Fair Trade, Land Reform, and Mayan Resilience in Guatemala

Neydi Juracan is the National Coordinator of the Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA), a unique indigenous farmers’ movement that defends the ancestral territories of indigenous peoples in Guatemala, while at the same time engaging in rural development consistent with Mayan traditions and worldview. Their primary vehicle for this work is Cafe Justicia, a high quality coffee that provides a fair return for CCDA members, employment for youth in CCDA communities and helps fund the CCDA’s social and political work. Cafe Justicia is grown and processed by members of the CCDA and exported to solidarity groups across Canada who sell the coffee to support their own projects.

Mayan farmers are at the forefront of the struggle for environmental justice in Guatemala, come to this event to learn about their work to protect the land, using fair trade coffee as a tool for social change.

Neydi Juracán Morales – National Coordinator, Campesino Committee of the Highlands (CCDA)

Neydi is a Kakchiquel Maya from the village of Santa Cruz Quixaya, Guatemala. Prior to her election as national coordinator in 2023, Neydi was the director of the CCDA’s Café Justicia program, coordinating the processing and export to Canada of coffee produced by CCDA farmers. Despite her new national duties, Neydi continues to coordinate the CCDA’s coffee production.

Neydi has been active in the CCDA since she was a child. She served for several years as the organization’s youth representative to the International Land Coalition. In 2010, Neydi’s family was forced into exile for several months in Canada following death threats against both Neydi and her father.

Neydi studied at the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of San Carlos, Guatemala’s only public university, where she distinguished herself as a student leader and activist.