The small farmers and peasants are also demanding the government stop spraying drug crops and establish guaranteed prices for other crops in order to have a sustainable income.

The strongest center of the strike has been in the area of the country that grows coffee. It has been organized by National Coffee Growers Unity, one of the main groups promoting the demand to cancel the debt of coffee growers, who have been harshly affected by the drop in prices for their product on the international market.

Minister of Agriculture Rodrigo Villalba and other government officials have rejected these calls for debt relief. Villalba said the strike is an attack against the economy of the region, and claimed it was unfair since the government had already taken measures to help growers.

With thousands of small growers facing foreclosure the government has offered to renegotiate the debt and reopen lines of credit.

The strike has been opposed by large landowners.

The general secretary of the Central Federation of Democratic Workers in Colombia, Julio Roberto Gómez, expressed the solidarity and support of the labor federation for the strike and said it was the result of "an absurd and unacceptable economic opening." Gómez was referring to the growth in the amount of food imports from 700,000 tons to 8 million tons since 1990.
 
 
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Peasants, facing drought and famine, demand aid now in Central America
Aid now to Central America!
Guatemala protests condemn tax increase
Sugar cane growers, peasants in Mexico protest growing crisis  
 
 
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