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This article examines the case of an agricultural development cooperative of Indian coffee producers in the Chiapas region of Mexico initiated by the Jesuit mission, comparing it to the analysis of G. Rist who attributes to development a unique direction and an irreversibility. Drawing on the work of P. Veyne, the article proposes, on the contrary, a mythical re-enchantment of development: what is central here is the plasticity and complexity of belief regimes - applauding the cooperative is not necessarily ovation. Using a processual analysis of engagement, the paper seeks to understand the reasons why farmers enter and remain in the cooperative. The beliefs of cooperators are not all aligned, they adjust, contradict each other and do not need to be valid to operate. The irreducible externality, the existence of tutelary figures and shared social experiences are articulated with economic necessities, overlapping sociability and solidarity, all of which hold together a collective past marked by conflicts, militant disappointments and individual trajectories of engagement.