On November 23, 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against all sugar and sugar products produced by Central Romana Corporation Limited (Central Romana) in the Dominican Republic. Under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, it is prohibited to import all goods produced in whole or in part with forced or prison labor into the United States. Therefore, as of November 23, 2022, all sugar goods produced by Central Romana in the Dominican Republic cannot enter the US market, although they may be exported and sent to another country.
This WRO comes just weeks after Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) and other NGOs issued a public letter to the Biden Administration urging the government to take these steps. CBP found five indicators of forced labor on Central Romana’s bateyes (company towns where cane cutters live) and farms, including abuse of vulnerability, isolation, withholding of wages, abusive working and living conditions, and excessive overtime. As only the third WRO in 2022 – and one that blocks goods from a big importer – this is an important step to combat forced labor.
This WRO is long overdue, as it has been an open secret for decades that the living and working conditions on Central Romana’s bateyes and farms amount to forced labor. The abhorrent labor conditions in the Dominican sugar industry are so well known that the United States and the Dominican Republic established a technical working group to “help improve labor law enforcement in the Dominican sugar sector.” CAL also testified before Congress on this very issue in 2021 and in September 2022, the Department of Labor found labor violations in the Dominican sugar industry.
Central Romana’s Political Power
Central Romana has exploited its captive and vulnerable workforce through its political power and deep connections in the Dominican government. As the largest private landowner in the Dominican Republic, it has been referred to as “a government within a government.” Journalist Sandy Tolan explained that “[t]he wealth that Central Romana throws off gives it a kind of political and economic autonomy in the Dominican Republic; essentially it’s a state within a state, with deep ties to the country’s governing and commercial elite.” The fact that the former president of Central Romana also served as the Dominican Republic’s vice president, foreign minister, and ambassador to the United States is emblematic of these deep relationships. It is therefore not surprising that Central Romana has about 63 percent of the import quota for the Dominican Republic.
In the United States, the Fanjul Corporation has also cultivated its political connections, with brothers Alfonso and Pepe Fanjul donating large sums to both the Republican and Democratic parties. In 2016, for instance, the two brothers hosted two fundraisers – Alfonso hosted one for Hilary Clinton while his brother Pepe co-hosted one for Donald Trump. In addition, the sugar industry donates large sums of money to politicians, with an estimated $40 million donated between 1990 and 2016. The Fanjul Corporation also takes advantage of sugar subsidies, with economists estimating that the company receives at least $150 million in subsidies annually.
Forced Labor in Central Romana’s Bateyes and Sugarcane Fields
For years, Central Romana’s cane cutters have labored under dangerous conditions, often working over ten hours a day in the hot sun, cutting sugarcane with machetes, and earning poverty wages. Most workers live in Central Romana’s bateyes in dilapidated homes, many of which do not have running water or electricity. Moreover, most of Central Romana’s workers are Haitian or of Haitian descent. Although many were born in bateyes, they often lack documentation and regular immigration status – a result of discriminatory laws.
Central Romana has exploited their workers’ vulnerability to keep them in conditions of forced labor. An August 2022 study by Howard University Professor Nikongo BaNikongo found that Central Romana uses the threat “to report people who lack proper documentation to the authorities [as] a standard tool of enforcement...” Workers have also reported that they were deceived about working conditions during recruitment, and were lured to the Dominican Republic by recruiters who promised higher wages, paid time off, written contracts and overtime pay – none of which materialized.
Central Romana has also reportedly hired “paramilitary-style” night guards that are so abusive that even members of the company’s daytime security force have expressed trepidation. One ex-Central Romana guard commented to journalists that their “weapons, the head-to-toe blue-black uniforms, and the full facial masks...create an atmosphere of intimidation so that the cane cutters and their families ‘always live in fear.’”
While workers in Central Romana’s bateyes and sugarcane fields have been subjected to egregious working and living conditions, Central Romana and its parent company, the Florida-based Fanjul Corporation, have continued to earn large profits selling sugar in the United States. The Fanjul Corporation’s sugar is sold under well-known brand names, including Domino Sugar, Florida Crystals, C&H, Redpath, and Tate & Lyle and they also sell to large companies such as Hershey. Led by brothers Alfonso and Jose Pepe Fanjul, the Fanjul Corporation and its subsidiaries produce over 7 million tons of sugar each year.
Central Romana Must Remediate its Workers
The WRO is a first step in the fight for Central Romana to treat its workers fairly. CBP can lift a WRO, allowing the company’s goods to enter the US market once again, if the company shows that it has remediated its workers. The challenge now is to ensure that Central Romana remediates the harm to workers to the fullest extent. Remediation must include improving working conditions, including by providing workers with a living wage and written contracts, following all local labor laws, and providing workers with appropriate protective equipment; providing workers with adequate housing and sanitation, including access to the electrical grid and clean, running water; ensuring there is no retaliation and threats against workers and human rights defenders; stopping the use of hired “paramilitary-style” night guards and other armed guards that intimidate workers; and assisting workers to access must be provided with documentation and regularization of their legal status.
We welcome this WRO and urge CBP to ensure that Central Romana takes real steps to remediate the egregious working conditions and forced labor taking place on its property and under conditions the company created.
Allie Brudney is a Staff Attorney at Corporate Accountability Lab.
