Have Coffee with CLAS

Have Coffee with CLAS.....mmhhmm

The Center for Latin American Studies at SDSU would like you to join us to support the indigenous communities of Chiapas buy buying fair trade, shade grown coffee from the Mutz-Vitz co-op. Certified organically grown in Chiapas, Mexico by CERTIMEX.

We have $10 one-pound coffee bags of both Medium and Espresso Roast. Please come over the Center (AL-377) or contact Elizabeth at esaenz@mail.sdsu.edu Tel. 619-594-1104

We plan to continue ordering coffee (by demand). Below please find the order form.

We have limited quantities so ACT NOW!!!

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Order Form             Printer Friendly Version
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Name ____________________________________________

Address___________________________________________

City___________________State________Zip____________

Phone_______________________Email_________________

Zapatista Fair trade, Organic, Shade Grown Coffee.

Dark Roast ------------------------- $10.00/lb x Quantity_____ = Total _______
Medium Roast ---------------------- $10.00/lb x Quantity_____ = Total_______
Espresso Roast --------------------- $10.00/lb x Quantity_____ = Total_______

We do not accept credit cards. Cash or checks made out to "CASH" are welcome. We’ll contact you by phone and/or email when we receive your order so you may pick it up!

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Information about Mut Vitz Coffee Cooperative

Oraganization: S.S.S. Mut Vitz (Hill of the Birds) Coffee Cooperative

The communities linked to this cooperative are located in the Northern Highlands of Chiapas, in 6 municipalities: El Bosque, Simojovel, Bochil, Jitotol, San Andres Sacamch’en de los Pobres, and Chenalho. The number of producers associated to the cooperative at this point is approximately 1,000. However, as this group is still "in formation" that number continues to grow. Nevertheless, based upon a conservative "most likely" membership estimation, the potential for total production this year is calculated to exceed 15,000 quintales (100-pound bags) of high-altitude coffee.

The cooperative Mut Vitz is primarily comprised of Tzotzil Indigenous campesino farmers. The cooperative has been "self-organized" by its members. It is legally recognized under Mexican law, and the cooperative succeeded in acquiring it's export license in 1998. The producers themselves have progressed from a transition period of "natural production" to "certified organic" coffee production and are paying particular attention to all appropriate practices for sustainable, shade-grown coffee.

Mut Vitz coordinates a network of some 48 organic promoters working in their 24 communities to consolidate their own participative process for the transfer of technology and practical know-how for the organic production of coffee. They have already made great strides towards fortifying their own organizational structures and local leadership.

Because of the lack of government support for people living in this zone, producers have been searching for autonomous economic and social alternatives to support development in their communities. One critical aspect is the creation of alternative, economic models, supportive of social advancement and the consolidation of the Indigenous communities as focal points for the promotion of democracy, self-management and sustainability, as well as covering the people's basic needs of food, health care and local infrastructure..

BACKGROUND - Coffee Production in Mexico
The producers associated in the cooperative Mut Vitz are well organized and working hard to enhance the quality of their coffee. They recognize the importance of improving and strictly controlling the production practices for high-altitude, high-quality organic coffee, if they are to gain access to an international market that offers economic advantage to their members-as opposed to continuing along what has been the tragic, historical tradition in Chiapas of demanding hard work and offering low pay for the coffee grown and sold by campesino producers.

In Mexico, for example, coffee exports in 1995 generated approximately $700 million in national income (on the world market, coffee is second only to petroleum in terms of dollar value and trade importance). But for the majority of small-scale farmers, the earnings from their coffee harvest remain nothing short of miserable. Earnings from this labor-intensive crop do not cover even the minimal costs for their basic needs-food, housing and health-much less do they represent the capital necessary in order for the small-scale producer to consider personal or community development.

Coffee in Mexico, as in many countries, was originally cultivated on huge plantations. With the colonial politics and economic "incentives" offered to foreign capital during the reign of Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, the expropriation of indigenous lands for transnational plantation coffee production was essentially guaranteed. The indigenous people who had been cultivating corn and other basic grains for their own subsistence were simply thrown off their land; and in order to survive without this basis for production, farmers were forced to convert themselves into (poorly) paid labor as coffee pickers for the plantation owners. It was not until the Cardenist Agrarian Reform 1934-1940, that land redistribution finally turned in favor of the local indigenous population. With the reform, the panorama began to change dramatically. The expropriation of plantation lands provoked the expansion of small-scale, or campesino coffee production.

Today approximately 200,000 of the 283,000 coffee producers in Mexico, are Indigenous campesinos with land holdings of approximately 2 hectares. But these campesino farmers soon learned that simply having acquired a little piece of land is not enough to escape the economic traps they historically have confronted. In 349 of the 411 municipalities in Mexico where coffee is currently being grown, the farmers themselves continue to live in a state of acute poverty. Essential elements, such as production credits, coffee processing infrastructure and access to international markets, had been kept in the hands of the government and other big business.

S.S.S. MUT VITZ - An Attempt to Turn History Around
Cooperatives like S.S.S. Mut Vitz are positive examples of the level of local initiative that exists and that is prepared to work for change in terms of true respect for Indigenous rights and human dignity in Chiapas. In this case, the producers hope that by gaining direct control over the processing and sale of their coffee, they will be able to actually improve the standard of living and general well-being for their members and communities.

The main objectives of the cooperatives´ programs for agro-ecological production and organizational development include:

* increasing the local knowledge of appropriate, alternative technology for the organic production of their coffee;

* improving the potential of the cooperative members to sell their coffee at "fair prices" both nationally and internationally;

* improving the basic infrastructure for each of the cooperative members in order to guarantee a strict quality control, and reduce the physical burden of wet processing of the coffee.

* improving the overall, collective infrastructure for the dry-processing and transportation of the coffee.

* improving the overall economic and social well-being of its members.

Mut Vitz producers continue to be enthusiastic in spite of the enormous political and financial challenges they currently face. On the political front, cooperative members find themselves under the on-going threat of attack by state and federal government forces. Since early 1995, beginning with the military invasion in the Lacandon and continuing with the on-going counter-insurgency warfare now underway in many areas of the Jungle and Highlands regions, organizations autonomous of the official party line and their physical structures have suffered continuous attacks. This has created a variety of serious, unexpected obstacles to any kind of consistent development plans in the communities. However, the members have not been dissuaded from their organizational nor economic goals.

The principal economic challenges that the cooperatives have identified include:

1. Providing credit to the producers - during the production process, producers need cash credits in order to be able to contract temporary hired labor in order to complete soil conservation practices, pruning, and the actual harvest and processing of the crop.

2. Providing credit to the organization during the process of gathering the coffee from coop members; the organization needs cash credit in order to pay producers at least a minimal down-payment on their crops until money from the actual purchase arrives.

3. Providing credit and/or development grant money to the organization - in order to be able to pay for initial small infrastructure, technical training, processing plant and heavy infrastructure, and to cover the costs of inspection and organic certification.