Why Contra Café?

Contra Café began with a dinner conversation in Matagalpa, Nicaragua in late August 2004. I was with Erwin Mierisch, a 35 year-old Nicaraguan coffee producer and exporter. While we waited for our food, he described a meeting that he had recently had with the leaders of a cooperative of small Nicaraguan coffee growers.

The name of this cooperative was a mouthful: Unión de Cooperativas Agropecuarias de Servicios Unidas de Mancotal or UCASUMAN. The cooperative was exceptional because all 160 of its members had fought for the Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense - better known as the Contras - against the Sandinistas in the 1980s.

Erwin recounted how his conversation with the cooperative's leaders had turned from export business to the recent death of President Ronald Reagan. These small farmers and former Contra fighters told Erwin that Nicaragua owes a huge debt to President Reagan. They argued that Nicaragua enjoys democracy and freedom today largely because of Reagan's unyielding support for the Contra fight to overthrow the Sandinista regime. Erwin described how a few of the men had even begun to tear up as they explained what Reagan had done for Nicaragua.

A Struggle Against Low Prices

One year earlier, I had visited the farms of some of the UCASUMAN members while volunteering for TechnoServe, an American non-profit that offers business assistance to entrepreneurs in the developing world. The producers I met farmed between 1 and 3 acres of coffee and lived in small, dirt-floored homes that lacked running water. They were suffering as coffee prices hit historic lows because of an increase in low-priced supply coming out of countries like Brazil and Vietnam. At the time, the UCASUMAN farmers were trying to certify their coffee for Fair Trade sales so as to receive a better price. Producers of Fair Trade receive a guaranteed price of approximately $1.25 per lb for conventional coffee and $1.50 for organic. These prices represented a huge premium above the roughly $0.50 per lb that Nicaraguan coffee was receiving on the New York commodity market in 2002.

On paper, the UCASUMAN farmers were perfect candidates for Fair Trade. They were small farmers in great economic need producing a gourmet quality coffee. Unfortunately, UCASUMAN had been blocked from selling certified Fair Trade. Because consumer demand for Fair Trade is limited, not everyone who wants to sell Fair Trade can. The decision about who in Nicaragua gets to sell Fair Trade is controlled by a few large cooperative organizations with strong ties to the current Sandinista political party. These organizations sell the coffee of their member cooperatives at Fair Trade prices but deny access to outsider cooperatives like UCASUMAN. When UCASUMAN requested Fair Trade certification, they were told that they could certify as Fair Trade but not actually sell at Fair Trade prices. UCASUMAN would have to go on a waiting list. As far as the producers of the cooperative knew, there was little chance of ever making it off that list.

An Idea and a Meeting

Sitting that night at dinner in Matagalpa, I listened to Erwin's story of these farmers' respect for President Reagan and wondered, "How can I help these former freedom fighters make a reasonable living from their coffee?" Thinking about it, I realized that the cooperative did not need Fair Trade to get a good price for their coffee. Millions of conservative Americans would love to buy a gourmet coffee from men and women who fought with President Reagan for freedom against communism. It was just a question of marketing the coffee to the right people. Thus was born the idea for Contra Café.

One week later, I went to the northern Nicaraguan city of Jinotega to visit José Adan, the president of the UCASUMAN cooperative. We met in a small office with concrete block walls and a corrugated metal roof. He told me about the members' unsuccessful attempts to sell Fair Trade and about their struggles to provide for their families and maintain their farms in spite of persistent low coffee prices. He was excited about the prospect of selling UCASUMAN's coffee via Contra Café for a price that matched or exceeded the Fair Trade premium.

Our conversation shifted from the details of Contra Café to a discussion of the Sandinista revolution and his service with the Contras. I asked him, "Why did you fight for the Contras? Why would small farmers fight against the Sandinistas rather than with them?" He explained to me that he had supported the Sandinista revolution and overthrow of the dictator Somoza but was horrified by the Sandinistas once they assumed power. He had hoped for a government similar to Costa Rican democracy, but the Sandinistas instituted a regime modeled on Castro's Cuba. The Sandinista government dictated where to work, where to sleep, and where to shop. Basic necessities like food and toilet paper that had been plentiful were scarce under the Sandinistas - you had to wait in line for everything. When José refused to serve in the Sandinista military, the police pursued him and persecuted his family. Unable to return home, he joined the Contra forces in 1984 and served until 1990 when, under great domestic and international pressure, the Sandinistas held a free election and were soundly defeated.

As our conversation ended, José expressed his excitement at the prospect of getting a better price for the cooperative's coffee and about selling to end consumers who value the sacrifices of the Contras. I promised him to do my best to bring Contra Café to fruition. Now, less than six months later, we have opened www.contracafe.com for internet sales. Our goal is to establish a company that will allow these former freedom fighters to earn a good living for decades.

-Tom Kilroy, Contra Café Co-Founder, January 2005