The Politics of Produce · Episode 7 of 17 · 23 min
The Bitter Cup: Coffee, Land, and La Matanza
Coffee's hunger for land took Indigenous ground across Latin America and built a coffee elite over a landless majority. In El Salvador it ended in the 1932 massacre known as La Matanza, whose victims were mostly the same Pipil from the balsam episode. The story carries on to the 2025 U.S. tariff shock on Brazil and the scramble for Colombian beans.
Who's who
- Agustin Farabundo MartiSalvadoran communist organizer executed before the 1932 revolt
Where it happens
- Western El Salvadorcoffee zone where La Matanza took place
- Brazil+3 more episodescoffee frontier, enslaved labor until 1888
- Colombiaproducers courted by U.S. buyers after the 2025 tariff
- Guatemala+7 more episodesMaya communities supplied coerced seasonal labor
Timeline
- 1881-1882El Salvador abolishes communal land
- 1888Brazil abolishes slavery
- January 1932La Matanza kills an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people
- 1940Inter-American Coffee Agreement sets export quotas
- 1962International Coffee Agreement stabilizes prices
- 2025U.S. announces a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods
Still debated
The La Matanza death toll was never authoritatively counted and ranges from about 10,000 to 30,000. Historians also debate how decisive U.S. coffee diplomacy was for stability, and whether the 2025 tariffs help or hurt growers.
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