Starving Nicaraguan Coffee Workers March to Demand Land

Interview with Katherine Hoyt, co-coordinator with the Nicaragua Network, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

After a decade of war in the 1980s followed by another decade of government policies that favor the wealthy over the poor, Nicaragua is now the western hemisphere's second poorest country, after Haiti. One desperate group, the landless coffee workers of the mountainous Matagalpa region focused attention on their plight by undertaking a march in July from Matagalpa to the capital of Managua. Failed land reform policies and a steep drop in world coffee prices has created a situation where people, especially children, are now dying of hunger.

The marchers demanded that Nicaraguan president Enrique Bolanos honor promises he made to the coffee workers last year to allocate state-owned land to their families. Instead he handed out food packages. This year's march ended after workers walked one-third of the way to Managua, when Bolanos again agreed to distribute government land.

Katherine Hoyt is the co-coordinator with the Nicaragua Network, a coalition of groups working in solidarity with the people of Nicaragua. She spoke with Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus about the dire situation of the workers and their families and says the Nicaraguan government must be held to its promises.

For more information, or to take action in support of the coffee workers' demands, call the Nicaragua Network at (202) 544-9355 or visit the group's website at www.nicanet.org

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