In August 2026, Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) published Bitter Empire: Labor Exploitation in the Dominican Sugar Sector and the Trump-Billionaire Alliance Behind It, a report based on more than three years of field research and interviews with workers about labor conditions in the Dominican sugar industry. The report documents low wages, problems with pay and benefits, deteriorating housing, inadequate working conditions, intimidation, and other conditions associated with indicators of forced labor.
Central Romana responded by calling the report “riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods” and argued that presenting the allegations documented in the report as facts was defamatory. The company also stated that it is working to improve the labor and living conditions of its workers and complies with Dominican law and international standards.
Days later, Minister of Labor Eddy Olivares said that forced labor does not exist in the Dominican Republic and defended his ministry’s inspection work. According to his statements, the country cannot be characterized as a place where forced labor exists.
In response to these statements, 48 organizations from the Dominican Republic, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe signed a statement supporting CAL’s findings. They noted that the conditions documented in the report are not new and that workers and organizations have been raising these concerns for years.
“The undersigned organizations express our concern regarding the persistence of forced labor in the Dominican sugar industry and denounce the complicity of the Dominican government and U.S. authorities—evidenced, among other things, by the lifting of the import ban on sugar from Central Romana despite ongoing allegations of forced labor. This reality is documented in various investigations and human rights reports, including the recent report by Corporate Accountability Lab…The severe working and living conditions documented in the Dominican sugar sector are neither new nor can they be dismissed as false or defamatory.”
The statement calls upon Central Romana to release an assessment conducted by Elevate, a firm specializing in labor and supply-chain audits, which the company claims found no evidence of forced labor. The organizations argued that “[i]f the company uses that assessment to defend its labor practices, it must publish the full results, methodology, and recommendations. Transparency requires that the documentation used to support those claims be open to public scrutiny.”
The organizations were also critical of the failure of the Dominican state to adequately protect Haitian migrants and workers of Haitian descent. According to the statement, these workers are exposed to “arbitrary detentions and deportations that violate national regulations,” and identified that “barriers persist regarding legal status regularization, access to essential services, and the exercise and defense of their rights. Under these conditions, it cannot seriously be claimed that sugar sector workers are truly free to report abuses, leave a job, demand wages and benefits, or seek legal redress. Those living in fear, uncertainty, and under the constant threat of expulsion can hardly exercise their labor rights on equal terms.”
Finally, they highlighted the “contradictory” position of the U.S. government, which has imposed tariffs on the Dominican Republic for failing to implement and enforce a forced labor import ban, on the one hand, while allowing Central Romana sugar back into the U.S. market. “This contradiction calls into question the consistency of U.S. policy regarding forced labor and necessitates clarification of the circumstances under which the Withhold Release Order (WRO) was lifted.”
The following organizations signed on to the statement:
From the Dominican Republic
• Articulación Nacional Campesina (ANC)
• Asociación Acción Verapaz
• Asociación de Seibanos con Discapacidad
• Asociación de Seibanos Sin Techo
• Asociación Servicios Culturales Dominicanos
• Asociación Valle de Bendición
• Centro De Investigacion Y Promocion Social -CIPROS
• Centro de Estudios Institucionales de Teología Santo Domingo de Guzmán (CEIT)
• Centro de Salud Fr. Luis Oregui
• Colectivo HaitianosRD
• Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos
• Coordinadora Popular Nacional (CPN) / RD
• Frente Amplio de Lucha Popular (FALPO)
• Hermanas Dominicas de Nuestra Rosario de Fátima
• Hermanas Misioneras de la Asunción
• Hermanas Scalabrinianas
• Misioneras Dominicas del Rosario
• Movimiento Bayahibe Despierta
• Movimiento Popular Dominicano
• Movimiento RECONOCIDO
• Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores
• Movimiento Unidos por una mejor Provincia de El Seibo
• Orden de Predicadores – Dominicos
• Patria Para Todos (PPT)
• Proyecto Agropecuario Virgen de Covadonga
• Radio Seybo
• Red CLAMOR
• Red Urbano Popular
• Servicio Jesuita con Migrantes República Dominicana
• Unión de Trabajadores Cañeros (UTC)
From Latin America
• Asociación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Educación y Comunicación Popular (ALER)
• Centro de Investigación, Formación y Emprendimiento (CIFEm)
• Comissão Pastoral da Terra - CPT
• Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de La Habana
• Pax Christi Internacional
• Programa y Red Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Tierras y Aguas
From Europe
• Asociación Acción Verapaz
• Asociación Colectivo Agar, espacio de investigación y encuentro desde la diversidad
• Asociación Colectivo Territorio Doméstico
• Asociación Riojana de Solidaridad Anacaona. CIF G-26419598
• Asociación Senda de Cuidados
• Asociación Studium Pro Aequalitas
• Fraternidad de laicos de Santo Domingo de San Martín de Porres
• Fraternidad de laicos Dominicos de Torrent
• Fraternidad Laical de Santo Domingo Nuestra Señora de Atocha
• Misioneros Dominicos – Selvas Amazónicas
• Observatorio de Derechos Humanos Samba Martine
• Dominicans for Justice and Peace
