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Levantando un (nuevo) imperio  6/14/2021 OnCuba: La plantocracia cubana en el exilio: "En el Central Romana entonces se pagaba a los macheteros 96 pesos por cada tonelada cortada, el equivalente a un poco más de dos euros. Según los especialistas, un machetero en plena forma puede derribar cuatro toneladas diarias, lo cual significaría entonces, como máximo, un ingreso de un poco más de ocho euros. Y con descuentos: ahí está el otro detalle. Por un seguro que no tenían. Por una luz eléctrica que tampoco. Por implementos de trabajo, de machetes a guantes. Y sin papeles, ni contrato, ni mucho menos jubilación. Y ojo con los sindicatos: a la calle con el primero que se atravesara en el camino. Aquí resuena un gentilicio, si bien no único: haitianos. Como sus ancestros en Cuba. Un estudio del Centro Dominicano de Asesoría e Investigaciones Legales (CEDAIL), lo confirmó con varios hallazgos: por ejemplo, el 32% de las comunidades allí establecidas carecía de agua potable; el 66%, de servicios sanitarios medianamente humanos, además de problemas con la asistencia médica y otros."

Did Marco Rubio Hire a Big-Sugar Tycoon's Grandson as an Intern?  1/21/2020 Miami New Times: "Environmentalists and government watchdogs have been critical of the family and the sugar industry at large. Excessive runoff of fertilizers and pesticides from sugar farming have been blamed for likely irreversible pollution in the Everglades, and two of the Fanjuls' major sugar giants — U.S. Sugar and the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida — have fought attempts to force them to pay to clean up the Glades. Environmentalists also partly blame fertilizer runoff from sugar farming for foul-smelling toxic algae blooms that have flooded Florida beaches in recent years and endangered the state's largest industry, tourism. As the New York Times' "1619 Project" noted last year, sugarcane farming has historically been one of the most exploitative and grueling types of farm work in the nation's history; much of the work used to be done by slaves. Since the Fanjuls rose to prominence in the '60s and '70s, the vast majority of cane farming has been carried out by easily exploited populations of immigrants. Lawsuits and critics have repeatedly accused the Fanjul Corporation of operating unsafe farms and deporting workers who complain — charges the company denies."

Florida donors among Donald Trump inauguration backers  4/22/2017 Pensacola News Journal: "Florida Crystal Corps (West Palm Beach): $500,000" [Owned by the Fanjules, owners of Domino sugar and a pillar of the plantocracy in exile.]

Rubio has cozy relationship with sugar family  11/3/2016 TC Palm: "Despite winning the Senate in 2010 on an anti-big government platform, Rubio is a staunch defender of a federal program that artificially inflates sugar prices. The Great Depression-era program sets quotas on imports and gives growers loans they can repay with surplus sugar if prices fall near of below the loan rate. The program has many opponents: environmentalists; manufacturers that use sugar in their products, like candy makers; and the corn industry, which produces corn syrup, a sugar substitute. Congress has voted to continue the program several times with support from several Florida lawmakers. The sugar industry employs 14,000 to 15,000 people in Florida, and Rubio is prepared to eliminate the program once other countries end their sugar subsidies, he said in a 2015 "Meet the Press" interview."

Major Trump supporter tied to Klan leadership  10/3/2016 Daily Kos: "Billionaire sugar baron Pepe Fanjul’s executive assistant, Chloe Black, is a fundraiser for Republican candidates such as Rubio and Donald Trump. She has worked for the Fanjul’s for over 35 years and is a powerful player in the secretive big sugar empire of the Fanjul family. She is the ex-wife of former KKK leader David Duke, and the current wife of Don Black, a former KKK grand wizard and member of the American Nazi Party. He now runs white-supremacist website StormFront.org."

Los Fanjul, poder, dinero y azúcar  1/22/2016 El Pais: "Mientras Pepe sigue fiel al exilio cubano contrario a cualquier acercamiento al régimen de los Castro, Alfy apoya la decisión de Barack Obama de reanudar las relaciones diplomáticas con el Gobierno de la isla. Alfy, de 77 años y con nacionalidad española, ha viajado a Cuba y ha mostrado su disposición a invertir en la tierra que vio nacer una saga familiar que con la caña de azúcar ha alcanzado una combinación perfecta de dinero y poder. Los Fanjul."

