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

edistribution during the Revolution. Of the large-scale farmers in San Juan del Río Coco,
I only knew a few personally. Moreover, I never achieved a close personal relationship
with them because I spent most of my time with small-scale and medium-scale growers.
There were no large-scale growers in Las Grietas, but two well-known growers,
Francisco Buitrago from Finca La Gloria and Ernesto Valle from Hacienda Santa Elena,
employed many Las Grietas residents on their nearby farms. Latifundios are no longer
common in the Río Coco valley. The large tracts of land were divided during the
Sandinista Revolution, and the government now prevents single owners from owning
more than 1,000 manzanas. Immense plantations continue to exist near Matagalpa, in the
region of El Tuma–La Dalia, but in they are uncommon in Las Segovias. 52
Francisco Buitrago, or Chico as he is commonly referred to, farms nearly 500
manzanas in the Bálsamo Valley, just north of Las Grietas and San Juan. The Buitrago
family has farmed the same estate, Finca La Gloria, for several generations. According to
Adrian González, who owns a small parcel adjacent to Chico Buitrago’s estate, the
Buitrago family obtained their holdings during the latifundio period in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. Their land was not confiscated during the Sandinista rule, and they have
maintained consistent export production over the years.
The path to Adrian’s mountaintop parcel runs along a stretch of farmland known
as “Los Setenta Pesos” (Seventy Pesos). Adrian and I often commented on it as we
passed this section of the Buitrago estate because it is reminiscent of the way capitalists
52 This could be a question of access. Large-scale operations need infrastructure for their
high numbers of employees and heavy machinery. The militarization of Las Segovias
may have influenced land ownership as well. Most of the mountains surrounding San
Juan del Río Coco contained minefields. Contras and subsequent armed bands roamed
through this region. These are all casual explanations that sanjuaneños gave for the
absence of immense tracts in the Río Coco valley.
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