The United States will block shipments of uncooked sugar from a major Dominican manufacturer with close ties to two wealthy Florida businessmen after discovering evidence of forced hard labor at its Caribbean spinning plantation. Sugar from Central Romana Corp. ‘s cane fieldsfeeds the chains of origin of major U. S. brands Domino and Hershey Co.
The ban on all imports from central Romana went into effect today.
“Manufacturers like Central Romana, who comply with our laws, will suffer the consequences as we remove these inhumane practices from U. S. supply chains. “”U. S. Border Protection (U. S. )The U. S. Department of Health and Prevention in a press release.
The company is partly owned by Fanjul Corp. , a global sugar and real estate conglomerate based in Florida.
The federal investigation uncovered five symptoms of hard work abuse among cane cutters hired and housed in Central Romana: vulnerability abuse, isolation, withholding wages, abusive living and operating conditions, and excessive overtime. The Central Romana plantation shipped more than 295 million pounds of uncooked sugar from the Dominican Republic to the United States last year.
The action follows a two-year investigation through the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal and Mother Jones that drew complaints about Dominican sugar from Democratic lawmakers in Washington.
The Revealed/Mother Jones survey, published in September 2021, found difficult living situations for cane cutters and their families, who live in dilapidated homes, without electricity or running water. In more than 50 interviews, staff spoke of insufficient protective equipment, poor medical care, low wages, chronic debt, and intimidation through the company’s armed security forces.
Thousands of men who harvest sugar cane for Central Romana are Haitian citizens or of Haitian descent and many have no legal standing in the Dominican Republic. Unable to collect back pensions, some said they were forced to cut the cane until they were 80.
In calling the Biden administration to action, lawmakers cited Reveal and Mother Jones and upcoming reports in The Washington Post and Jacobin.
An unnamed petition filed with U. S. Customs and Border ProtectionThe U. S. Labor Force in October 2021 contained findings and alleged that Central Romana’s cane cutters were working without a written contract, endured abusive conditions, debt bondage, and restriction of movement—all signs of forced hard labor as established through the International Labor Agency.
A spokesman for Central Romana issued two statements. The English edition says the company is “very disappointed” by the resolution to block its exports to the United States.
The company said it was committed to providing secure jobs and recognized the need to “continuously replace our operating environment and the living conditions of our employees. “
The company also said it intends to “work collaboratively with [the U. S. Customs Agency]. UU. ] on this issue. “
But in the Spanish-language statement, Central Romana struck a more provocative tone, omitting any mention of collaboration with the U. S. government. U. S.
The Spanish edition says: We hold our heads high because we know that for more than a century we have done the right thing.
Central Romana is part of a sugar empire built by Alfonso “Alfy” and José “Pepe” Fanjul since the 1960s. Florida entrepreneurs and brothers led an investor organization in the acquisition of Central Romana and its Casa de Campo luxury hotel in 1984 and have further developed a network of private holding companies, component associations and affiliates.
A spokesman for Central Romana said last year that the company publicly reveals the identities of its board of trustees and officers. However, Alfonso Fanjul is listed as president of Central Romana in recent press releases and corporate documents in the Dominican Republic.
The Fanjuls also co-founded ASR Group, which controls the world’s largest network of sugar refineries. ASR’s holdings come from Domino’s iconic Baltimore plant, which handled more than a portion of Central Romana’s shipments to the U. S. It was in the U. S. last year, according to ad industry data.
Central Romana has in the past denied allegations of forced labor. The company said it has invested millions of dollars in the living conditions of cane cutters and their families, while paying wages twice the country’s minimum wage and working hard with a union.
Fanjul Corp. , where Alfonso is president and Jose is president, answered questions about the announcement. The company praised Central Romana as a “highly reputable corporate citizen in the Dominican Republic” who “prides itself on his reputation for his civic and moral activities. “business practices. “
The Dominican sugar industry has faced accusations of labor exploitation for decades. Complaints filed with the U. S. Department of LaborThe U. S. government led the company to begin sending follow-up groups to the Dominican Republic in 2013 under an agreement with foreign industry.
