Alegría, Rafael

Basic Biographical Information

Born in the village of San Marquitos Morolica in Honduras in a peasant family, Rafael Alegría has become an agrarian leader and one of the founders of the international organization Via Campesina.

He was raised and educated in Potrerillos, in the Honduran department of Olancho. In this village, he started working with agricultural cooperatives and organizing producers that demanded land rights. After some episodes of repression he was exiled from his native region. He kept working with cooperative enterprises and also got involved in "Glass of Milk" programs, not just in rural areas but also in popular neighborhoods of Honduran cities.

Major Accomplishments/Contributions

Rafael Alegría was one of the promoters of the Belgium conference in which a group of farm leaders formally constituted Via Campesina in 1993. This social movement took the form of an organization that coordinates small and medium peasants and indigenous communities