The Association of Indigenous and Campesino Agroecological Producers of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá ANEI was founded in 1995 by Aurora Izquierdo, the first indigenous woman of the Arhuaco tribe of the Yewrwa community to obtain a university degree. She studied in the capital of Colombia, Bogotá, with the objective of organizing the local economies of our indigenous and campesino communities.

Aurora Izquierdo utilized coffee as a tool to secure the cultural permanence of those indigenous communities in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá, in the north of Colombia, through the implementation of eco-sustainable programs and projects that fortify organizational processes. These processes reclaim the social, economic, and cultural rights of members, and promote food safety all at the same time contributing to the world with an excellent natural product, organic coffee grown in harmony with nature. The production and commercialization of ANEI’s organic coffee is implemented in a context of harmony and respect for Mother Earth.