Marco Rubio’s Billion-Dollar Sugar Addiction  11/13/2015 National Review: "Writing for National Review, Windsor Mann was among those stumped by Rubio’s logic. “Let’s try to untangle this,” he wrote following Rubio’s remarks. “If we get rid of sugar subsidies, Americans will turn their sugar farms into condominium lots and start buying sugar from foreigners, who will starve us until we surrender to ISIS. Or something like that.” “We have as much reason to grow our own sugar as Lithuania does to make its own cars: none,” Mann added. “The fact is that other countries produce certain things more cheaply and efficiently than we do. That is why we trade with them.”"

Marco Rubio needs to get past his sugar problem  11/3/2015 Washington Examiner: "Rubio supports the federal sugar program, with its special cheap loans and its blatant protectionism. This is to the detriment of U.S. consumers and foodmakers, and to the benefit of a handful of sugar magnates, including some of his earliest fundraisers. Amidst the jungle of crony capitalism, corporate welfare, and federal boondoggles that Congress has created, the sugar program may be the least defensible. Here's what it does: First, through prohibitive tariffs, our government effectively limits the amount of foreign-grown sugar allowed to enter the United States. By throttling imports, government reduces the supply of sugar, thus increasing the price. In the U.S., raw sugar sold for 24.46 cents per pound in the third quarter of this year, according to U.S.D.A. figures. In the rest of the world, the price was 11.29 cents per pound."

Everglades To Be Killed This October by Florida's Own Koch Brothers  3/4/2015 Alternet: "Time magazine has called them the "First Family of Corporate Welfare" John Ellis Bush (JEB), Rick Scott, and other GOP politicians kowtow to this family like no other. They were a top donor for W. And they are almost singlehandedly destroying our Everglades. Welcome to Keeping up with the Fanjul family of Palm Beach. The Fanjul family is synonymous with the term "Big Sugar" here in Florida. They control 1/3 of our nation's raw sugar. "

Dos de cada tres (Los Fanjul)  3/16/2014 Desde La Ceiba: "Pero el sueño americano de los Fanjul no es en buena medida sino la pesadilla de los trabajadores inmigrantes. Un coterráneo de Alfy, discrepando de esa posición de súbito "engagement con el castrismo"--le llaman "el Fanjulazo" a partir de su histórica línea dura, el reclamo de sus propiedades, el apoyo a la Fundación Nacional Cubano-Americana de Mas Canosa y el regreso a una Cuba largamente imaginada--, lo expresa de una manera más realista que el hombre del Times: "No calculemos a los Fanjul superficialmente. Cubren todas las posiciones y juegan al duro lo mismo en primera base, el campo corto o el jardín derecho. Saben que están en Roma y actúan como romanos".""

The Fanjul flak: Typical Miami schizophrenia  2/7/2014 Progreso 

Directo al bolsillo de Fanjul  2/6/2014 Cartas desde Cuba: "El conocido anticastrista Mauricio Claver-Carone amenazó al magnate azucarero Alfonso Fanjul con hacer campaña para que le retiren las subvenciones."

Diaz-Balart to sugar baron: Hey, Alfy, try crying for democracy in Cuba instead of lost mansion  2/6/2014 Naked Politics: "Outraged by a Washington Post report about Florida Crystals' Alfonso Fanjul appearing to sidle up to Cuba's regime, Republican Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Sen. Marco Rubio are hammering away at him. Meantime, Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia has held his fire."

Magnate azucarero Alfonso Fanjul dispuesto ahora a invertir en Cuba bajo “circunstancias adecuadas”  2/2/2014 Progreso Semanal: "Pero el cambio de Fanjul es mucho más significativo. No solo él y su familia controlan una de las mayores operaciones de azúcar en el mundo, sino que también han estado entre los mayores donantes a grupos de activistas como la Fundación Nacional Cubano-Americana y el U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, que han sido defensores activos de las sanciones comerciales."

Sugar tycoon Fanjul open to investing in Cuba under ‘right circumstances’  2/2/2014 WaPo: "But the shift by Fanjul is far more significant. Not only do he and his family control one of the largest sugar operations in the world, but they also have been major donors to activist groups, such as the Cuban American National Foundation and the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, that have been vocal advocates for trade sanctions."

Clay Shaw, Big Sugar and the Everglades  9/18/2013 CounterPunch: Big sugar = Domino Sugar, owned by the Fanjul brothers, central pilars of the exiled plantocracy.

