the contracted loans, which led to the following year A decree was issued calling those responsible for such loans to account. The Decree established as a procedure the integration of a special committee, so that in the month of August of the same year, Adolfo Zuñiga, Carlos Ernesto Bernhard and Miguel A. Lardizabal, Mr. Policarpo Bonilla and Mr. Julio Lozano were appointed in secretary quality. However, Messrs. Herrán and Gutiérrez did not appear to make statements and the investigation was stalled. Banana republic Starting in the 20th century, The Vaccaro Brothers Company or "Los Hermanos Vaccaro", was a family of Italian origin who traded bananas in New Orleans. This company received land concessions on the north coast of Honduras. In return, concessionaires had to build rail lines over a large area. The lands were granted according to the number of kilometers of railroad that each company built, establishing, for example, 250 hectares for each kilometer of railway. The Vaccaro Brothers Company, as other concessionaires on the north coast did later, took advantage of the privileges granted by the concessions to export bananas from the port city of La Ceiba. The 785 km of railways were originally built by the banana companies and consist of two separate systems with different gauges. The largest system, with almost 600 kilometers of track, was built by the Standard Fruit Company. Subsequently, it was decided to request a loan between the government and the Sula Agricultural Company for the amount of One million dollars (US$1 million) to repair, build new sections and acquire new equipment, due to this the Cuyamel Fruit Company subsidiary of The Tela Railroad Company would benefit by accepting a transfer made by the Sula Agricultural Company and thus by Government Decree No. 4 dated April 17, 1920, the Cuyamel Fruit Co. would go on to administer the National Railroad, which would once again be of the government since 1983. Previously on February 24, 1920, the Honduran government granted a concession for the Construction and maintenance and exploitation of the railway in the Department of Colón, between the same and the company represented by Mr. William N. Zuber in favor of Carmelo D´Antoni and published in La Gaceta No. 5318. Honduran national railroad The railway was first equipped with 30 steam locomotives, and among others with more than 600 cars to transport bananas and other freights, 22 cars to transport passengers, 13