One snowy day, back in the winter of 2003, I was standing alone at the controls of a very odd looking coffee roaster in Madison, Wisconsin. Our little machine, that we called “the popcorn popper” only roasted ten pounds in a batch and operated on, what amounted to, four hair-dryer heating elements. Needless to say we tended to roast for marathon sessions as we grew. I was trying to stay awake as much as I was trying to finish the roasting day, listening to the radio and humming to myself to keep from dozing off.
As I prepared to put the load into cooling mode, I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to find a man I’d never seen before bundled in ski gloves, a winter hat, and a tan parka two sizes to big for him standing in the hallway. He spoke to me in Spanish and said that he was a coffee farmer from Guatemala. He then asked if he could come in and talk. All of us in the Cooperative Coffees network pride ourselves on our relationships with the farmers we work with, but even with only a year in Co-op Coffees, I gleaned it was unusual for a farmer to walk in your door unannounced. I was psyched.
The Guatemalan man wrapped in the massive coat introduced himself as Rigoberto Augustin Ramirez and he told me he was on a mission. Short in stature, he had a presence that was jovial and friendly while his eyes were very serious. He had come to the U.S. on a speaking tour to talk about his time as a comandante in one of Guatemala’s indigenous rebel groups that fought a thirty-six year war against the Guatemalan government.
For years the Guatemalan army perpetrated a dirty war against the rural Mayan population and Rigo’s family was targeted. After one of his brothers was murdered, Rigo and another brother left their village in the middle of the night to escape a certain death. They then did the only thing they could do to survive– they joined the guerrillas. Rigo rose in the ranks and survived years of intense warfare.
Through the 1996 peace accords, he was part of a group that obtained arable land on an old coffee plantation as part of the agreements. Many men and women who fought in his unit moved to the farm, called Santa Anita la Union, to work the land together and they learned how to grow organic coffee. Rigo’s intention was to use the speaking tour he was on as an opportunity to, not only inform audiences about the war and its aftermath, but to find like-minded coffee roasters who would be interested in starting up fair trade relationships with the community. It took about five minutes before I was 100% on board.
Only a few months later I went to visit our new partners along with other roasters in Cooperative Coffees. It was at Santa Anita that I met Café Campesino CEO Tripp Pomeroy and his son Hugh for the first time. We all agreed that Santa Anita was special and we were floored by the strength of the crew there. All of them had lost family and friends during the war and had suffered about every injustice you could associate with violent state repression and civil war. Yet here they were, making it work and forming a network with us that revolved around fellowship, hope, and coffee.
Rigoberto was the glue of the community and was critical to their evolution. Cooperative Coffees began to import their coffee regularly and Café Campesino was one of Santa Anita’s biggest buyers and proponents. Rigoberto was even able to visit Americus and meet the people who roast and drink Santa Anita’s coffee.
Over time tensions rose in Santa Anita’s cooperative. There were competing visions of how much time and investment residents should put into their coffee production. After much discussion and debate, the community split into two different farmer organizations. Rigoberto had long had a dream to include other communities in a larger cooperative– in their region many small-scale farmers were not organized and had no market access. Seeing this, he founded The Santa Anita Coffee Producers Association (APCASA) and they began to expand their reach and membership. A natural organizer, his market access and relationships helped elevate the new farmers and their families.
Café Campesino was not able to purchase APCASA’s coffee due to volume fluctuations, existing relationships, and other considerations, but we have remained in touch and have visited from time to time through the years. We most recently did a roasting workshop with them in the early days of COVID as they worked to expand their local and regional roasted coffee business.
We received news this week that Rigo is suffering from liver cancer and struggling to find the funds to pay for the treatment he needs. And as friends do, we are going to pitch in and help. We want to spread the news so others who are inspired can support them as well. The trade part of our coffee relationships ebb and flow, but our friendships remain solid and they are the foundation of what we do and why we do it.
I have shared many meals with Rigo and his family and he has stayed with my family and broken bread with us several times. Everyone at Café Campesino wishes him and his family all the best and we ask you all to please send Rigoberto, his partner Aurora, and their daughters Pamela, Aurora, and Alicia healing thoughts, prayers, good energy, and positive vibes.
If you feel moved to kick in some support, please find Rigo’s GoFundMe campaign here.
