National Coffee Committee In Colombia Ends Without Announcements
National Coffee Committee In Colombia Ends Without Announcements
Coffee Network (Bogota)-The National Coffee Committee of the Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) in Colombia, a highly-awaited meeting, ended without announcements. The Finance Minister declined to give comments to the press, and FNC did not issue a release, in a new sign that there is no agreement between the two parties yet.
The meeting began early today, while ended at 11:30 a.m. local time. Coffee Network was reporting from there, but the minister stood journalists up, who were waiting outside FNC's offices. The National Coffee committee was attended by the minister of finance Ricardo Bonilla, but not by the new minister of agriculture, Jhenifer Mojica, who is accompanying President Gustavo Petro in Huila, the department with the highest coffee production, accounting to 18% of national coffee output.
When asked to FNC if they will issue a release, they said they will not make any announcements. FNC no longer allows journalists to enter its building, forcing journalists to wait outside FNC’s building.
Analysts have said that the government is seeking the control of the national coffee fund and change the new head of the coffee growers federation German Bahamon, and until he does not take the helm of FNC, the government may not want to disburse funds to the coffee growers federation.
"If the government does not recognize Fedecafé, it is a very wrong position as he has to respect organizations such as Fedecafe. It is a clear ignorance of one of the most important production unions in the country,” Oscar Gutierrez, director of Coffee Dignity said. “This generates more problems to Petro, who does not have enough favorability among Colombians. It is an additional problem for Petro,” Gutierrez said.
Economic unions such as FNC are independent from the government and pretending to be under the umbrella of the government is wrong, Gutierrez said.
Other said the parties declined to comment on the meeting to avoid overlapping what Petro has to say in Huila where he is visiting coffee growers.
Petro is simultaneously meeting coffee growers in Pitalito, Huila, where videos and pictures show a low attendance of people.
Coffee Dignity said Petro must allocate sufficient funds to resolve the economic crisis of low coffee prices. “It is urgent that the government allocates sufficient resources to attend the losses of coffee growers, stop coffee imports, attend to the needs of the cooperatives, and specify the changes that are necessary in the institutional framework to recover their coffee and lack support,” Coffee Dignity said. But Ricardo Bonilla, finance minister said coffee prices are still good enough.
Coffee Dignity has said growers have failed to receive subsidies on fertilizers, subsidies for renovations as the administration of President Gustavo Petro halted all those economic programmes when German Bahamon was elected by the departmental coffee committees as the new director of the coffee growers federation (FNC).
The distance between Petro and FNC
This division between Petro and FNC began earlier this year when Petro tried to stop the election of the new general manager of FNC, which was defined after four months of work and interviews with the different candidates. When Bahamon was elected, he questioned the election with a twitter claiming: “This is the new president of the Federation of Coffee Growers. I thought it was time for dialogue and common construction. I will dialogue with their regional grassroots organizations,” he warned.
From there the division was maintained, so that later in a meeting in Sevilla (Valle del Cauca), he again questioned the Federation and the manager, stating: "While we know the names of great bureaucrats with illustrious surnames directing the Federation, we did not find the name of a pensioner farmer".
Although the coffee growers, through the manager, have sought to meet with the president, the national president has kept his distance from the union and his warning to make profound changes.
By Diana Delgado