The Salting of Florida - And Not a Drop to Drink  6/28/2011 CounterPunch: "Think of Florida's water supply and demand as an elastic band, with the competition for water resources being stretched tighter and tighter by serial assaults on the supply by Big Sugar and developers insisting that the primary purpose of water managers is to deliver as much water as they need, whenever they need it. These are the politics-- backed by unlimited campaign contributions-- a rain of toxic cash-- that forced environmentalists and civic activists to the fringe over the past 40 years, in no small part because the mainstream media refused-- and still refuses-- to give weight to the ethical lapses that will ultimately determine whether we can afford to live in South Florida." [Big Sugar, Domino Sugar, is owned by the Fanjules, a pillar of the Plantocracy who made their fortune in Slavery, did their best to destroy Cuba, and are now destroying Florida.]

Back With a Vengeance? The Florida Growth Machine  10/26/2010 CounterPunch: "Today, efforts by the EPA to impose enforceable limits on phosphorous pollution in the Everglades are opposed by the state, which has taxing authority through the legislature but is afraid to use it. The sugar barons, exemplified by the Fanjul family interests, are pouring money into political campaigns with the seasoned skill of master puppeteers. And that is just the Everglades. Movement by the EPA to impose enforceable limits on phosphorous pollution in all Florida waters has triggered a political backlash wrapping up Democrats and Republicans, threatening riders in Congress to eviscerate the Clean Water Act, despite scientific evidence of human health threats, threats to tourism, and the economy from poisoned waters."

Billionaire won’t fire assisant for KKK link  10/9/2010 Page 6: "Billionaire sugar baron Pepe Fanjul is refusing to fire his executive assistant, Chloe Black, despite her being married first to a former Ku Klux Klan leader, and then to the founder of a white-supremacist group. Chloe, who has worked for the Cuban-born owner of Florida Crystals for more than 35 years, is the ex-wife of former KKK leader David Duke, and the current wife of Don Black, a former KKK grand wizard and member of the American Nazi Party. He now runs white-supremacist Web site StormFront.org."

Billionaire won't fire assisant for KKK link  10/9/2010 NY Post: "Billionaire sugar baron Pepe Fanjul is refusing to fire his executive assistant, Chloe Black, despite her being married first to a former Ku Klux Klan leader, and then to the founder of a white-supremacist group. Chloe, who has worked for the Cuban-born owner of Florida Crystals for more than 35 years, is the ex-wife of former KKK leader David Duke, and the current wife of Don Black, a former KKK grand wizard and member of the American Nazi Party. He now runs white-supremacist Web site StormFront.org."

The Fanjul brothers  9/21/2010 Progreso: An interesting look into the Miami plantocracy, where old slave owning habits die hard - "In 1959, bearded men dressed in olive green entered the Fanjul mansion. At the time, Alfonso was 23 and had just graduated from Fordham University in New York City. His brother, Pepe, was 14. Castro's envoys summoned the entire family, put aside their guns and spread on the table maps that showed the family's properties – cane fields, mills, workers' barracks, mansions, a port. And they told them: “From this day on, all this belongs to the people. All of it!”

Farming the Everglades  1/1/2004 Radio Progresso: "With too few U.S. citizens willing to endure such treatment, programs to bring seasonal workers from places like Jamaica, Barbados, and Haiti began in the 1940s and expanded vastly in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, when the embargo of a foreign competitor allowed Florida sugar production to expand ten-fold. Growers paid the migrant workers a brutal piece rate, demanding that one ton of sugar be cut per hour. Those who complained vocally or organized to go on strike – as 300 did in 1982 at Atlantic Sugar Growers – swiftly found themselves in Miami's international airport, awaiting deportation… Over the years, the Fanjul family has grown accustomed to such high levels of political servicing. As owners of the Florida Crystals Corporation, Cuban-born Alfonso “Alfie” Fanjul, Jr. and his brother Jose, or “Pepe,” have the largest sugar cane holdings in the country. Their personal fortune is estimated conservatively at $500 million. Between 1990 and 2003, the sugar industry, led by the Fanjul brothers, sent $19.3 million in political contributions to Washington, according to the Center For Responsive Politics. Growers spent tens of millions more on local elections, especially in Florida. For the Fanjuls, the American two-party political system entails a simple division of labor: Alfie is a Democrat, Pepe a Republican. Leaders from each party eagerly seek the Fanjuls’ assistance as “Pioneer” class donors and campaign committee chairmen." The Fanjuls and the Bacardis are the financial backbone of the Miami Mafia.

