Chiapas, Mexico
Maya Vinic
Fast Facts on Maya Vinic
Office: Sacred Soil – Martyrs of Acteal
Region: Highlands of Chiapas
Founded: July 31, 1999 Coffee: Arabica coffees, including varieties such as Typica, Caturra, and Mundo Novo. Grown at *altitudes of between 900 and 1400 meters, classified as Extra Prime to Strictly Hard Bean.
Characteristics: This smooth-bodied coffee offers balance in the cup with pronounced sweet, fruity flavor.
500 members in 36 communities, of which 284 are organic certified
In 2007 they exported 2.5 containers of fair trade and organic coffee
The Cooperative “Producers’ Union Maya Vinic” is comprised of some 700 coffee farming families located in 36 highland communities in the municipalities of Chenalhó, Pantelhó and Chalchihuitán, in Chiapas, Mexico. Inspired by the traditions of their ancestors, Maya Vinic is organized and operates in keeping with a respect of local culture, language, reverence for the Mother Earth and traditional forms of self-government.
Maya Vinic is born out the wider civil society “Las Abejas”, an organized response to the prevalent injustice in their communities and in the hopes of promoting positive change and autonomous development by pacific means. The plight of their communities came to the public eye in the aftermath of the infamous Acteal Massacre, where 45 men, women and children were killed by paramilitary forces and thousands more displaced from their homes.
The organizational structure of Maya Vinic holds a General Assembly as its maximum authority. An Assembly of Community Delegates works in close conjunction with the Producers’ Board of Directors to accomplish the tasks assigned to the Education, Technical Assistance, Marketing, Administration and local Arbitration and Problem Resolution Committees.
Coffee production is nothing new to the farmers of this region. “Recruited” since the arrival of the plantations in the early 1900s as poorly paid hired hands during the harvest, they learned about production and processing, and the wealth that coffee had made for a fortunate few. Soon, seeds began trickling back to the Highland communities of Chiapas.
Farmers eventually were able to organize themselves into producer cooperatives in search of more equitable markets. In keeping with this legacy, Maya Vinic has recently been accepted to the FLO register and is in the second year of organic certification.
Cooperative Coffees purchased the first Maya Vinic coffee to be exported under fair trade terms in 2001.
YACHIL
Fast Facts on Yachil
1,552 Members in 7 municipalities
Annual Production – Approximately 400,000 pounds
All Coffee Organic Certified or in transition
Founded in 2001, Joined FLO register in 2005,
Organic Certified in 2005
Altitude of plots between 1,000 and 1,300 ft
Future Plans-Build collection warehouses in communities
Yachil Xojobal Chu’lchan, which means “new light in the sky” in the Tzeltal language, has members from the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Mayan indigenous groups supportive of the Zapatista autonomous movement working towards respect for Indigenous rights. In 2001, Yachil began to organize its first members with 383 producers from the municipalities of Chilon, Pantelho and San Juan Cancuc.
In 2003 Yachil sold its first container to Germany, and in 2004 they sold just over 2 containers to Germany and into the US. They currently are comprised of 1,552 members in seven municipalities, with a future export capacity of some 27 containers (1,080,000 pounds).
Members of this fair trade coffee cooperative have formed their own local Indigenous governments, which focus on community development efforts to promote democracy, equality, and empowerment. Members do not accept government handouts. Over the last decade members of Yachil have suffered repression at the hands of government security forces and the paramilitary. Many members and their families have been forced to flee their communities as internal refugees and they continue to be victims of oppression, intimidation, and even assassination.
