The Valenzuela family are members of a producer group that we’ve formed a relationship with in hills surrounding the town of Mataquescuintla, Guatemala.

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Pablo Adolfo Valenzuela Lima (Fito)’s farms, Fincas Buena Vista, Los Planes, San Francisco, Rabanillo, and El Ebano, were first planted with coffee in 1935, at an altitude of 1850m. These farms are worked with the help of his son, Franklin, his brother Gilberto, and his late-nephew (2019) Melvin. He is still using the varieties planted then, which consist of Bourbon and Typica (Pache San Ramon, and Pache Colis).

His dedication to his community is simple and we’ll leave it to him to explain:

“Our family has been dedicated to the care and protection of the environment. For 8 years we have opposed mega projects specifically mining. We do it because we are aware of the damage that these projects cause. Due to the fact that we are against mining, our family has been criminalized, repressed and imprisoned. Today more than ever we are aware of the protection of Mother Earth, our objectives are: to continue protecting flora, fauna and nature, to continue producing extraordinary coffee.”

We encourage you to inform yourself on the activities of Vancouver-based, Pan American Silver, and their conduct with regards to the Escobal Mine, in San Rafael Las Flores, Guatemala.

This coffee is sourced from a group of Indigenous Xinca coffee producers who farm coffee in the mountains above this mine. They have formed a resistance to the mine, on the basis of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which states many important rights for indigenous peoples, one being allowing indigenous peoples’ right to own type of governance and to have input on economic development on their territorial lands. The group was successful in having the mine closed, however this came at the cost of being violently targeted by mine-employed private security, police, and local government, which is still ongoing today.

Our goal with this project, which we helped start in 2017, is to empower these coffee producing families with a stable market and high prices for their coffees, giving them the ability invest time into ensuring the Escobal Mine stays closed and trucks are not able to transport harmful chemicals through the region without sacrificing their livelihoods. This work ensures they are able to continue to produce coffee in a pristine natural environment, free from instabilities brought by harmful extractive practices and larger scale problems exacerbated by climate change.