Over the last few months, we've been following the protracted commercial disagreement between the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, and BSI, with their majority shareholder, American Sugar Refining Group. The two sides have been unable to sign a long-term commercial agreement, and at this time, the tentative start date is now about three weeks away.
But, since last Wednesday, six days ago, the ASR Group has been having its own public relations difficulties in both the US and Belize. That's after international press reports emerged that one of their supposed sister companies, which allegedly belongs to their parent company, ended up in trouble with US Customs and Border Patrol. Last Wednesday, US CBP sent out a press release saying they would detain imports of raw sugar and sugar-based products produced by Central Romana Corporation Limited, a company out of the Dominican Republic.
According to an article in the New York Times, Central Romana Corporation Limited produces sugar sold in the United States. The Times reports that Central Romana has also had to defend against allegations of subjecting its workers to poor labor conditions.
Last Wednesday, a statement from the US Customs and Border Protection said, "CBP issued a Withhold Release Order against Central Romana based on information that reasonably indicates the use of forced labor….CBP identified five of the International Labour Organization's 11 indicators of forced labor during its investigation: abuse of vulnerability, isolation, withholding of wages, abusive working and living conditions, and excessive overtime." End quote.
So, what does Central Romana have to do with ASR/BSI in Belize? According to international press reports, they are sister companies with the same owners. According to several press reports, including the New York Times, One of Central Romana's owners is the Florida-based Fanjul Corp. The Times reports that members of the Fanjul family are allegedly also part-owners in ASR Group, which reportedly processes sugar from the Dominican Republic at its US facilities and sells it to companies, including Hershey.
Press reports also link Central Romana, to another company through business ties. That company is Florida Crystals, and their LinkedIn profile says that ASR Group is one of their subsidiaries.
Since last week, we've been reaching out to representatives of ASR/BSI for comment on these reports. This morning, Shawn Chavarria, the Director of Finance, responded via Whatsapp to our request for comment.
Chavarria told us quote, "BSI has no relationship or connection with Central Romana. ASR Group has informed us that it has no ownership interest in Central Romana. Further, ASR Group has informed us that it invests significant time and resources to ensure its operations and supply chain are ethical and sustainable and that it works closely with all its raw sugar suppliers to make sure they meet [the] commitment to continuous improvement across all their social programming, including health and safety, labor, environmental compliance, and social responsibility." End quote.
We understand that the ASR's upper corporate management continues to take issue with those reports that link their company to Central Romana Corporation Limited. To challenge those publications, they would have to take some sort of legal action against all those media houses, including the mighty New York Times.
