The deep economic differences and social injustice are the lifeblood that fuels armed conflicts between people on the planet.

According to Edward R. Stettinius, former U.S. Secretary of State:”The battle for peace has to be fought on two fronts. The first is the security, where victory means freedom from fear. The second is the economic and social front, where victory means freedom from poverty. Only victory on both fronts can assure the world a lasting peace. ”
It’s in the light of considerations such as this that Fair Trade borns. If victory is freedom from poverty, then you must create a system that provides poor countries the chance to get out independently from situations of poverty, with no need to wait for external aid. Aid which may also meet, for a short period of time, the basic needs of the people affected, but they will create a mechanism of addiction that destroys the incentives necessary to create initiatives of local productions. Following this philosophy, people of good will allow the birth of a new business model.

Fair Trade, as opposed to the traditional one which caused serious imbalances in the distribution of wealth, wants to offer a fair recognition to the producers who, with this mechanism, can grow crops or produce goods for export as well as the internal market, ensuring their children a better education and building an economic/cultural growth.

It’s important to remember that the opportunities given to people of poor nations to provide them a better life, doesn’t mean a decrease in well-being of those in rich nations. Indeed, breaking down barriers contributes to the security of all, for a more united and productive world.

Following this logic, in 1980, at the initiative of the priest Eliseo Yanez, it was created in Guatemala the Cooperative “San Francisco de Asis”, bringing together farmers from various communities in the municipality of La Union in order to promote alternative technologies, such as rotations and intercropping of crops, not to mention the breeding of livestock, designed to improve the incomes and diet of the families involved.

Currently 160 families are working in the coffee plantations.

During the year 1993 it were carried out a few tests of cultivation of organic coffee, until 1997, when the product has been certified according to USDA, NOP and CEE.

Today Cooperative “San Francisco de Asis” provides us with an excellent organic coffee.

Characteristics: it’s a coffee with an intense aroma and pronounced sweetness, a refined harmony of flavors, among them stand out hints of chocolate, caramel and honey slightly citrusy.