“Haitians Work on Sugar Plantations Under Conditions Amounting to Forced Labor”

We go with Democracy Now! correspondent Juan Carlos Dávila to the Dominican Republic, where many Haitian migrants and their descendants work on sugar plantations under conditions amounting to forced labor and live in heavily underresourced communities known as bateyes. Many bateyes do not have electricity or running water…

Last year, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from the one of the major Dominican sugar companies, Central Romana, which sells its products in the United States under the Domino brand. At the time, the U.S. government said it had uncovered, quote, “indicators of forced labor.” One U.S. official decried the company’s practices as, quote, “inhumane.”…

Many Haitian migrants work 12 to 14 hours for less than $2 a day…

Today we’re working to change this reality without the help of politicians. We’re implementing a sustainable energetic model and establishing a new example of how bateyes should be in the Dominican Republic…

Every person here works directly with the Central Romana. They face extremely dangerous working conditions…

…Now the Central Romana is taking care of the domestic demand for sugar, and the other corporations are sending sugar to the U.S. like on normal days…