Adelita O Dell-‐Morrow December 2009
¡ Mexico has heavy dependency on coffee ¡ Collapse of the International Coffee
agreement ¡ Coffee market unfamiliar with Free-‐market economy
¡ Poverty ¡ Malnutrition ¡ Migration
¡ Narco-‐farmers and traffickers ¡ Revolution in state of Chiapas
¡ Mexico s general income drops 70% ¡ Impoverishment rises 39-‐43% ¡ Gini coefficient rises
¡ Growers receive less of the Total revenue less ¡ Coffee growers debt ¡ Cycle of poverty
¡ 10-‐12% of Mexicans are malnourished ¡ Rural and coffee-‐growing regions most
effected ¡ Food costs rise ¡ Child population effected most § Infant mortality § Child size
¡ Growers take drastic measures out of
desperation ¡ Coffee crisis triggers increase in drug crops § Coffee growers switch crops § Drug crop cultivation levels increase 1989
¡ Major supplier to U.S.
§ Producing heroin, methamphetamine § Smuggling cocaine
¡ Drug gangs and cartels increase ¡ Torture, kidnapping, rape, murder increase ¡ Law enforcement becomes inactive
Mexican Drug Tunnel
¡ Triggered by unemployment ¡ Veracruz has drastic numbers migrating ¡ Communities disintegrate ¡ Families loose men ¡ Risking death to
cross U.S. Border
¡ Hardest hit by coffee crisis ¡ Poverty triggers revolution ¡ Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) ¡ Life worsens
§ More deaths § More malnutrition
¡ Unemployment ¡ Poverty ¡ Malnutrition
¡ Looking for other options § Drug trade § Migration
¡ Zapatista rebel in Chiapas