Bush Bros. Wrecking Company - Time Runs Out for the Everglades  12/30/2003 CounterPunch: "The failure of the state to plan for sprawl creeping toward the Everglades Agricultural Area, where sugar is grown, is an enormous impediment to timely and cost-efficient restoration, which will depend -- not on risky technologies like aquifer storage and recovery wells that only engineering companies believe will work -- but on significant additional surface water storage. The imminent arrival of condo farms in the Everglades Agricultural Area -- the "exit strategy" for Big Sugar -- will be facilitated by a new law Gov. Bush supported in 2002 that diminishes citizen standing in challenging bad development decisions by the state or local authorities." Big Sugar here means the Fanjul family, long in the forefront with Bacardi in financing the Miami Mafia. Their exploits in the sugar industry are legendary: from working conditions to large government subsidies to their pollutants, which have killed many of the coral reefs off the coast of Florida.

Florida Gov. Bush Signs Contentious Everglades Bill  5/21/2003 Reuters: "Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law on Tuesday a sugar industry-backed bill relaxing requirements to clean up the Everglades, which critics say threatens the health of the massive Florida wetland." By sugar industry is meant the Fanjul brothers, who own most of it in Florida and finance the Cuban American terrorists along with the Bacardis.

George Bush senior to spend luxury holiday with Gustavo Cisneros  1/30/2003 Vheadlines, Venezuela: "Former US President George P. Bush is heading to the Dominican Republic for a ;uxury holiday, where he will spend quality time with anti-government Venezuelan media tycoon Gustavo Cisneros, who President Hugo Chavez Frias accuses of leading a push for a coup d'etat to have him forcibly removed from office… Bush is set to arrive on the Caribbean island next Tuesday, where he will stay at the Casa de Campo resort owned by the Fanjul brothers, Alfi and Jose ... he will then join the Venezuelan media tycoon in several rounds of golf in the town of La Romana. There are strong indications that Bush will also meet secretly with corruption-impeached former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez. This will be Cisneros' second meeting with a former US President in less than a month, after holding talks with Jimmy Carter in Caracas several weeks ago." See AfroCubaWeb's page on the Fanjuls, Cuban sugar barons in South Florida, who bribed their way into a fortune on the backs of American taxpayers.

Hush Hush Palm Beach Civil Rights Suit Alleges Widespread Corruption & Brutality  10/27/2002 CopWatch: This matter is going to jury trial Nov 12. The Fanjul family is steeped in corruption and, along with the Barcadis, are the major funders of anti-Cuba activity in Florida.

Study details how Cuban exiles have aided key U.S. lawmakers  5/20/2002 Dallas Morning News: "Ms. Thomas said that few foreign citizens play a more active role in seeking to influence U.S. foreign policy than the Bermuda-based Bacardi Martini rum company and sugar barons Alfonso and Jose Fanjul. The Cuban-born brothers, better known as Alfy (a Democrat) and Pepe (a Republican), are Spanish citizens but have homes in West Palm Beach, Fla. Of the $1.8 million contributed between 1999 and 2002, the Fanjul brothers; their corporation, Flo-Sun Sugar; and Bacardi contributed $1.34 million, or 71 percent of the total."

Sweet deal why are these men smiling ? The reason is in your sugar bowl  11/16/1998 CNN: "The name means nothing to most Americans, but the Fanjuls might be considered the First Family of Corporate Welfare. They own Flo-Sun Inc., one of the nation's largest producers of raw sugar. As such, they benefit from federal policies that compel American consumers to pay artificially high prices for sugar. Since the Fanjuls control about one-third of Florida's sugar-cane production, that means they collect at least $60 million a year in subsidies, according to an analysis of General Accounting Office calculations. It's the sweetest of deals, and it's made the family, the proprietors of Casa de Campo, one of America's richest."
   

Links/Enlaces

The Sugar Sultans And Bribery, Granma, 4/2000 - the Fanjul brothers

The Price of Sugar is a 2007 documentary by Bill Haney about exploitation of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic involved with production of sugar, and the efforts of Spanish priest Father Christopher Hartley to ameliorate their situation. It is narrated by actor Paul Newman. The documentary shows the poor working conditions in the sugar cane plantations, and political control exerted by the Vicini family to stifle efforts to change the situation….. the movie has resulted in several lawsuits from the Vicini family. [DR sugar is dominated  by the Fanjuls.]

Crooked Marco Rubio Watch
Watching Marco Rubio and his concessions to Big Sugar polluting #Florida.
Also covering the daily sugarcane burning brought to you by the FL Forest Service.

Investment Group Buys Domino Sugar, 7/26/01
Note the next to last paragraph for boast about the days of slavery

Slavery was only abolished in 1886, so the Fanjuls used slave labor for over 35 years.

Domino Sugar workers against the Fanjuls, 2/05

Contacting AfroCubaWeb