The Community……late 2006
Ryan and I(Mary) have been staying with the community off and on since early June 2006. After our first two weeks we knew it was where we wanted to be, work, and settle for while.
The community has gone through some major changes in the last six months. The hydroelectric broke down in July and was still not repaired when we last left. As we understand it….they have the money and the parts but are waiting for someone to do the work.
The last six months have also seen the development of a debilitating internal conflict. A small group broke off from the collective in late June. They refused to work but remained living in the community. Slowly, more and more families began to join the other group and they quit working in the collective. The collective group lost so many hands that they had to hire outside workers to clean and pick coffee. There have been several incidences of aggressive behavior. Esteban, Rene, and Don Lencho(part of the collective) have been assaulted……grabbed, tied-up, and threatened. The group that is refusing to work has been cutting down big trees and selling the wood. They also began to pick the communal coffee, sell it and keep the money (which is supposed to go to pay the loan). The collective side led by Esteban and Don Lencho seems to be trying to handle to problem diplomatically. The collective is avoiding taking actions that might escalate the conflict. There are a lot of trips to Xela and a lot of talk about handling the problem through official channels. Meanwhile, the community is torn in two. We are not exactly certain what the group that is refusing to work wants. It seems they want to be able to divide the land, work individually, and be able to sell land if they want to. They are fed up with working for no pay and feel that SCIDECO may not have honorable intentions. We need to talk to this group more before we can write about their issues. . What we know is gossip from the collective
