From guerrillas to growers.

Colomba Costa Cuca, Guatemala

Santa Anita La Union is a collective of thirty-three families growing organic coffee, bananas, and avocados on 100 acres in the mountains of the Pacific coast of Guatemala. They were able to acquire this land as part of the peace accords that ended the civil war eight years ago. Before becoming coffee growers, many were guerrillas in the Guatemala National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). "We've left behind the path of war," says member Rigoberto Augustin Ramirez. "And now we are on the path of work, of productivity."

Augustin supports fair trade, which, he says, "has a big impact on the families that form part of the cooperative. We can pay better salaries to the workers." He sees their coffee as part of the fair trade community. "It's a coffee with a history, a coffee with a conscience--and it's an expression of solidarity."

For more information, go to www.justcoffee.net.