¡Hola from the beautiful San Juan de la Maguana!

Today was our Global Business and Deconstructing Poverty Day, during which we learned about the sugar industry, which dominates many areas of the island, and examined how it affects not only the workers, but the environment as well. We met Pablo Garcia from the Fundacion Central Barahona and then the members of the Plataforma Vida in Barahona. The groups we interviewed gave us vastly different stories and perspectives, which made for angry realizations and violent thoughts.

The day started at 6:00a, to which the Glimpsers met with surprising strength. This strength had unfortunately faded away by the time we got into the guagua (bus), and everyone took a solid nap. We drove past beautiful countryside and started seeing the sugar fields and the houses spread within them. Once we got near the sugar cane factory, we were joined by Pablo, who gave us a tour of the area. We took a tour of the plantation and factory while simultaneously conducting a thorough cross examination of the Consorcio Azucarero Central Barahona and its Foundation’s practices and policies. We learned that Haitian workers come for six months to work on the plantation, during which they stay in a complejo habitacional (habitation) near Barahona. We also learned that 30% of the sugar is hand-cut with machetes by workers (mandated by the government), and also 30% of all sugar that is produced is exported internationally.

160,000 tons of brown sugar

We saw where and how the sugar was processed, but what ended up being more interesting was the answers, or rather there lack thereof, of our questions to Pablo. Upon our inquiry of the wages of the workers, discrimination within the workplace, environmental impacts, and the rights of workers, Pablo seemed to avoid or redirect questions. “I don’t know, it’s just company policy.” was his answer to a lot of these questions. Pablo represents the Foundation, which uses some of the money from the CAC (sugar consortium) to do projects for the local community. We visited the site of one of the projects of the FCB (foundation), which was a fish farm/lake for the community to use. The lake was empty and the children of the community played, half-naked in the water.

For lunch, we joined the folks at Plataforma Vida, which is a nonprofit organization, ran by volunteers, that aims to better the community, support the people, and stand against the CAC and injustice. We had a long interview with them and learned that the CAC has been underpaying its workers, polluting the surrounding areas with pesticides dropped from planes, which have caused health issues for the locals, and basically imprisoning the Haitian workers who ‘live’ in the habitations. Despite direct action taken by them as well as other workers and organizations, the CAC’s actions are overlooked by the government.

Today, we learned a lot about the importance of finding out the whole story and searching for the truth. Unfortunately, the actions of good people are too often hidden by the bad. Responsible consumerism and backing the right horses are really important in today’s world.

The consensus here is that this is the most interesting and fun experience of our lives. We miss all of you back home, but don’t worry; we’ll be back.

Signing off from the Dominican Republic, “This is Aiden, and stay classy America.”

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