Paraiso

Nuevo Paraiso

Nuevo Paraiso is a Latino community about an hour off the Pan-American highway. The area was settled in the mid-1980s by a group of migrant subsistence farmers and now is populated by 2000+ people. Its inhabitants have exhausted their natural resources through logging and slash-and-burn agriculture and are now seeking a more sustainable alternative. PE is currently renting land from two subsistence farmers in Paraiso, and has received much interest by others to expand operations in the area.

Francisco "Chico" Cruz migrated from the Herrera province of Panama in the early 1980s, and helped to found the village of Nuevo Paraiso in the untouched Darien. He has raised ten children with his wife, and was looking for a more sustainable way to profit from his land resources. Chico signed a lease contract with Planting Empowerment for its 2007 Friends and Family project.

Juan Cruz owns much of the land in and around Nuevo Paraiso. Also one of the first migrant farmers to the area, Juan knows the environmental destruction of the Darien firsthand. Recognizing the need to think about both his childrens' future and that of the fragile Darien ecosystem, Juan signed on with Planting Empowerment in 2008.

8/2008:
PE Advances to Final Round of SVN Competition

11/2008:
PE To Participate in Green Festival

8/2008:
Planting Empowerment website v2.0 Goes Live

6/2008:
PE Completes 10 Hectare Adelante Plantation