Large corporations are eating up Chiapas at will and even exploiting children, according to a report.
The agricultural industry in Chiapas, key to the exploitation of sugar, cocoa, and coffee, is plagued by abuses against workers, both Mexican and migrant, with cases of forced labor, child labor, and even modern slavery, while large companies, both foreign and some Mexican, reap the profits. These are the conclusions of the report “A Bitter Reality: Labor Abuses of Migrant Workers in Sugar, Cocoa, and Coffee Production in Chiapas,” published by the Business and Human Rights Resource Center (CIEDH).
The report indicates that coffee and cocoa exports are dominated by a small number of companies belonging to international conglomerates.
In the coffee sector, exports are primarily led by Coffee Exporter California, a subsidiary of the German group Neumann Gruppe GmbH, as well as Agroindustrias Unidas de México, S.A. and Cafés de Especialidad de Chiapas, S.A.P.I. both subsidiaries of the Swiss multinational Ecom Agroindustrial Trading Corp. Limited.
In the case of cocoa, exports are almost entirely dominated by a single company, Agroindustrias Unidas de México, S.A., a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational Ecom.
In the sugar industry, exports are led by the Mexican company Zucarmex and, to a lesser extent, by the Mexican company Grupo Porres, S.A.
This is part of a country where these types of corporations seek to dominate through food.
They are multinational companies that produce ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks. They sell millions of their junk food products to Mexico and other Latin American countries and take advantage of these advantages: first to extract resources and then to “contaminate” the Mexican diet by selling their products.
These companies are linked, for example, to the Mexican Council of the Consumer Products Industry (ConMéxico), which brings together 34 leading companies in food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and tobacco.
Many of their products exceed the recommended limits for human consumption in terms of sugars or saturated fats, for example. Others have been banned by many countries around the world.
Abuses
The document raises a series of allegations about these large industries. For example, among migrant workers in the sugarcane industry, “deplorable living and food conditions have been reported in the fields where they work.” “At a sugar mill, workers reported receiving rotten food, living in housing infested with cockroaches and fleas, and sleeping next to agrochemical warehouses,” it details.
The CIEDH invited Grupo Porres, S.A., owner of the sugar mill linked to these allegations, as well as three employer associations—the Local Union of Sugarcane Producers, A.C., the National Confederation of Small Agricultural Property, and the United Sugarcane Farmers Association of Soconusco, responsible for managing workers’ housing—to respond to these allegations. No response was received.
For their part, migrant workers on coffee plantations have reported that they “sleep in homes with dirt floors that turn to mud when it rains, work without social security or access to medical care, and are only fed beans.” Cases of “indiscriminate and excessive use of agrochemicals, such as glyphosate, have also been reported, which increases the risk of poisoning and acute and chronic health problems.”
Women and Children: The Most Affected
Furthermore, the situation worsens when it comes to gender. According to the report, women already make up 16 percent of the workforce in these sectors in Mexico. But female workers are the “most exploited in the countryside, facing marginalization and labor abuse within the agroindustry. In a male-dominated environment, they face discrimination and gender-based violence.”
Why? They are victims of sexual violence and lack access to adequate health services, even during pregnancy. Some have reported carrying sacks of coffee cherries weighing up to 60 kilograms while pregnant. Furthermore, they report that access to clean bathrooms on the plantations is scarce, which can have serious consequences for their menstrual health.
And finally, there is also the case of child labor. “In Mexico, agriculture has the highest rates of child labor in hazardous activities, and Chiapas ranks second nationwide in the prevalence of the worst forms of child labor. This problem is especially common on coffee plantations, including those with certification,” the document concludes.
“Experts have even linked the increase in cases of childhood leukemia to the excessive use of agrochemicals in the Soconusco region, where agricultural production predominates. Furthermore, studies indicate that glyphosate has specific impacts on women’s sexual and reproductive health,” the CIEDH adds.
Which companies are responsible?
The Climate Change Factor
In addition to all the impacts studied, the report adds a key component to understanding the situation in its full context: the climate emergency that the entire world is experiencing, which is also affecting Chiapas and other areas where agribusiness is the main player.
“The impact of the climate crisis is directly felt by workers, who face extreme heat stress, while the sector struggles with crop losses due to drought and rising temperatures. This affects both livelihoods and agricultural production, particularly coffee, a crop highly sensitive to climate variations,” the report states.
“Companies also contribute to the climate crisis through the use of agrochemicals and the emission of greenhouse gases. Agriculture is the second largest emitter of these gases worldwide, accounting for 11.7 percent of the total, primarily due to land use. Energy consumption in the transportation and processing of agricultural products further exacerbates these emissions,” he adds.
For example, a sugar mill in Chiapas, owned by Ingenio de Huixtla, S.A. de C.V., part of Grupo Porres, S.A. de C.V., has been accused of causing a “rain of ash” that falls daily during the six-month harvest season. Water and soil contamination have also been reported, as the company allegedly lacks an adequate waste treatment plant and instead dumps its waste into open sewers. Similar practices have been reported in the Grijalva River. None of the companies identified responded to these specific cases.
Original article by Manuel González, Sin Embargo, April 16, 2025.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.