The History and Culture of Coffee beans Coffee changes the World

Us: giving up hundreds of millions of inheritance rights for coffee beans

In the 1970s and 1980s, the rulers and generals of Guatemala and El Salvador had huge coffee fields, devouring most of their profits, while farmers had no food to eat. Many farmers, especially Indians, joined the Communist guerrillas and attacked government forces, and the authorities responded with the Holocaust, exacerbating the hatred between coffee farmers and the government. In 1981, General Lucas of Guatemala came to power and swept the guerrillas with an iron fist, resulting in a massacre. It is the United States again, lest Guatemala and El Salvador follow in the footsteps of Nicaragua and be "reduced" to the Communist Party, so they turn a blind eye to the atrocities of government forces and even send helicopters to help sweep down the guerrillas.

Under such circumstances, even many people of insight in the United States have risen up to tell the truth and do something for the suffering coffee farmers. Their efforts have made great contributions to peace in Central and South America.

The great-grandson of the founder of Baoqiao, one of the four largest coffee companies in the world? Campbell lived in El Salvador for two years and hated human rights violations by the military. After returning to the United States, he found that his Foggis Coffee actually bought a large number of raw beans from El Salvador, in order to protest against "Baoqiao" funding the executioner, Ruby? Campbell announced that it would give up the inheritance right of Baoqiao Group, which caused an uproar.

Brazil: coffee abolishes the throne, coffee kills the president

It was only after Brazil and Central American countries separated from the colonial rule of Portugal and Spain in 1821 and 1822 that they began to attach importance to coffee crops. Because of the massive cultivation of coffee, Brazil retained slavery for longer than any other country in the Western Hemisphere. Brazilian coffee owners looking forward to using coffee profits to help Brazil move towards a modern country advocated the abolition of slavery and the implementation of serfdom with higher production capacity and lower production costs, and took advantage of King Pedro II to go abroad. His daughter Princess Isabel signed the Golden Act on May 13, 1888 to liberate all black slaves. A year later, under the activities of coffee owners, the Pedro royal family was forced to hand over the monarchy, and Brazil became a republic. For the next few years, Brazil's national politics was in the hands of the coffee people.

After World War II, relations between the United States and Latin American countries were strained because of small coffee beans. When the price of beans is too high, the United States criticizes the producing countries for hoarding hype; if the price of beans is too low, the producing countries bombard the blood of coffee farmers in the United States. Only when the soybean price is reasonable, the tension can be eased, but the reasonable price will not last long.

In July 1954, the price of Brazilian beans plummeted under the influence of the international coffee market. In order to maintain the price of beans, Brazil was forced to buy beans in excess of demand, spending a lot of money. President Vargas sent representatives to borrow money from the Bank of America to repay the huge debt owed by maintaining soybean prices, but was refused. Brazil's inflation has worsened, its currency has depreciated, and political and economic chaos has emerged one after another. Under the pressure of internal and external difficulties, Vargas shot himself in his bedroom on August 24 that year at the age of 71. "for decades, international consortia have been ravaging our country," he wrote in a suicide note. Trying to prevent me from creating wealth for my country and interfering with our autonomy. Once we defend the stubbornly high soybean price, we will be under unbearable pressure and eventually give in. Now I have nothing to give to my country but blood. " Vargas took power in 1930 because the price of beans collapsed and Brazil fell into an economic crisis. 24 years later, he lost his life because of the sharp fall in the price of coffee beans. His political career, like Brazilian history, is entangled with coffee trees.

Uganda: coffee beans get rid of dictators

After the Ugandan strongman Amin came to power in 1971, he imposed a dictatorship and drove out Asians in the country, which seriously hindered the development of the domestic economy. Only coffee became the lifeblood of the country's economy. Amin's autocratic behavior was condemned internationally, and the New York Times satirized that the United States purchased 200 million US dollars worth of coffee beans from Uganda every year, which was tantamount to subsidizing Amin. Ohio Congressman Donnapis introduced a bill to the House of Representatives asking the US government to stop importing Ugandan coffee in order to force Amin to step down. American General Foods, Baoqiao, Nestl é and other large roasters also issued a joint statement condemning the Ugandan government through the American Coffee Association. In this situation, the United States Congress held a hearing on the situation in Uganda in February 1978 and passed a boycott of Ugandan coffee beans in July. The ban in the United States greatly weakened Amin's financial resources. The morale of his army has been damaged. The following year, Tanzania sent troops to Uganda and Amin was forced to step down. After Amin stepped down, the United States lifted the shipping ban. For a generation of strong man A Ming, Cheng Ye Coffee is also a coffee. American politicians rely on coffee without using a bullet to bring down the Amin regime, adding a legend to the history of coffee.

The United States and the Soviet Union: hot coffee and the Cold War

1956, Economic and Social Advisory meeting of the Organization of American States (ECOSOC? Reports sent to Latin American countries predict future overproduction and that soybean prices are in danger of plummeting again, unless producing countries immediately take strong measures to set quotas and seal up surplus raw beans. This report is not alarmist. Surprisingly, Landau, the State Department representative at the ECOSOC, was the first to sign the agreement. The United States has always been intolerant of collective interference in market supply and demand. Why did the United States change its position this time? The reason is the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, rather than providing timely assistance. In the mid-1950s, US intelligence showed that the Soviet Union was stepping up its economic and political offensive against all countries in the world, and Latin America was also one of its goals. In horror, the United States had to make some concessions to its backyard neighbors and release some doves of peace. Even Nixon, the then vice president of the United States, began a goodwill trip to South America in an attempt to bring the two sides closer. However, wherever Nixon went, he was abused by the public, threw stones and almost died in a foreign land, and the sound of "Nixon to die" could be heard all the time. The bad impression that the United States used to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and squeeze the blood and sweat of South American coffee farmers cannot be dispelled for a year and a half.

After Nixon was humiliated and returned home, the US authorities realized that the situation was serious and from time to time discussed the issue of coffee with the embassies of Central and South American countries in the United States by telephone. After all, only coffee is the most interesting topic for Latin American countries. Coffee representatives in Colombia threatened Americans: "Coffee farmers are suffering from weak soybean prices, which may affect the attitude of producing countries towards the United States."

In 1960, Brazil deliberately sent a delegation to the Soviet Union to negotiate barter contracts for Soviet oil, wheat and aircraft in exchange for coffee, thus increasing its bargaining chips with the United States. In the same year, Cuban Castro announced an alliance with the Soviet Union and nationalized American companies in the country. The United States feels all the more necessary to sign a coffee quota agreement.

In March 1961, Kennedy made a speech and bowed to the "coffee politics".

In July 1962, the export quota of coffee from various countries was initially determined. After two years of heated debate between the Senate and the House of Representatives in the United States, Uncle Sam finally bowed and the agreement on international coffee quotas came into effect in July 1964. This agreement is Uncle Sam's biggest concession to take advantage of soybean-producing countries, and the United States has also "effectively prevented" the Soviet Union's attempt to "kidnap" African and Latin American soybean-producing countries into its own circle.