Alfonso Fanjul and the Cuban Revolution

 

By Steve Halpern

Today I read the obituary of Alfonso Fanjul Jr. in the New York Times. Mr. Fanjul and his family made a fortune because workers toiled in unimaginably horrendous conditions to produce sugar in Cuba. Clearly this wasn’t how the New York Times reported his business dealings. So, perhaps a bit of background to the political-economic system of capitalism would be useful.

Adam Smith and David Ricardo both gave the definitive versions of how capitalism works. They called this the “labor theory of value.” In other words, labor is the essential ingredient in producing all wealth. 

Sugar cane workers routinely toiled under the scorching sun to cut the sugar cane that gives the world sugar. However, in Cuba, before the revolution, these workers only had work for three months during the year. There was no unemployment insurance for the rest of the year. These workers had little or no access to education or health care.

To maintain that inhuman system, there were the rural guards who did literally whatever they wanted. Resistance to the rural guards was punished by torture or death. Clearly these stories weren’t reported in the press. 

Maintaining these conditions was how the Fanjul family grew their fortune to encompass 90,000 acres, mansions, as well as expensive art collections. 

Then came the Cuban Revolution. Alfonso Fanjul learned about the Cuban Revolution at a New Years Eve party he was celebrating at the Havana Yacht Club.

Then he described a meeting between the Fanjul family and representatives of the new Cuban Revolutionary government. Clearly, this new government had more in common with the sugar cane workers than the Fanjul family and their friends at the Havana Yacht Club. So, the new government representatives started the meeting by placing machine guns on the table.

Because the Cuban government supported the interests of workers and farmers, the people began to have rights they never had before. After the revolution there was a literacy campaign where nearly everyone on the island learned how to read. Health care and education became lifetime rights for all Cubans. This was made possible because the Cuban government prioritized workers and farmers before the interests of who profited from their labor.

The Fanjuls then moved their business to South Florida and profited from Jamaican workers who cut the sugar cane. They gave generously to candidates in both the Democratic and Republican Parties. Those contributions were rewarded with tariffs that made the cost of sugar three times higher in the United States than it would have been without those tariffs. Consumers paid billions of dollars in inflated prices to further enrich the Fanjul family.

Alfonso Fanjul also gave $2.5 million to the political campaigns of Donald Trump. The Fanjuls also had holdings in Central Romana Corp. that invested in the sugar industry in the Dominican Republic. 

The Biden Administration had a ban on sugar imports from the D.R. because of allegations of forced labor. The Trump Administration lifted that ban, giving the Fanjul family the opportunity to make more money. However, among the attendees at Alfonso Fanjul’s funeral were former President Bill Clinton, as well as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Apparently, when it comes to enriching billionaires, the democrats and republicans have little to argue about.   

Yes, there is a clear disparity between the politics of Alfonso Fanjul Jr. and the politics of the Cuban government. The New York Times estimates the wealth of the Fanjul family at $4 billion. Although Cuba is a poor country, Cuban doctors have been treating some of the least affluent patients all over the world. Students from numerous countries learned to be doctors because they were trained in Cuba free of charge.

I believe that health care and education in Cuba are more important priorities than the drive to enrich the former members of the Havana Yacht Club. Clearly the United States government doesn't agree with this opinion. That is why they have been working to overthrow that government since 1959. When we look at the current drive to starve the Cuban people with an oil embargo, we might consider the times when the Fanjul family lived in opulence while the Cuban people struggled to survive.