The Coop Organizational Meeting

The Doctor was standing in the doorway with the Personero. I told both of them of our strategy. They both immediately concurred. As to the blackboard, the Personero assured me that one of the blackboards at the public school on the corner of the plaza could be secured immediately. And chalk and erasers. He dispatched two of his assistants to get it. I paced outside of the office, waiting in desperation for their return. The plaza was even fuller now than it had been before, because all the bargaining for the prices was completed, and people were drinking and having a good time. Within five minutes, the blackboard was placed above the curb in front of the Personeria so everyone could see, especially those in the front ranks. The extension was placed on the microphone, and the Doctor carried it out in front. I began to write the prices down of the various vegetables, and the comparative prices between Cajamarca and Anaime; Bogota and Ibague.

"Senores campesinos, senores campesinos, I want your attention," commanded Dr. de la Pava. I have a very important presentation to make for your benefit as well as mine." The campesinos recognized the familiar voice and several turned to look... But to my further consternation, many of the campesinos were already fixedly watching my every movement as I posted the comparative prices. I glanced at their faces, and they understood what the prices meant. They confirmed the campesinos's suspicion of the intermediario. The shaking of their heads in disbelief at the disparities and the recognition of the exploitation perpetrated against them reassured me that I would at least be speaking to a sympathetic crowd. My fear began to diminish as the moment for speaking approached. "Sr. Juan Smith is a Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of all campesinos through accion comunal and cooperativas, educacion and assistencia technica agricola. I have had the wonderful opportunity of knowing Sr. Smith now for over four months, and I can assure you that he is a person the campesinos can trust. He has lived in Colombia now for 8 months, and he knows about our politicians who promise us the world--schools, hospitals, roads--and we receive a world of promises, empty and repetitious. He knows. He knows on no less an authority than Dr. de la Pava (The campesinos laughed with approval; the Doctor had publicly denounced the existing coalition of the two major parties--Liberales and Conservadores--as an incestuous marriage of the oligarchs in both parties in maintaining the status quo.) He knows how the intermediarios exploit you, the campesino. He has been in Bogota, Ibague and Armenia finding out what prices the middlemen receive. He knows about the system from our good friend , Don Juan Martinez, who has suffered himself personally in the failure of the Anaime Cooperative. Senores, I want to present to you, Sr. Juan Smith. Thank you."

The moment had come, the microphone hot in my hands, slippery.

"Thank you Doctor. Thank you senores campesinos for the opportunity to speak with you today." I had spoken; those words that I thought might fail me, came spilling out. "I am here for the sole purpose of helping you join together in forming a cooperative, an organization of you and by you for the sole purpose of benefitting you. Today, I will not tell you how to form a coop; rather, I will try to show you why I think there is a need for a coop. First senores, let me ask you some questions. How many times have you negotiated a firm price on your arracacha or your zanahoria on Sunday, and then the following Sunday? You know, something happened to the market, and the intermediario had to pay you less. At least if you received a "precio justo" that practice would not be bad. But I assure you senores.the middlemen do not suffer from lowering the prices. You, the campesinos, suffer as you have always suffered. Look at the prices I have compiled from here and in Bogota and Ibague, from several of the larger supermarkets there."

I no longer really saw the crowd but only the injustices and the words came tumbling out. "You are receiving for a carga of arracacha $80 pesos. In Bogota, the supermarket Carulla, a very large company with three stores, buys the same carga for $160 pesos; in Ibague, the price is $130. Remolacha(beets), senores, is $220 pesos a carga in Bogota; Don Juan Martinez told me that last week the price was $115 here in Anaime." A chorus of"Ayy's" and murmurs of dissatisfaction greeted the disparities in prices. I went down the series of prices for seven of the vegetables and each time the campesinos became angered at the differential. "Senores campesinos, I have mentioned two of the abuses of the present system: lack of fixed prices and low prices; two good reasons for having a cooperative. Senores, when the cooperative negotiates a price for the produce, for your vegetables, it will pay what it says; it cannot run away senores. It will become an institution just like the school on the corner. Since the cooperative is made up of members and the members are you, if the coop tries to cheat you, it means you are cheating yourselves. And since people do not cheat themselves, the coop will deliver to you the prices negotiated, precios justos.

And last, Senores, but most importantly, how many of you have negotiated with a 'good' intermediario', senores, a 'reputable' one who has been in the business for several months or even years? One who pays just a little bit more than the others. What happens senores? I'm sure several of you today can tell me of the case of the intermediario Raul Resbaloso(the Slippery One). An upright middleman of several years here in the Plaza of Anaime. Tell me senores, where is he today? Where was he last week and the week before? How many bultos of vegetables did he buy from you? A hundred, two hundred, maybe even 1,000? Surely, this Sr. Resbaloso will have enough pesitos to retire for several years, if not for life."

"Si senores, the senor from the Cuerpo de Paz is right. I myself have suffered from that man--50 cargas of arracacha--and I haven't received a centavo." Another campesino repeats a similar experience with another intermediario. Soon the whole plaza was in an uproar of campesinos denouncing the middlemen and the system. At this moment I gave the microphone back to the Doctor.