i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

current phase of international capitalism requires examination and criticism in order for
innovations in coffee production (see Chapter 6) to take hold and become viable
alternatives for coffee farmers.
“Hecho Por el Pueblo y Para el Pueblo:”
Alternative Development and Agency in Las Segovias
The government of Enrique Bolaños, Nicaraguan president from 2002 to 2007, used the
slogan “hecho por el pueblo y para el pueblo (made for the people and by the people)” as
propaganda. It appeared on billboards alongside road improvements, public works, and
physical infrastructure for economic development projects. The phrase was invoked as if
“el pueblo (the people)” had actually designed and implemented the improvements to
daily life and Bolaños’ administration was just the facilitator. The billboards prominently
display the amount of money invested in a given project. These signs were all along the
roadways of Las Segovias, ensuring communities and travelers that the government had
their best interests in mind. The irony of this slogan is that most, if not all, actual
improvements to rural Nicaraguans’ lives were in fact “for themselves and by
themselves.” The national government may have assisted small-scale entrepreneurs by
constructing a road with international donations or IMF loans, but not without self-
aggrandizement. In reality, no matter how much training in agricultural finance or
sustainable development the small-scale farmers receive, they are the only ones who can
implement it. Or, as my friend Roberto Jerez, a Nicaraguan development agronomist,
puts it, “tenés que mantener a los cafetaleros produciendo, si no, no habrá café para
exportar del todo. (You have to keep the farmers growing or else there won’t be any
coffee to export.)”
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