However, a sharp decline in the price of coffee and silver, along with the high technical difficulties of the railroad construction close to Guatemala City −mainly due to the steep cliffs and mountains around the city− resulted in the collapse of Guatemala's economy, and the eventual assassination of Reina Barrios, on 8 February 1898. After Reina Barrios' death, civilian lawyer Manuel Estrada Cabrera was designated as president and inherited an enormous external debt to British banks, which forced him to search for an ally in the United States. In 1900, Estrada Cabrera authorized his Secretary of Economy, Rafael Spínola, to contract an American company, Central American Improvement Co. Inc., to finish the Northern Railroad and fix those stretches that were in disrepair on the rest of the line. To cover the expenses, the Guatemalan government gave a concession to the American company to use the railroad along with all of its facilities without any cost; this included the port and dock in Puerto Barrios, for which the Guatemalan people and government had to pay fees for their use. Finally, in 1904, knowing the pro-American attitude of Estrada Cabrera, Minor Keith's partners, began to get concession on railroads of both Guatemala and El Salvador, and in that year, International Railways of Central American (IRCA) was incorporated in New Jersey.; the harbor was then partly built by Theodore Roosevelt's Corps of Engineers in 1906–1908. Eventually, United Fruit Company, owner of IRCA, controlled Puerto Barrios completely, as it owned the docks, the railroads, the banana production from Izabal and even the merchant fleet: the Great White Fleet. This situation remained as such until the government of Colonel Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (1951–1954), who decided to build a highway and another port – Santo Tomas de Castilla – to compete with the American fruit company. He also issued an Agrarian Reform that impacted UFCO land. Eventually, Árbenz was accused of Communism and was ousted in 1954, but the highway was almost completed and was completed by his successor, colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Just as Arbenz had hoped, IRCA's last profit was reported in 1957. The earthquake on 4 February 1976, one of the worst in Guatemala's history, destroyed most of the port facilities of Puerto Barrios, and most modern cargo traffic moved to its twin port in Santo Tomás de Castilla. In the 21st century, Puerto Barrios remains an important hub for Dole and Fresh Del Monte Produce industries in addition to Chiquita, United Fruit Company's successor.