Trump is a billionaire president, with billionaire friends, who represents the billionaire class in the United States. Evidence of this abounds, and when it comes to Cuba, there is no clearer example than his relationship with the Fanjul family.
Described by Forbes as one of Trump’s “top political donors and friend of more than 40 years,” José “Pepe” Fanjul is an 81-year-old Palm Beach sugar magnate who lives near Mar-a-Lago. He is also the younger brother of Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul, the 88-year-old CEO and chairman of the family sugar and real estate business.
Together, they manage an $8 billion dollar fortune they acquired with a fair bit of political favors from both Democrats and Republicans, and now they want help from Trump to rebuild their sugar business in Cuba.
The Fanjul family hails from Cuba originally and has been in the sugar business since the mid-19th century, eventually becoming one of the largest producers in the country prior to 1959. The siblings’ parents, Alfonso Fanjul, Sr., and Lillian Gomez-Mena, married in 1936, uniting two of the island’s wealthiest sugar families.
By 1959, their sugar empire had ten mills, real estate across Cuba, and a broker in New York. After the Cuban Revolution, they, like many other wealthy families, left the island in a self-imposed exile, leaving behind their properties and assets.
The Fanjuls quickly began to rebuild, purchasing 4,000 acres of land in Pahokee, on the shores of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. They then purchased old parts of smaller sugar mills in Louisiana. Their first American sugar mill opened in 1960. Alfonso, Jr., who was then just 22, went to work for his father in the family business, and eventually Pepe and the other brothers, Andres and Alexander, joined as well.
Today, the Fanjuls control companies such as Florida Crystals and Domino Sugar, along with the American Sugar Refining group, which is regarded as the largest cane sugar refiner in the world. The business empire of the Fanjul family also includes investments in the Caribbean. The family owns the Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic and is involved in Central Romana, the largest private employer and landowner in the country.
The Fanjuls had long been involved in anti-Castro circles, like many other powerful Cuban emigres in the United States, but their real political power has come not from ideological devotion to any cause but rather from crudely pragmatic political spending to enrich themselves and build their sugar empire.
Alfy, the eldest brother, had over the years a well-known relationship with the Clintons, even serving as co-chair of Bill Clinton’s Florida campaign in 1992. When Clinton was in office, Alfy used this connection to convince the president to quietly withdraw support for Vice President Al Gore’s proposal to tax Florida sugar growers a penny per pound to fund the cleanup of the polluted Florida Everglades.
Indeed, the Fanjuls’ farms have been accused for decades of polluting waterways with chemical runoff, not to mention the air pollution generated from burning sugarcane leaves to prepare plants for harvest, which release toxic gasses.
According to data from the Federal Election Commission and Florida’s Department of State, since 1977, the Fanjuls have spent at least $24 million on federal and Florida state campaigns and PACs, giving both to Democrats and Republicans. Recently, they have opted for maximizing their rewards with hefty donations to Trump in all three elections, sticking with the king of MAGA through it all, and contributing a total of more than $7 million to Trump fundraising committees and super PACs.
In return, Trump has obliged with favors like adding tariffs for foreign competitors and pushing Coca-Cola to use cane sugar in their products. The Fanjuls no doubt seek to take advantage. More egregiously, Trump rescinded a Biden administration order from 2022 that banned imports from the Central Romana Corporation—a major exporter of sugar to the U.S. whose top executive is Alfonso Fanjul—because of information indicating widespread abuse of vulnerable workers, including withheld wages, forced labor and hazardous working conditions.
In 2021, Democratic lawmakers called on President Joe Biden to investigate the mistreatment of sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic, saying inhumane conditions must not be tolerated in the U.S. supply chain.
In 2023, reports indicated the federal agents under the Biden administration were investigating Central Romana, potentially leading to criminal charges. Special agents from Homeland Security Investigations were probing working conditions at the Central Romana. The agents spent days in March secretly interviewing Haitian cane cutters, who were shuttled to a hotel from Central Romana’s sprawling nearby 240,000-acre plantation, where many workers, along with their families, live in ramshackle camps.
When Trump recently said, “I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba,” it is clear the Fanjuls stand behind him, waiting for their moment to take advantage. In fact, much to the frustration of Cuban-American politicians like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Marco Rubio, Mario Díaz-Balart, and others, Alfonso Fanjul visited Cuba a couple of times during Obama’s presidency as part of a Brookings Institution delegation, and in the process met with Cuban officials and discussed business opportunities on the island.
In 2014, hoping to benefit from Obama’s overture toward Cuba, he was quoted saying, “If there is some way the family flag could be taken back to Cuba, then I am happy to do that.” It seems that with Trump now in the White House, and with Fanjul money talking behind him, the way to do that is with a cudgel.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
