Veracruz. Four coffee farmers and a former mayor have been in custody in Veracruz since May 26. The leaders of the protests for better coffee prices are accused of instigating the fire at a processing plant owned by Agroindustrias Unidas de México SA (Amsa).
The incident came amid multi-day protests in Ixhuatlán del Café in the Coatepec region on January 24, 2022, after market-dominating coffee buyer Amsa slashed prices, from around 16-17 pesos to 11-12 pesos per kilo of coffee cherries, amid a sustained bull market. Amsa is part of Ecom Traiding, the world‘s second largest coffee retailer, headquartered in Pully on Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
Prosecutions for the protests began sixteen months after the event. Judge Oscar Luis Lozada Hernández ordered a year in custody without hearing defense witnesses.
The relatives of Cirio Ruiz González, President of the Regional Coffee Council, of Viridiana Bretón, journalist and former mayor of Ixhuatlán del Café, as well as of Crisanto Valiente, Minervo Cantor and Abraham Cabal and the umbrella organization of coffee farmers’ cooperatives (Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Cafetaleras, Cnoc ) protest against various irregularities in the process, including the mistreatment of family members and activists during the arrest.
The prosecution’s thin evidence consists of portraits of the five defendants from a Facebook video taken at a peaceful protest and testimony. Two of the farmers were demonstrably in other towns at the time of the events, but the magistrate ignored this exculpatory evidence, the defense said. In this case, farmers would be criminalized because they demand fair prices, criticizes Fernando Celis Callejas, a long-time advisor to Cnoc, who represents several dozen coffee cooperatives.
The “cafetaleros” also expressed anger at the Mexican government: Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Victor Manuel Villalobos Arámbula, asked the governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García, to intervene in the case. The letter said the producers “state that they are able to repair the damage after reaching an agreement with the complaining company, for which we will seek dialogue.”
However, those arrested have compensation for the damage in the millions rejected, as this would amount to an admission of guilt. They suspect that the fire was set by provocateurs. According to Celis, negotiations with representatives of Ecom Traiding are currently underway because they feared negative headlines.
The coffee trader Amsa-Ecom prides itself on its sustainable and fair production and trading practices on its website, “but in reality there is an unequal relationship with those who produce the source of their wealth,” criticizes the local daily La Jornada Veracruz.
Amsa sells most of the coffee to the Nestlé group, which in 2022 will also have a large Nescafé-brand instant coffee factory in Veracruz inaugurated. For this, Nestlé received massive criticism from the cooperative movement, which feared that the company would further expand its market dominance and that the increased production of Robusta coffee would destroy biodiversity.
An early release of the accused is also urgent for their families because they fear for their safety. The five are being held in La Toma maximum security prison in Amatlán de los Reyes, along with organized crime prisoners.
The lawyers have taken a first step after three weeks of protests: the case was withdrawn from the investigating judge, who the defense said was corrupt.