In annual reports made public, the Labor Department reported “positive steps” in combating hard child labor and forced hard labor in the Dominican sugar sector, saying progress was “uneven. “the slow pace of reforms at Central Romana and its suppliers, according to a trove of highly redacted cash reports and other documents received after Reveal sued the Labor Department.
An undated report describes the cane cutters and their families living in tiny rooms in old barracks with open water on the floor and no bathroom. Another document, a 2018 cable from the U. S. Embassyother disturbances in downtown Romana, but noted that “additional studies” were needed to determine whether the scenario would require U. S. Customs and Border Protection to be able to do so. The U. S. government will block exports to the United States.
Human rights and hard-working teams and clergy have been advocating for decades for greater situations for Haitian cane cutters.
“It’s been a very long road, fraught with countless difficulties and challenges,” said Father Christopher Hartley, a Spanish priest whose efforts to publicize abuses in the Dominican sugar industry have prompted surveillance by the Labor Department. everything reached the sugar cane fields of the Dominican Republic. “
In January, 15 Democratic lawmakers referred to the Reveal/Mother Jones investigation by calling 3 federal agencies, including U. S. Customs and Border Protection. The U. S. government is in the U. S. to address “slave conditions” in the Dominican sugar industry. violations and the policy features of the Biden administration, adding the prohibition of all goods produced through forced labor, according to the customs law.
Faced with such pressure from Washington, the Dominican government announced an increase in the minimum wage for agricultural workers and promised to incorporate undocumented cane personnel and pay pensions.
U. S. Democratic Representatives U. S. Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee, welcomed the Biden administration in a joint statement.
“As families across the country prepare their Thanksgiving candy, they would be horrified to learn of the atrocities staff suffer in developing one of their key ingredients,” they said. “Central Romana Corp. and the Dominican sugar industry have operated with impunity for far too long. “
This is the first time in recent years that U. S. Customs and Border Protection has been in the U. S. Customs and Border Protection to take action. The U. S. uses the provisions of the Tariff Act to attack sugar imports. Malaysia, respectively, and pieces of cotton and human hair that were allegedly manufactured by Uighur Muslims persecuted in Chinese forced labor camps.
Analysts said the loss of Dominican sugar could cause disruptions in the U. S. market, specifically in the Northeast, where ASR operates two giant refineries.
Although Central Romana accounts for about 7% of total U. S. uncooked sugar imports, it is not possible to produce uncooked sugar. In the U. S. , the cut at source may cause “uncertainty” in an already tight market, said Vincent O’Rourke, an analyst at Czarnikow Group, a London-based industry finance firm.
ASR supplies sugar to a wide variety of food and beverage producers, confectioneries and grocery retailers and has partnerships with Hershey, whose chocolate factory is 90 miles from ASR’s Domino refinery in Baltimore.
Hershey spokesman Jeff Beckman declined previous requests to share a detailed breakdown of sugar purchases, but the company claimed 100% of its sugar came from responsible and sustainable sources in 2020.
The loss of access to the U. S. marketThe U. S. , even temporarily, can charge Central Romana tens of millions of dollars a year. The Dominican Republic is the second-largest exporter of uncooked sugar to the United States under a complex federal formula that protects domestic manufacturers. through the restriction of imports. The U. S. The U. S. is a popular market because of Congressionally subsidized sugar value supports that pay well above the world market rate. Central Romana accounts for about two-thirds of the Dominican quota and benefits from low-value lists on its exports to the United States. United States.
This story was developed in collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal and the Pulitzer Center. It was edited by Kate Howard and Clint Hendler and a copy edited by Nikki Frick.
Jenny Casas and Euclides Cordero Nuel contributed to this report. Sandy Tolan in atolan@usc. edu and Michael in mmontgomery@revealnews. org can be reached. Follow them on Twitter: @Sandy_Tolan and @mdmontgomery.
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