Good Morning Folks,
First off, Redneck, I don't want to have a political discussion with you about the Fanjul's and agricultural price supports--enough said. Thank you
Yes, it's me with my encouraging early morning message.
I worked internationally for many years. You can not imagine the terrible worldwide poverty that many of these people live in. My area was Latin America and the Caribbean---5% of the people have 95% of the wealth.
You mentioned the Dominicans--I saw the same story on the news tonight. You know the the U.S. has a sugar price support system which overprices U.S. produced sugar (about 2 1/2 times world spot market prices--based on this morning's London Opening)--think about that when you buy your next candy bar. I have been to the Dominican Republic several times and stayed once at a Fanjul Resort property (check out Casa del Campo, for example and think what the employees may make while you check the room rates). The locals seeing U.S. and European cash just gives them more incentive to leave, as they are still being paid salaries which barely allow them to survive. There are also nearly a 1,000 multi-million dollar villas which provide mimimal local income. My ancestors came on a mutli-week voyage from Europe....60 miles to Puerto Rico dosn't seem that far.
"QUOTE: How sweet it is for sugar kings
They are sultans of sugar and masters of political influence, but it took the Monica Lewinsky scandal to give most Americans a glimpse of their power.
Cuban immigrants Alfonso (Alfy) Fanjul and Jose (Pepe) Fanjul, the brothers who are about to shut down Brooklyn's last sugar factory, preside over an empire worth at least half a billion dollars.
They own 180,000 acres of sugar cane in the Florida Everglades and another 240,000 acres in the Dominican Republic, where they also operate the luxurious Casa de Campo tourist resort.
The brothers, pillars of the Palm Beach jet set, own sugar refineries in several states, among them Domino Sugar on the Williamsburg waterfront. They recently announced they will close the 147-year-old facility on Jan. 31, tossing 250 people out of work.
The Fanjuls also are kings of corporate welfare.
They rake in $65 million a year in agricultural subsidies through a federal program that props up domestic sugar prices.
For this public generosity, the Fanjuls are eternally grateful to Washington.
In the current 2004 election cycle alone, companies and lobby groups controlled by Pepe and Alfy have distributed at least $200,000 in political donations, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics.
That makes the Fanjuls one of the biggest political bankrollers in American agriculture.
The brothers divide up their giving. Pepe is the Republican sugar daddy, having been a Bush Pioneer twice and a former chief fund-raiser for Bob Dole.
Alfy bankrolls the Democrats. A major fund-raiser for former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, he just wrote a $10,000 check to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
While the Fanjuls are well-known in Washington, most Americans had not heard of them until independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr released his investigation into Clinton's relations with Monica Lewinsky.
According to the Starr report, on Feb. 19, 1996, Clinton and intern Lewinsky had one of their private sessions in the Oval Office.
"At one point during their conversation," Starr writes, "the President had a call from a sugar grower in Florida whose name, according to Ms. Lewinsky, was something like 'Fanuli.' In Ms. Lewinsky's recollection, the President may have taken or returned the call just as she was leaving."
Starr confirmed that the caller was Alfy.
Fanjul had called to complain that Gore was threatening to impose a 1-cent-a-pound tax on sugar to help pay for environmental cleanup of the Everglades.
After Clinton took Alfy's call, Gore's proposal vanished. Not too many of us can call the White House and get the President on the line.
Bush has been just as solicitous toward the Fanjuls. In 2002, despite opposition from both Democrats and conservative Republicans, he signed a new agriculture bill that extends price supports for sugar growers.
With the price of American sugar protected on world markets, it is virtually impossible for the Fanjuls to lose money.
Union leaders at the Domino plant feel the real reason the brothers are closing the factory is to sell the 11-acre waterfront site for real estate development.
Officials at Florida Crystals Inc., Alfy and Pepe's principal company, did not return my calls yesterday seeking comment.
But Pepe Fanjul recently told the Florida Sun-Sentinel that as refugees from Fidel Castro's revolution, he and his brother decided when they arrived in America that "it was important to support people whose view we agreed with."
It is a lesson they've learned well.
Originally published on January 15, 2004 " UNQUOTE
The pollution they have done to to the Everglades in Florida is bad, and probably worse in the D.R.
Rock stars have multi-million dollar villas at Casa de Campo in the D. R. When is Washington going to figure out what our elected officials are doing to our worldwide image and why we have people that hate our country?? (Now don't get upset with me Redneck...)
There are countries that see the U.S.A. as the land of opportunity, and other countries that see us as their political enemies. I have been fortunate enough to live and work in Latin America and help several families improve their life and provide a future for their children. I hope they see us in a positive view.
I can't make any judgements about the rest of the world.
So much for this morning....