I feel like a more comprehensive look at the supply chain is needed, and may end up shedding some new light on certain aspects of the situation.

My instincts tell me Alefantis is a major player in the transport end of the operation, and I haven't really seen much done on the obvious suppliers of children, and humans in the general.

This first exposé stars the Fanjul brothers, Alfonso and José, Cuban born sugar barons with a rich history of exploiting foreign labor.

The Fanjul brothers — Cuban born Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul, José "Pepe" Fanjul, Alexander Fanjul, and Andres Fanjul — are owners of Fanjul Corp., a vast sugar and real estate conglomerate in the United States and the Dominican Republic. It comprises the subsidiaries Domino Sugar, Florida Crystals, C&H Sugar, Redpath Sugar, Tate & Lyle European Sugar, La Romana International Airport, and resorts surrounding La Romana, Dominican Republic.

Alfonso Fanjul married the daughter of Spaniard Andres Gomez-Mena who immigrated to Cuba in the 19th century and built up an empire of sugar mills and property by the time he died in 1910. The couple's holdings were then combined to create a large business of cane sugar mills, refineries, distilleries, and significant amounts of real estate.

In 2001, the family expanded into the charter school business. They established a religious elementary school, Glades Academy, which accepts taxpayer-funding for 200 students. They also established a high school Everglades Preparatory Academy, which serves 600 taxpayer-funded students.

Alfonso Fanjul served as co-chairman of Bill Clinton's Florida campaign in 1992 and is a major contributor and fundraiser for the Democratic Party.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanjul_brothers

Also at the Casa de Campo resort, the Clintons met brothers Pepe [José] and Alfy [Alfonso] Fanjul, owners of the Florida Crystals Corporation, a sugar company based in Florida, again according to Dominican Today. The same article cites the Dominican-based website listin.com.do as saying that "in addition to personal matters, the sugar tycoons discuss the possibility of Hillary Clinton’s run for the White [House] on the Democratic ballot in the US elections in Nov., 2016."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/clintons-new-years-vacation-in-dominican-republic-costs-taxpayers-104k/article/906782

Alonso Fanjul and Rolando Bunster both participated in the Clinton Foundation’s Future of the Americas conference in New York in December

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/president-clinton-announces-additional-world-leaders-join-future-americas-december-11

The U.S. Dept. of Labor's "List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor" report lists sugarcane from the Dominican Republic as having child and forced labor. This is a small source of raw sugar that is imported from 40 different companies to be refined then sold by Domino Foods, a marketing cooperative that among its products sells the Florida Crystals brand

http://afrocubaweb.com/fanjuls.htm

in 1995, the 49 members of the House Agriculture Committee received an average of $16,000 USD from the sugar producers, mainly the two largest ones. Moreover, the Fanjul brothers invest money in hundreds of local election campaigns and thus have become, in association with the CANF, an influential factor in U.S. politics over the last 30 years.

The main source of funds is the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a Reagan-created program which hands over money to 39 Democratic and 17 Republican members of Congress, in particular Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Dante Fascell, Robert Torricelli, Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Larry Smith, Ernest Hollings, Robert Graham, Joseph Lieberman, Connie Mack, Orrin G. Hatch, Claude Pepper and others. The Sultans of Sugar are among the principal entrepreneurs to finance politicians from both parties, confirmed US News & World Report in its July 17, 1995 issue.

http://afrocubaweb.com/fanjuls.htm

In preparation for the sugar cane harvesting season that begins in mid- October, the Orlando-based Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association is advertising for workers statewide -- including Central Florida.

But the association doesn't expect much response... why the industry relies on the federal temporary immigration worker program known as H-2.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-09-23/business/0330160294_1_cane-florida-cutters

(One form of this forced labor, for example, exists under the federal H-2 program, which provides entry visas for guest workers engaged in temporary farm labor and various non-agricultural industrial work. Analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found that the protections offered to guest workers by law are typically not honored, with little or no governmental oversight. Private, pro bono attorneys typically will not represent guest workers due to the ambiguity of the workers’ legal status, and guest workers are not eligible for federal or state-funded legal services)

http://www.mintpressnews.com/slavery-alive-well-america-fueled-need-cheap-labor/199686/

Jamaicans have been the mainstay of the U.S. sugar cane harvest for the past four decades. Despite the hardships, Jamaicans continue to fill virtually all available positions every season.

The Florida Job Service says there is a lengthy waiting list of young cane-cutters in Jamaica who want to participate in the U.S. harvest. Sugar cane is a major crop in Jamaica, and the cutters there are experienced. But the country's average per capita income is about $100 a month, or about an eighth of what workers can earn cutting Florida cane.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-09-23/business/0330160294_1_cane-florida-cutters

Workers who live on Central Romano, a Fanjul-owned plantation, go hungry while working 12-hour days to earn $2 (US).

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/big-sugar/

Caribbean workers sue sugar cane company over wages

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19990408&id=Xj1UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TI4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2814,1678291&hl=en

Although the International Labour Organization approved the DR’s labor laws for the trade deal, in 2001, the United Nations body had called Dominican sugar “one of the most widely documented instances of coercive labour contracting over the past two decades.”

in 1952, the Dominican dictator signed an agreement with his Haitian counterpart, Paul Magloire. In it, Magloire agreed to a transfer of labor that amounted to selling tens of thousands of Haitians every year to Trujillo’s government to work in nationalized cane fields.

http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2015/7/blood-sweat-and-sugar-trade-deal-fails-haitian-workers-in-dr.html

“Until now, the disturbing remnants of colonial slavery were carefully hidden in paradise.... “The Sugar Babies” examines the moral price of sugar—present and past—from the perspective of the conditions surrounding the children of sugar cane cutters of Haitian ancestry in the Dominican Republic, and the continuing denial of their basic human rights.”

https://eyeonmiami.blogspot.com/2008/02/did-big-sugar-step-on-miami.html

According to Federal Election Commission data, Jose Fanjul has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to many conservative political action committees and Republican political candidates in recent history, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, in addition to Brown.

Conversely, FEC data show that Alfonso Fanjul has contributed to the campaigns of not only Obama and Kerry, but also Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

http://www.opensecrets.org/usearch/index.php?q=jose+fanjul&sa=Search&cx=010677907462955562473%3Anlldkv0jvam&cof=FORID%3A11

Another interesting situation the Fanjul brothers were involved in.

Senator Menendez Scandal A pair of FBI agents met on a recent weekday morning with brothers Alfonso “Alfy” and Jose “Pepe” Fanjul in the Palm Beach headquarters of their sugar and real estate empire.

Months after the FBI began probing allegations against Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), investigators are looking at whether someone set out to smear him while he was running for reelection last year and then ascending to his new post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to four people briefed on the inquiry.

As part of a wider public corruption investigation of the senator, the FBI has been examining whether Menendez patronized prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, according to people familiar with the inquiry. They said agents have been trying to determine whether a longtime political supporter and friend, eye doctor Salomon Melgen, provided the women, free flights on his private plane and any other services as illegal gifts.

For years, they agreed with Menendez on issues of particular interest to the brothers, such as support for U.S. trade sanctions on Cuba. But last June, the Fanjuls were disappointed by Menendez after he voted with the majority of his Senate colleagues to revamp the Agriculture Department program and end some parts of it. Not long after the vote, Alfy Fanjul called Menendez to register his unhappiness, according to two people familiar with their conversation

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fbi-seeks-source-of-prostitution-corruption-allegations-against-sen-robert-menendez/2013/05/16/72ad79a0-bbda-11e2-89c9-3be8095fe767_story.html?utm_term=.ce6755249a6c