Azucar Amarga on Primer Impacto

[stewart]

Did anybody else see the report on Primer Impacto last night about the haitians harvesting sugar cane?
The were in a place called San Jose de los LLanos. Absolutely disgusting.
It boils down to typical Dominican culture. Where the wealthy can run a feudal state within a state with total autonomy.
Who else saw this?

[Lesley D]

Stewart,

Can you provide some more details of the report. I very rarely watch Primer Impacto because it always seems like "sensationalized journalism" in my opinion but from time to time they do have interesting reports. The program that aired last night seems most interesting. Do you mind expanding a bit?

Thanks.

-Lesley D-

[stewart]

You are right about the sensationalized journalism part. But every once in a while, they find a good story.
The piece focused on the abuse of haitian workers in the cane fields. And also the exploitation of children. THey showed kids as young as 12 working the fields. They spend the day in the heat cutting a "calle" of cane for 10 pesos. If they leave the finca or report them, they will be deported as illegal aliens. It's the black secret. THey government knows it is happening. The land owners deny it. The "Mayordomo's" are paying these people and are responsible.

[Stodgord]

Originally Posted by Lesley D

Stewart,

Can you provide some more details of the report. I very rarely watch Primer Impacto because it always seems like "sensationalized journalism" in my opinion but from time to time they do have interesting reports. The program that aired last night seems most interesting. Do you mind expanding a bit?

Thanks.

-Lesley D-

I saw the report last night. They usually run it on the last ten minutes of the program. The report is a series of 3 reports basically about the sugar cane workers.

Last night report was about the children working the sugar canes for the two major producers of sugar in the DR. They showed kids working the fields under the nose of the government. When the spokepersons for these major companies where confronted they said that their company's policy and Dominican laws do not allow for child labor but they can't control the parents from asking their kids to help them out. They also interviewed a government agent who also reiterated that is against the law to employ kids, but he didn't explain how the government is dealing with the problem.
Also, there is a priest who is advocating against child labor and for better salary to the workers since they get paid very low wages. One of the sad moments was when they showed a little girl in school uniform working the fields for $10 pesos a day. Anyway you can catch the last report of the series tonight.

Today's topic and the last one, will be how the Haitians are being smuggled into the country to work the sugarcane.

[Mirador]

knows it is happening. The land owners deny it.

the program is a rerun from years back... To call this exploitation 'slavery' is giving it a good name. Actually it's worse than slavery, since in this situation the people are disposable at the end of the harvest. In the olden days, slaves had to be kept healthy and even happy, if only for productivity's sake. Also, there's only one name behind this, and it's Vicini. The reason they've been able to get away with it is because of their lobbying power at the highest level of government. Fidel, where are you?

[stewart]

The kids don't have much of a choice but to help either. My wafe told me about one of the people featured who's job it is to pull the cart and unload it in a collection area or something like that. He makes 15 trips a day for 13 pesos a day. 13 pesos. Isn't a pound of rice going for about 14 pesos now?
12 pesos for 1 platano?
If the police steo in tp enforce the laws, they also need to enforce the immigration laws. Which would send the cheap labor back across the river.
It's a never ending cycle of misery.

[Lesley D]

Thanks everyone thus far for your comments and since they will air Part III tonight I will watch it and may be I can give some feed back but from what has been described here it sounds deplorable but to no surprise. Unless one is extremely naive or unaware about the exploitation of children and adults that takes place in the Caribbean, Latin America and globally this should not be anything new but rather a reminder that subhuman conditions (condiciones infrahumanas) come in all shapes and forms and the so called world organizations (la ONU) just to name one never seem to be around to eradicate these deplorable conditions.


-Lesley D-

[stewart]

It's one of those stories that makes one say "something has to be done".
But what?
The power players intentionally turn a blind eye to it. The sugar production in the DR generates US$75 million anually. So they do have money to pay off local and even high level officials. They keep labor costs low and profit margins high.
And the workers have no voice. They don't want to be deported. THey need to eat. So what else can they do?
It would probably take a large labor strike at harvest time to call attention to the issues.
Who was the Mexican man that led the laborers in the US and pushed for better wags and conditions? I can't remember his name. But they need him there.
It really irks me to see the kids working and imagine the land owners kids riding around in BMW's.

[Stodgord]

Originally Posted by stewart

It's one of those stories that makes one say "something has to be done".
But what?
The power players intentionally turn a blind eye to it. The sugar production in the DR generates US$75 million anually. So they do have money to pay off local and even high level officials. They keep labor costs low and profit margins high.
And the workers have no voice. They don't want to be deported. THey need to eat. So what else can they do?
It would probably take a large labor strike at harvest time to call attention to the issues.
Who was the Mexican man that led the laborers in the US and pushed for better wags and conditions? I can't remember his name. But they need him there.
It really irks me to see the kids working and imagine the land owners kids riding around in BMW's.

That Mexican man was Cesar Chavez.

[stewart]

Originally Posted by Stodgord

That Mexican man was Cesar Chavez.

That's right.
Thanks for the reminder.