Juan Balboa
La Jornada, 2 February 1998

Violence unleashed by paramilitary groups at the beginning of the coffee harvest, the widescale stealing of beans in five key communities, and the displacement of more than 300 producers has brought about the loss of 90 percent of the annual production in Chenalho. This municipality has been extremely successful in exporting more and more coffee to Europe and the United States, generating profits of approximately $350,000 for the local indigenous inhabitants.

Due to the insecurity and fear generated in the area by the presence of armed groups, and above all the impossibility of displaced people collecting their harvest during the next two months, losses could be as high as a million dollars. This will spell the ruin of around a thousand indigenous tzotzil families, who form the majority in the displacement camps or communities under siege by the armed groups.

"The coffee in Chenalho didn't disappear, it was stolen to buy arms. The Public Security police supported this activity and even robbed harvested coffee themselves", Javier Luna Ruiz, President of the Ejido and Majomut Coffee Producers Union, assured us. He went on to explain how the coffee was robbed in many communities even before it was harvested. "All the priistas [government supporters] went out to pick the coffee, they were even accompanied by the police".

The general spread of paramilitary activities since last November, coinciding with the start of the first of three coffee harvests, forced the main coffee producers in important communities such as Pechiquil, Tzajalucum, Chimish, and Quextic to abondon their fields. Only 10 percent of the coffee producers in the municipality were able to start the harvest. In the Majomut Union stores there are little more than 100 sacks of gold grade coffee, according to Victor Perezgrovas, the union's technical advisor, only enough to fill half an export container. Comparing this year's harvest with last year's, Perezgrovas remembers that Majomut had enough coffee last January to export five containers' worth - some 250 sacks - to countries like England, Germany, Holland and the United States. In January 1998, however, "we haven't exported a single container and to date we have managed to gather together only 10 percent".

The murders, house burnings, harvest robberies and the massacre at Acteal have completely cut off the means of production of the third largest indigenous organisation exporting to first world countries, and one which has made great inroads into fair trade and solidarity markets. The most worrying thing for the advisor, however, is the poverty that the lack of cash earnings will generate in indigenous families that are used to making money from coffee.

Of the 12 coffee containers (204 tonnes) exported annually by the indigenous producers of Chenalho, it is estimated that only two (34 tonnes) will be sold this year. If the producers do not return to their communities soon, the next coffee harvest will be affected as well. "If there is a return process we can organise ourselves; if not, it could have a tremendous effect on our organization. For us, the key issue is the possibility of returning and rebuilding our community life."