Regional comparative analysis between Mexican and Costa Rican coffee cooperatives

The paper is aimed at analyzing and comparing the genesis, structure and evolution of coffee cooperatives in the regions of Huatusco, Veracruz, Mexico and Coto Brus, Puntarenas, Costa Rica in terms of their peculiar historical context and collective action that would lead them to be formalized into cooperatives, their relationship with public agencies and the level of cooperative development and identity they reached in the second decade of the 21st century. The study is historical and comparative, and it serves as a model for understanding the complex interrelationships between the State, corporations and cooperatives in Latin America. It was carried out through documentary and practical review through the action research method, participant observation, surveys and semi-structured interviews. In Mexico, a clientelist cooperativism prevails with relevant exceptions to authenticity and low levels of development, although they have managed to reach the national and international consumer, while in Costa Rica only authentic cooperatives are located with a higher level of local development and social agreement, although they face the challenge of increasing their degree of autonomy and diminishing the semi-clientelist dependency relationship that they maintain with the State.