de_banana

Lore & Background

A strike began on November 12, 1928, when workers ceased work until the company would grant them dignified working conditions. After several weeks with no agreement, the government of Miguel Abadía Méndez assigned Carlos Cortés Vargas as military chief in the Magdalena department and sent 700 men from the Colombian Army to quell the strikers, resulting in the massacre of 47–2000 people. U.S. officials and United Fruit representatives portrayed the strike as 'communist' with a 'subversive tendency' in telegrams to Frank B. Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State.

In Their Own Story

The server had been quiet for twenty minutes. Five CTs crouched behind the A-site crate, listening to the faint rattle of a molotov glass somewhere in the mid. Kova, the IGL, tapped his mic twice. 'They're stacking B. Two on the banana choke, one watching our cross.'

The round timer ticked. 1:42. 1:38. A flash popped over the A ramp—white light swallowed the concrete for a heartbeat. Then the sound of boots on gravel, close, closer. Kova raised his AWP, lined the crosshair on the narrow gap where the banana-shaped corridor met the site, and waited.

The first silhouette appeared. One shot. The second was already sliding. Two shots. The third never came; a smoke had already bloomed in the choke, thick and yellow, swallowing the rest.

'Clear,' Kova said. 'Plant's still on B. Go go go.'

They moved as one, boots crunching, the server's quiet hum the only soundtrack. Outside the match, in the workshop folder on his laptop, the map file still read de_banana. It never would. But for this round, it was enough.

Reader's Guide

The exact number of casualties has never been confirmed. Estimates range from 47 to as high as 2,000. The press reported different numbers and opinions, with no agreed-on story. The Colombian press was biased depending on political alignment.

Did You Know?

• The workers made nine demands in October 1928, including collective insurance, compensation for work accidents, and hygienic dormitories.
• 25,000 workers at the minimum participated in the strike, the largest labor movement in Colombia until then.
• General Carlos Cortés Vargas took responsibility for 47 casualties, but other sources claim bodies were thrown into the sea or buried in mass graves.
• Survivor Luis Vicente Gámez hid under a bridge for three days and later delivered a memorial service over the radio every year.