willemstad, curacao, Curaçao

The Curacao Drydock Co. hired at least 100 Cuban workers to repair cruise ships and tankers at its dock in Willemstad. Court records show that instead of paying the men, the Curacao company applied their $6.90/hour value to the Cuban government's multi-million dollar debt with the company. Company officials seized the Cuban workers' passports and forced them to labor as many as 112 hours a week fixing ships. The workers were rarely allowed to leave the shipyard complex and only in groups with a guard watching over them. They typically worked 15 days in a row, and sometimes 45 days in a row. Fidel Castro's nephew, Manuel Bequer, was a senior manager of the shipyard during the time of the enslavement. Three of the survivors, Alberto Justo Rodríguez, Fernando Alonso Hernández and Luis Alberto Casanova Toledo sued the Curacao Drydock Company in US federal court in Miami. Their Miami-based lawyer, Seth Miles, reports: "They faced the worst choice you can imagine: to continue being slaves not knowing if they would live or die because they were being treated so badly, or to try to escape, knowing that even if they were successful it would be horrific for their families in Cuba." Alonso Hernandez claims he was enslaved in hard labor for ten years. No information available on the length of servitude for the other 99 plus slaves. Documents reviewed by the Miami Herald offer a rare glimpse into the employment terms typically kept secret between the Cuban government and the firms with which it does business. The documents appear to offer proof that the Cuban government's joint ventures abroad frequently involve forced labor. For more info, see: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/734004.html http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/44550.html

Location

Curaçao · willemstad, curacao · 2008 (location generalized to protect survivors)

Response & intervention

It is unclear from reports to date how the workers received their emancipation, and whether law enforcement got engaged. Two workers escaped from the shipyard and sought refuge at the home of Olivia Ocampo, a resident of Willemstad. Ms. Ocampo approached the police and government authorities, but according to her, "they just wanted to push all the trash under the carpet and say that everything is fine." For more information, see this Christian Science Monitor report: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1118/p07s01-wogn.html Alberto Justo Rodríguez, Fernando Alonso Hernández and Luis Alberto Casanova Toledo sued the Curacao Drydock Company in US federal court in Miami under the Alien Tort Claims Act which allows foreign citizens to sue foreign officials and companies in US courts for serious violations of international law. Although the case involved a private company and the Cuban government, officials in the island state of Netherlands Antilles bear some responsibility. Ironically, the state is within the kingdom of the Netherlands, home to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. Rodriguez, Alonso Hernandez and Toledo all received temporary visas to come to the US and press charges in federal court. They now live together in the Tampa, Florida region. On Monday, October 20th, U.S. District Judge James L. King decided the evidence was "overwhelming and uncontradicted" and awarded the three men a total of $80 million. Media reports place doubts on whether the offending company will make payments to the men, given the jurisdiction questions that the case raises.

Sources

Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). Use “Report a problem” below to add a source or flag an issue.

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