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

accessed the funds from the BanPro office in Ocotal. He walked out of the bank with a
brown paper bag inside a backpack. He was carrying more than US$60,000 in cash. I
found out later that Danilo and another companion, Don Gabriel, were carrying loaded
pistols for the two-hour ride back to San Juan.
The adelanto is disbursed in the form of crédito solidario (solidarity credit). This
means that the cash advance goes from the second-tier cooperative to its member, base-
level groups. In this case, Procaoc disburses funds to the base-level groups of Las Nubes,
Las Brisas, San Antonio Abajo, El Achiote, and Las Grietas. The base-level groups then
distribute the funds internally. This way, a group member who defaults on their advance
must rectify the situation within their own group. This type of internal accountability has
been relatively successful. However, Danilo shared with me that Las Grietas farmer,
Doña Maura, still owes him a two-year-old debt for money that Danilo paid on her
behalf. “A lo mejor nunca veo esa plata (I’ll probably never see that money),” Danilo
expressed, “pero así es (but that’s the way it is).”
Environmentalism and Water Contamination
Producing coffee organically benefits wildlife habitat and water sources in Las Segovias.
Organic production has the potential to ameliorate the effects of deforestation and water
contamination. The preservation of natural habitat for wildlife is celebrated in training
programs and national environmental campaigns. Many farmers and residents
acknowledge that they have noticed changes in the streams and creeks since farmers
began using pilas o fosas de infiltración (filtration pools) instead of pouring the sugary
miel del café runoff back into the streams. Late in the 2005–2006 season, Kelly and I
were separating the green, unripe fruits picked during the last pass (la repela) through
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