On Thursday February 4th Mike Miller, his son Bodhi, and I traveled to Medford, MA to participate in the “No Alcanza: Voices from Guatemala's Enduring Search for Peace” forum put on by our good friends of BUILD. BUILD is a group of incredibly motivated undergraduate students at Tufts University. The conference focused on the aftermath of Guatemala's 36 year civil war and the peace agreement that ended the conflict. Five community members from Santa Anita de la Union-- a community in Guatemala made up of families of ex-guerrillas and people formerly displaced by the war. Just Coffee has bought Santa Anita's coffee since 2004 and our relationship with the community is a template for how we would like to work with all growers we purchase coffee from.

The five members of Santa Anita that made the trip to Boston all shared their unique perspectives with conference participants. 

Eluvia Aguliar was a young girl when her family was threatened by the military. Her family migrated to Chiapas, MX where she lived in a refugee community and struggled to survive on the margins of a foreign country. Today she lives in Santa Anita and works in the ecotourism project. Eluvia gave a moving account of what life was like as a refugee and how she and her family made it through.

Mauricio Velasquez spent much of his early life in Chiapas as a refugee from Guatemala. After the conflict ended he and his family moved to Santa Anita. Today Mauricio attends high school in Coatepeque and is one of the main youths involved in the computer lab that was built with BUILD. He spoke to the conference about gang and drug violence in Guatemala and discussed how it affects the youth of Santa Anita.

Lazaro Ventura joined the guerrilla movement at age seventeen and was trained to be a medic. He and his family now live in Santa Anita where he has dedicated time to working on a Santa Anita community pharmacy. He is deeply involved in the URNG which has shifed from a clandestine guerrilla group and into legal politics since the war. Lazaro spoke of his experiences in the conflict and how they have shaped his life.

Gloria Gomez joined the ORPA guerrilla movement when she was fourteen years old. She spent several years fighting in the mountains that surround Santa Anita and Quetzaltenango. She met her husband  in the guerrilla movement and moved to Santa Anita where the started their family. She now heads up Santa Anita's ecotourism project. She spoke to the forum about her life as a guerrilla and about issues of gender equity in Guatemala today.

Angel Moreno spent his youth in a coffee growing community. He joined the ORPA as a teenager and joined the Santa Anita community just after its inception after the peace agreement was signed. His knowledge of coffee production has been important in helping Santa Anita get into high quality coffee production and exportation. He is currently the treasurer of the community's Board of Directors and liaison to their Catholic Relief Services coffee project. He talked about his time with the guerrillas as well as how coffee production works in Santa Anita.

The conference was incredibly inspiring and also featured panels and workshops with members of Just Coffee Co-op and other academics and activists. We want to thank BUILD and Tufts for hosting this and we look forward to working with all of these fine folks in the future. And of course we thank Santa Anita for stellar quality coffee and for being awesome all the way around.