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[upbeat music playing]
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[laughing]
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[engine running]
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[speaking Spanish]
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[singing in Spanish]
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[Father Christopher] I arrived in the Dominican Republic
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September of '97.
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I had no idea of the magnitude
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of all that I was going to confront.
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[soft music playing]
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[protesters yelling]
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[fire crackling]
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[Paul Newman] The town of Los Llanos
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in the Dominican Republic
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is the center of Father Christopher Hartley's parish.
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Every day he goes out to the sugar plantations,
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to the tiny villages known as bateyes,
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where Dominicans rarely go.
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One of the first things I was told,
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some of the people in the Dominican Republic
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came to me and said, "By the way, remember
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that you're not allowed into the Vicini bateyes."
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It took me 3 months to muster the courage
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to go into the sugarcane fields.
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[soft music playing]
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[Paul Newman] The growing and harvesting of Dominican sugarcane
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is done almost entirely by laborers from Haiti.
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What Father Christopher saw in the plantations
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he began to document.
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[camera shutter]
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[Father Christopher] Gradually I began to learn more about their situation.
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What I discovered was truly appalling.
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[speaking in Spanish]
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[Paul Newman] Breaking a centuries old taboo,
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the Father brings in outsiders,
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American doctors, to see what they can do to help.
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See what he is curing his wound with?
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With toothpaste.
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Really these are some of the worst conditions
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that I've ever seen.
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This is really extreme poverty.
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Families are living without access to water,
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without access to food, without access to, you know,
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really any healthcare or any infrastructure at all.
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[Paul Newman] The Haitian workers are under armed guard.
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They are not allowed to leave the plantations.
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People come here in the hope of a better life.
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The truth of the matter is
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that they make less than 90 cents a day.
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[Paul Newman] And instead of cash they receive vouchers,
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which they can redeem for high priced food
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at a company store.
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He was told that he was gonna make
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a very good wage when he was brought
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as a very young man in 1976
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and he realizes that the end of his life
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is gonna come here at the batey and he has absolutely nothing.
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That's the expression that he used in Spanish:
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'Yo no tengo nada' I have nothing.
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All he has is the roof
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that the Company has put over his head.
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Lets him stay for as long as he is useful.
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[Paul Newman] The Dominican Republic is a vacationer's paradise.
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Europeans and Americans flock here in the winter months.
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But just inland from the coast are the sugar plantations,
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250,000 acres of them.
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The country's most important agricultural industry.
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The Dominican Republic shares a Caribbean island with Haiti.
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It was here that African Slaves
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were first used in the Americas,
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to cut sugarcane.
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The two nations make uneasy neighbors.
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Haiti is one of the most dysfunctional countries
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in the world, rife with poverty and violence.
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To Haitians the Dominican Republic,
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though itself a poor country, offers the promise of survival.
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[upbeat music playing]
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There are five large Sugar companies
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in the Dominican Republic.
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The Vicini family, which owns most of the plantations
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in Father Christopher's parish, is one of the wealthiest.
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Here is the boss here.
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He got the people working for him here,
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many people working for him.
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Many, many.
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He's very rich.
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He got houses.
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Oh my God every kind of houses,
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20 million, 10 million the houses,
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40 million, beautiful house.
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[Paul Newman] The Vicini family's business interests extend beyond sugar
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to include banking, property and the media.
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Gustavo Peña is the editor of Clave Digital,
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an online newspaper
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that has managed to maintain its independence.
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[Paul Newman] In fact, the second Vicini
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to run the family sugar business,
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Juan Bautista, was President of the Dominican Republic
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in the early 1920's.
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The network of Vicini corporations
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is currently run by Juan Bautista
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and Felipe Vicini.
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Despite their prominence they keep out of the public eye.
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There are few published photographs of the family
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and they are rarely mentioned in the press.
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The Vicini refused to be interviewed for this film.
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[Paul Newman] Ana Mitila Lora works for the TV station Teleantillas.
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[calm music playing]
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[Paul Newman] Father Christopher is on his way to the Haitian border
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with Father Pedro Ruquoy,
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a Belgian Priest who has been helping
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the sugarcane workers here for 30 years.
