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

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day went on. The music changed to louder <strong>and</strong> faster salsa <strong>and</strong> merengue. The music was<br />

very loud, <strong>and</strong> we had to shout in order to be heard. Don Gonzalo, the regional director of<br />

the Atlantic S.A. office in Ocotal, was spir<strong>it</strong>ed in commenting,<br />

¡Que orgullo de tener la oportunidad de celebrar el éx<strong>it</strong>o de vender comercio<br />

justo! Es el primer proyecto social del comercio justo y Atlantic está para apoyar<br />

a las comunidades. Es una dicha trabajar así. La comunidad está feliz y nosotros<br />

estamos bien orgullosos. (What pride to be able to celebrate the successful sale of<br />

Fair Trade coffee. It’s the first social project from Fair Trade [in San Juan] <strong>and</strong><br />

Atlantic <strong>is</strong> here to support the commun<strong>it</strong>ies. It <strong>is</strong> a blessing to work th<strong>is</strong> way. The<br />

commun<strong>it</strong>y <strong>is</strong> happy <strong>and</strong> we are very proud.)<br />

We drank <strong>and</strong> danced until late. A few days later I took time to consider the commentary<br />

that Don Gonzalo made. He <strong>and</strong> others took great pride in the collective accompl<strong>is</strong>hment<br />

of exporting a container of Fair-Trade-certified coffee <strong>and</strong> then investing the social<br />

premium funds in the commun<strong>it</strong>y of El Naranjo. Oddly, Don Gonzalo had almost nothing<br />

to do the project. Had the coffee not been certified Fair Trade, Don Gonzalo would have<br />

executed the exact same function as an export executive. I recalled the remark that Juan<br />

Pablo made in reference to who st<strong>and</strong>s to gain out of th<strong>is</strong> preschool project. My concerns<br />

regarding the dynamics of th<strong>is</strong> project <strong>and</strong> the accolades that ensued were confirmed by<br />

the remarks that one of Danilo’s group members made to me.<br />

Doña Maura Monje <strong>is</strong> one of the original members of the Las Grietas group. She<br />

worked for the Salinas Pinell APP <strong>and</strong> acquired l<strong>and</strong> in the concertación along w<strong>it</strong>h the<br />

rest of Danilo’s group. She farms on six manzanas <strong>and</strong> works w<strong>it</strong>h her three sons, who<br />

are coffee farmers as well. Together, they own a two-wheel drive N<strong>is</strong>san flatbed pickup<br />

truck. They offer transport services throughout Las Delicias valley, where Las Grietas <strong>is</strong><br />

located. I had worked w<strong>it</strong>h Doña Maura’s sons when picking coffee for two other Las<br />

Grietas farmers, Santos González <strong>and</strong> Eliazar Romero. One afternoon while conducting<br />

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