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

The meeting meeting was with the Gáspar Garcia co-op in Santo Domingo lasted
several hours. We met in a crowded and dark gathering space. At least fifty people were
in attendance. Doña Rosa started the meeting by singling out the people in attendance
who were members of both the Gáspar co-op and the Growers’ Association. Those who
identified themselves as such were scolded for taking advantage of the goodwill of
consumer nations who seek to purchase coffee at a living-wage price from democratically
elected co-ops in producer nations. She stated that dual affiliation was unacceptable and
that those who were members in both groups would have to pick one and leave the other.
She did not issue any violations but she did insist that the Gáspar co-op report to FLO
once the dual membership issue was sorted out.
Upon returning to the UCA-San Juan office, we sat and debriefed with the staff.
Doña Rosa charged the UCA staff with the responsibility of making sure that the base-
level co-ops adhered to the tenets of Fair Trade organizational standards. As she said,
Ustedes son los cimientos para la verdadera apreciación de los estándares del
Comercio Justo. Tienen que darles seguimiento a los productores para que no se
sientan abandonados y empiezan a buscar otros rumbos. Si la gerencia de la
cooperativa se preocupa por la operaciones de sus socios de base, les van a
seguir el ejemplo y cumplir los requisitos de Comercio Justo, si no la UCA está
en riesgo de perder el certificado y no podrá vender al Comercio Justo. (You are
the foundation for the true acceptance of Fair Trade standards. You have to give
follow-up to your farmers so that they don’t feel abandoned and begin to look for
shortcuts. If the co-op management concerns itself with the operations of its baselevel
co-ops, they will follow your lead and comply with Fair Trade requirements;
otherwise the UCA is at risk of losing its certification and won’t be able to sell
Fair Trade.)
The UCA-San Juan técnico Santos immediately responded,
Se toma el mismo tiempo para visitar un productor de 20 manzanas que un
productor de una manzana. Prefiero no perder mi tiempo con los mas pequeños
porque apenas producen y no sostienen la organización. (It takes the same time to
visit a 20 manzana farmer as it does to visit a 1 manzana farmer. I’d rather not
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