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They want to see for themselves
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how the sugar companies bring Haitians into the country.
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[Father Christopher] Haitians are recruited by what are called buscones
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who work for the companies.
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They go across the border into Haiti and recruit
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approximately 30,000 men every harvest season.
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[Paul Newman] Their journey takes them far from the tourist resorts
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and the sugar plantations,
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up into the mountains near the border with Haiti.
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Father Christopher knows
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where the buscones bring the Haitians across
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because of a tip off from a Vicini employee.
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[Father Christopher] How we got wind of this story
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is actually very ironic.
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This Haitian who worked as one of the buscones
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came to me complaining
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that the person for whom he had rounded up 200 men
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had not paid him.
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So in other words, he was a slave merchant
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who had not received his reward
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and was coming to the Priest asking for justice.
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[speaking Spanish]
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[Father Christopher] So we brought Darío into my house
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and with a video camera
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we asked him to tell us the whole story.
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[Paul Newman] The government's complicity in human trafficking is obvious
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as soon as the Priests reach the army post near the frontier.
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[Paul Newman] By nightfall
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Father Christopher and Father Pedro
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reach the border camp.
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Here, Haitians are made to wait
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until they can be shipped to the plantations.
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[Paul Newman] The man who directs the shipment of Haitians
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to the Vicini cane fields is named Merité.
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[Paul Newman] These people have been lured across the border
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with tales of good jobs.
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They are so desperate
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they've even paid Merité's men to bring them here.
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[man screaming in the background]
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[Paul Newman] But Espinal has been brought across the border
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for only one purpose, to cut cane.
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Haitians who have documents or identity cards
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are stripped of them.
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They are now stateless, illegal, and subject to arrest
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everywhere in the Dominican Republic
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except on the plantations.
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[Father Christopher] They are bussed into the bateyes,
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two, three o'clock in the morning
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so they do not know where they are
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and therefore cannot escape, cannot run away.
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[Father Christopher] Concentration camp.
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[Father Christopher] I don't see why not.
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We are going to get into a lot of trouble.
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If you don't mind it.
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[Father Christopher] Shoot as fast as you can
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because you don't know how many seconds you're gonna have
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before you're kicked out.
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[camera shutter]
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[Father Christopher] The sooner we can get out of here, guys, the better.
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Ready? Hold on.
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Well, guys, I hope it was useful.
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[camera shutter]
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[Father Christopher] This is where they're going
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to put the workers when they arrive.
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Anywhere from 60 to 100 people
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will be crammed into this one barrack.
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You can see all the wiring up on the top,
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which is to prevent them from escaping at night
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and they will have armed men
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at the door of the barracks at night
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so they don't attempt to flee the barrack in the night.
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[Father Christopher] Bateyes are like a state within a state
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because the company there is the police,
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is the government.
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They exercise absolute authority
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over the lives of those who dwell there,
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which is quasi-slavery.
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[speaking Spanish]
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[Paul Newman] As many as a million Haitians
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live in the Dominican Republic.
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No one knows for certain how many live in bateyes.
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[soft music playing]
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[woman singing] ♪ What a poor person has is what he brings to market ♪
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♪ And what a mother has is all she can feed her children ♪
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[Paul Newman] The batey dwellers get much of their calories
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from chewing sugarcane.
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Their diet often leads to malnutrition.
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[singing] ♪ We entrust our lives into your hands, O Lord ♪
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♪ With all the love ♪
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♪ You put in our hearts ♪
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[thrumming]
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[Father Christopher] Most of this product ends up in the United States.
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The United States purchases the raw material,
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it's processed in the refineries in the United States
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and it ends up on the American table.
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I'm sure most American families would be very embarrassed
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to know at what price
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they put sugar in their coffee every morning.
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[sprinkling]
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[Father Christopher] The Vicini family have a lot of blood on their hands.
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This is well known.
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Nobody dares speak out and say it
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because many people fear for their lives
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or the lives of their loved ones.
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And this is a fact.
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People disappear, people are never found.
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[Paul Newman] In an unmarked corner of the Vicini plantation
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is a cemetery.
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Dominicans don't know of this cemetery.
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I only found this place about seven, eight months ago
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and I've been here for seven years
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and nobody had ever mentioned it.
