Tragedy in Guatemala reflects the plight of coffee pickers everywhere

On November 28 a terrible accident occurred near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Eighty-three farm workers were being transported to a coffee plantation in, as the Movimiento sindical, indígena y campesino guatemalteco (MSICG) puts it, unsafe and subhuman conditions. Nineteen workers died—four children, three women and twelve men. Everyone else was injured.

The plantation to which they were headed had promised to pay workers 40 quetzales, about 5 USD, for every 100 kilos of cut coffee. Note that minimum wage in Guatemala is 56 quetzales, or about 7 USD, for a full day’s work. It is also important to note that one person cannot cut 100 kilos of coffee in an eight-hour day.

This tragedy reflects an expansive problem that affects coffee-growing communities throughout Latin America. Extremely low wages, unsafe traveling conditions and accidents without any kind of accountability are an everyday reality for coffee growers everywhere.

There are no easy answers. Poverty is a very complex issue. We can, though, try and work toward alleviating that poverty through development projects and supplemental income, and therefore lessen the dependency many coffee-growing communities have on the coffee crop. While it is not an instant solution to an admittedly bleak landscape, it is a way to begin to bring about change in a meaningful and measurable way.