Watchdog calls for US import ban as forced labor persists in Dominican sugarcane fields

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A report released Tuesday by a human rights group found that forced labor persists on massive sugarcane plantations across the Dominican Republic, which exports sugar and other products to the U.S. — its largest market.

The nonprofit Corporate Accountability Lab said it spent more than three years investigating the working conditions on plantations owned by Central Romana Corporation, Ltd., the largest employer and landowner in the Dominican Republic. Its owners have ties to U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the report noted.

Central Romana Corporation was previously investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which accused the company of isolating workers, withholding wages, fostering abusive working and living conditions and pushing for excessive overtime. In 2022, the U.S. imposed a ban on imports of sugar and related products made by the company, but the ban was reversed last year under the Trump administration.

One of the owners of Central Romana is the Florida-based Fanjul Corp., which owns Florida Crystals. The Fanjul family has close ties to Trump and the Dominican government, the report stated.

The human rights group called on the U.S. government to reinstate the ban.

“As long as sugar and other well-positioned interests enjoy the benefits of such market access while ignoring labor rights abuses in their supply chains, U.S. policy will remain complicit in the very kinds of abuse it claims to oppose,” the nonprofit said.

Local civil society groups estimate that up to 8,000 workers toil in the company’s sugarcane fields that span more than 173,700 acres.

They have long complained about a lack of wages and of being forced to live in cramped housing that often lacks water or electricity, as verified by Associated Press journalists in recent years. Many of them are Haitian migrants or descendants of them, who, despite being born in the Dominican Republic, do not have citizenship.

The report quoted one unidentified worker as saying that he doesn’t have any documents to get another job: “Why would we stay? This way we are their slaves.”

Corporate Accountability Lab called on Central Romana Corporation to enroll workers in the country’s social security system; pay them at least the minimum day wage; allow them to join an independent union and protect their health, among other things.

One unidentified worker was quoted as saying that company employees assign jobs and make decisions about how much someone is owed: “They are always underpaying us, but we can’t fight for them to pay us justly because we don’t have that kind of power.”

The nonprofit asserted that a “climate of fear … pervades the industry” as it called on sugar customers to adhere to a proposed code of conduct that would be developed by workers.

“I want to complain every week, but since everyone is so scared, nobody will support you,” one unidentified worker was quoted as saying.

Such fears were reflected in a recent study by the U.S. Department of Labor, with the U.S. government also describing living conditions on plantations as “inhumane” and “abusive.”

The report by Corporate Accountability Lab included comment from Central Romana Corporation, which was quoted as saying that the report was “riddled with inaccuracies and untruths” and that the company had not violated local laws or international labor standards.

The company did not immediately respond to a request seeking additional comment.

Corporate Accountability Lab called on the Dominican government to regularize the immigration status of all those recruited to work on sugarcane fields, to disburse owed pensions and enforce labor and environmental laws.

The organization found that two types of workers are most vulnerable: elderly canecutters who have not received their retirement benefits and those who are stateless.

“Governments of all countries should prohibit the importation of sugar and sugar-based products made with forced labor in the Dominican Republic,” the nonprofit said.

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