Guatemala's Inconvenient Truth, Part 1: Whose land is it anyway?

When you buy a bag of coffee labelled fifth-generation family farm, it feels like a good choice.    But in Guatemala, that label might actually be a signal for a more uncomfortable truth.   This episode explores how land has been understood, used, and eventually fought over in Guatemala for centuries between indigenous people, Europeans and those in-between.   It’s a story of what happened immediately after Guatemala won independence from Spain. This pivotal period of history gets less attention in the history books, but the suffering of the indigenous people of Guatemala gets arguably even worse.   Fair warning: it's a dark story, and it will make you think twice about what you're really choosing when you pick up a bag of coffee from Central America.     Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!   Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.    Write a review on Apple Podcasts   Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify     This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.      Read Jonathan’s book, Coffee: A Global History   Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories   Read James’ article on Dieseldorf, the famous German plantation owner, in Standart    Pick up a copy of Prof. Ted Fischer’s excellent book Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Taste Makers Create Value   Follow Juan Jose on LinkedIn to keep up with his PhD on coffee farming in Jacaltenango exploring how ecology, generational memory and ritual all shape how Jacalteco farmers tend the land.    Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here.Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. "Seize the Moment", the tabletop device from DiFluid that guides your customers through their coffee as it cools. Use code FILTER and this link to get 10% off.