Globalization, Neoliberalism, and the Latin American Coffee Societies Introduction

Coffee plays a central role in understanding of Latin American economic development. Raw material exports lost their favored position and coffee lost its dominance as Latin America industrialized and urbanized after World War II. In most Latin American countries the coffee-sector prospered under the ICO and state guidance. All of this broke down in 1989, with the end of the cold war bringing with it the termination of the last International Coffee Agreement. The nature of demand also changed with the boom in costly specialty-coffee oversimplified as the 'Starbucks Revolution.' More than simply a trade good and a way of making a living, coffee became a symbol of national-identity and pride. Free trade and liberalization in Mexico meant that the 'agroindustrial' commodity chain was reassembled as four or five giant foreign trading firms, intimately tied to the world of financial giants, developed direct relations with growers and controlled two-thirds of exports.