The Fanjuls Sugar

MariaRubia

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Jun 25, 2019
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I think this is a good thing. Years ago I drove around the west of the island in areas near to lake Enriquillo and Neyba. We drove into a batey which was clearly where those working in the sugar fields lived and it was very hard to forget. Dusty shacks with no electricity, it looked like something from Afghanistan. There is so much money in these rich families, it's hard to see why they cannot take some proper steps to improve living conditions. From Kipling's comments it seems that this has already started to happen.

Regarding that documentary, The Price of Sugar, I did hear that the guy who had made it tried to return to DR and had been blocked from entering. Don't mess with the Vicini's, they are very powerful.
 

bob saunders

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Yes - I think that the US is indeed sending a message to the DR - asking to stop or at least slow down what is being reported as a recent sorta deportation "sweep" of Haitians in the DR.

Central Romana is a US corporation even though it has operations in the DR. The US Embassy states that it has had reports of its citizens being detained ... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-warns-black-visitors-of-extra-scrutiny-risk

The DR is asking for the international community to "help" with Haiti. Then it uproots the Haitians living and working in the DR and deports them at the rate reported to be about 600 a day. Now reports are circulating about children https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/...blic-has-expelled-1800-children-back-to-haiti. (there is a push here in the US to allow all Haitian to qualify for TPS -temporary protected status)

The stance by the Dominican President may make him very popular with his people. Not so much on the world stage.

Reports coming from Haiti are that the Haitians have closed their border at Ouanaminthe and Dominicans have not been able to sell -- I have not tracked that story from the Dominican side.
Yet the rest of the world will not take or help the Haitians. They aren't welcomed anywhere else. Doesn't help that the Haitians are their own worst enemies.
 
Feb 16, 2016
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Regarding that documentary, The Price of Sugar, I did hear that the guy who had made it tried to return to DR and had been blocked from entering. Don't mess with the Vicini's, they are very powerful.
Not as powerful as the 🇺🇲 ‼️
I guess they are learning this...
I suspect there is some knee bending, pleading and very respectful attitudes being displayed at this point.
Of course until they get the ban lifted by doing the right thing (and I don't mean that they are actually going to improve working conditions).
Then it is right back to the displays of attitude.
 
Feb 16, 2016
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mountainannie

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"The politically connected Fanjul family — a family of sugar barons based in West Palm Beach — own a 35% stake in the company."
I found the case - https://casetext.com/case/alvarez-galvez-v-fanjul-corp.
La Romana (inc) is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands....
 
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mountainannie

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This is an interesting article. I have seen/read this before.
I found it VERY strange that tracing back all the links from the Treasury Department sanctions to the Congressional Report, I landed on this story! Mother Jones (https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/mother-jones) - which always has some GREAT writing - can hardly be considered any sort of neutral or centrist journalism.... and what has been going on in the batayes in the DR has been well known for years.....(which is why I think that this sanction is more about the deportations than anything else since the sugar income is the largest DR income)

The DR is a member of the UN advisory group on Haiti - https://www.un.org/ecosoc/sites/www...G-draft-statement-BINUH-Mandate-Extension.pdf
SNIP
The Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti is composed of Argentina, the Bahamas, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Canada (Chair), Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States of America, and Uruguay. The President of ECOSOC is an ex officio member of the Group. It was initially formed in 1999 and its mandate is to follow closely and provide advice on the long-term development strategy of the country.

-and the DR is being "condemned" not just by the US but by the UN - https://www.axios.com/2022/11/23/dominican-republic-haitian-migrants-deporations-criticism
SNIP
  • "Unremitting armed violence and systematic human rights violations in Haiti do not currently allow for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of Haitians to the country," UN human rights chief Volker Türk in a statement.
One thing to stop all incoming new immigrants - another thing to set up a special police force to go after undocumented immigrants who are living peacefully and working - https://presidencia.gob.do/decretos/668-22
 
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mountainannie

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The US is also dealing with the Haitian immigrant crisis https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/im...lunged-june-are-allowed-seek-asylum-rcna36974
The really strong deportations from the southern borders were of Haitians who were coming from other South American countries where they were living in relative safety,,,but no other country is as desirable to them as the USA.
(and there are ALWAYS criminal deportations)
But the ones at sea - which are heartbreaking - are now getting more coverage and more calls to let them in...
 
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bob saunders

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I found it VERY strange that tracing back all the links from the Treasury Department sanctions to the Congressional Report, I landed on this story! Mother Jones (https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/mother-jones) - which always has some GREAT writing - can hardly be considered any sort of neutral or centrist journalism.... and what has been going on in the batayes in the DR has been well known for years.....(which is why I think that this sanction is more about the deportations than anything else since the sugar income is the largest DR income)

The DR is a member of the UN advisory group on Haiti - https://www.un.org/ecosoc/sites/www...G-draft-statement-BINUH-Mandate-Extension.pdf
SNIP
The Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti is composed of Argentina, the Bahamas, Belize, Benin, Brazil, Canada (Chair), Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States of America, and Uruguay. The President of ECOSOC is an ex officio member of the Group. It was initially formed in 1999 and its mandate is to follow closely and provide advice on the long-term development strategy of the country.

-and the DR is being "condemned" not just by the US but by the UN - https://www.axios.com/2022/11/23/dominican-republic-haitian-migrants-deporations-criticism
SNIP
  • "Unremitting armed violence and systematic human rights violations in Haiti do not currently allow for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of Haitians to the country," UN human rights chief Volker Türk in a statement.
One thing to stop all incoming new immigrants - another thing to set up a special police force to go after undocumented immigrants who are living peacefully and working - https://presidencia.gob.do/decretos/668-22
I dont see any of those other countries voluteering to lighten the DRs load by taking some of those Haitians. The US deported most of the Haitians that crossed the southern border to Haiti, many who had not bwen in Haiti for years.
 

bachata

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I believe that family name exist in DR too.
Not sure if in Santiago or Santo Domingo, I knew a Fanjuls family when I was younger.
I think the family name is original from East Europe.

JJ
 

NALs

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Jan 20, 2003
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Regarding that documentary, The Price of Sugar, I did hear that the guy who had made it tried to return to DR and had been blocked from entering. Don't mess with the Vicini's, they are very powerful.
What happen to the corruption many claim in this site on multiple ocassions? Doesn't money solves everything in the DR?