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

stonemason and carpenter for local projects. He does many construction jobs on Danilo’s
farm.
Santos González Ponce is one of the original members of the Las Grietas farmer
co-op. He farms five manzanas adjacent to Danilo’s farmland. Santo’s house is next to
his farm. He lives there with his wife Marta and five children. He is originally from
Somoto, the departmental capital of Madríz. He came to San Juan as a chainsaw operator
during the Revolutionary era. He claims that he helped to clear-cut much of the forestland
surrounding San Juan in preparation for coffee cultivation. Today, as a certified organic
farmer, he works to reforest the coffee fields that he farms.
I was also fortunate to work with another pair of brothers, Victor and Eliazar
Romero. They are originally from the community of El Achiote between San Juan and
Telpaneca. Actually, they share farm responsibilities on their parents’ ancestral lands in
the indigenous settlement of El Achiote. Victor and Eliazar worked as farm laborers on
the Sandinista farm Salinas Pinell APP, during the Revolutionary era. The Romeros
acquired a beneficio húmedo (wet processor), a large drying patio, and livestock corrals
after the Sandinista operation failed. They provide depulping services to other farmers in
the area at a fee.
The Romero brothers are original members of the Las Grietas base-level
cooperative. Victor Romero farms a total of 14 manzanas. He has a seven-manzana plot
in Las Grietas and recently acquired seven more manzanas in the community of Quibuto,
near San Juan and on the way from Telpaneca. Eliazar farms on 4.5 manzanas. He also
owns an old rusty pickup truck with a plastic jug serving as the fuel tank on the floor of
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