicity hangs on the office wall of an exporter at Machala city.

Puerto Bolívar, loca...o all the regions of the world.

Puerto Bolívar, located 10 minutes by car from Machala, is the main banana export harbor on Ecuador. All the ships that sail from this port carry exclusively banana to all the regions of the world.

The “Green Gold&r...this multimillionaire business.

The “Green Gold”, as was banana denominated since the last century on Ecuador, configures the identity of the city of Machala and El Oro province. The monument (left) which is located at the entrance of the city shows the importance, as also the irony, of who sustains this multimillionaire business.

The sun rises and the last truc...wn in search for a day of work.

The sun rises and the last truck carrying “jornaleros” (day workers) leaves the roundabout at Pasaje (Machala outskirts). Many workers, especially elder ones, know that today, as many days, “didn’t get lucky”. Tomorrow they’ll rise again before dawn in search for a day of work.

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Public Project

As long as the price is right

Copyright Ramiro Aguilar Villamarín 2024

Date of Work Jan 2020 - Jul 2020

Updated Jul 2020

Location Machala, Ecuador

Topics Agriculture, Banana, Business, Capitalism, Corruption, Documentary, Editorial, Globalization, Human Rights, Latin America, Media, NGO, Photography, Photojournalism, Poverty, Workers Rights

On January 2020, I joined Romano Paganini, journalist and coordinator of the digital magazine mutantia.ch, in an investigation about the banana industry on Ecuador. The abuse of power, the violations on human rights and labor rights, corruption and pollution, all these have been the pillars of this multimillionaire business. Even though some international policies and initiatives have been implemented to transform this industry towards a more just, fair and ecological one, their foundations are intact. The exploitation and disregard for their base workers is still normal and undisputed.

My photographic work, along with the written article, was originally produced for Public Eye, a Swiss organization that fights for fair and responsible practices from the big corporations stablished on their territory. And this particular essay was published along with the Spanish translated article on mutantia.ch.
Solange der Preis stimmt: Eine Reportage aus Ecuadors Bananenplantagen.
Chiquitas Geschäfte in Ecuador und die prekären Arbeitsbedingungen in den Plantagen

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