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It's like a taboo place.
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You're standing on peoples' bodies.
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All of this, it's not just where you see crosses.
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Some are very obvious,
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you can just see those, those lumps.
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Why all of a sudden there is no grass over there?
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I mean this is tropical weather.
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Everything grows in five minutes.
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This is the man who was murdered the night of December 7th.
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He was beaten as he was climbing into the bus
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to come across the border and he was found dead
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on arrival at the Vicini batey called Copeyito.
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[Paul Newman] Darío told the Priest that Merité,
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the Vicini's chief plantation guard,
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was a cruel and brutal man.
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[Father Christopher] There was a struggle because there were
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many, many hundreds of people trying to get into these buses,
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and clearly, not enough buses.
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This individual couldn't make it through the door of the bus
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and Merité hit him with a stick across the chest.
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But he was so eager to get into the bus
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that he crawled in and Merité just let him go.
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When they arrived here in Copeyito
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this man was still lying down.
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They go and shake him and he's dead.
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[Paul Newman] The next day a body was dumped
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in the unmarked cemetery.
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But believing you know what happened and proving it
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are different matters.
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[Father Christopher] The weakness of the case is the link
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between the physical violence
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and the fact that this was the same person.
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Darío heard of that,
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00:26:45,405 --> 00:26:47,973
but he wasn't present when they found the man dead,
266
00:26:48,007 --> 00:26:50,243
and he wasn't present at the burial.
267
00:26:50,977 --> 00:26:52,878
So we would need an autopsy.
268
00:26:52,912 --> 00:26:55,015
We would need the permit from the judge.
269
00:26:55,048 --> 00:26:56,683
Especially being a Haitian,
270
00:26:56,717 --> 00:26:58,952
the judge is going to be very reluctant
271
00:26:59,685 --> 00:27:02,388
to take the case
272
00:27:04,290 --> 00:27:08,193
of a crime that could directly or indirectly
273
00:27:08,227 --> 00:27:10,663
be attributed to the Vicini Company.
274
00:27:11,263 --> 00:27:12,265
[camera shutter]
275
00:27:14,167 --> 00:27:15,202
[camera shutter]
276
00:27:16,368 --> 00:27:17,403
[camera shutter]
277
00:27:18,772 --> 00:27:19,805
[camera shutter]
278
00:27:20,973 --> 00:27:22,075
[camera shutter]
279
00:27:23,175 --> 00:27:25,178
[camera shutter]
280
00:27:25,212 --> 00:27:26,923
[Father Christopher] The Vicini family have indirectly, many times,
281
00:27:26,947 --> 00:27:29,815
tried to pressure me to not go into the bateyes.
282
00:27:29,848 --> 00:27:32,252
In fact that's one of the great fears
283
00:27:32,285 --> 00:27:36,022
of the Spanish Embassy, the American Embassy is:
284
00:27:36,055 --> 00:27:39,158
what would happen if they stopped you,
285
00:27:39,192 --> 00:27:42,462
they deliberately and explicitly
286
00:27:42,495 --> 00:27:44,197
forbid you from entering the bateyes.
287
00:27:44,897 --> 00:27:47,400
And I've always said: "I would certainly go anyway".
288
00:27:47,433 --> 00:27:49,768
I don't care what they did to me
289
00:27:51,303 --> 00:27:53,072
and they know very well
290
00:27:54,140 --> 00:27:57,310
how determined I am to change this system.
291
00:27:59,345 --> 00:28:01,380
[soft music playing]
292
00:28:14,193 --> 00:28:17,430
[Father Christopher] January 20th, the year 2000,
293
00:28:18,130 --> 00:28:22,402
I was here in my residence when this lady comes to say, "Father,
294
00:28:23,002 --> 00:28:24,870
President Leonel Ferrnández is coming tomorrow
295
00:28:24,903 --> 00:28:27,507
to Batey Gautier for some political activity
296
00:28:27,540 --> 00:28:30,075
and it is the custom in the Dominican Republic,
297
00:28:30,108 --> 00:28:32,745
they always invite the priest to give an invocation
298
00:28:32,778 --> 00:28:35,915
or to say a prayer to invoke God's blessing on the President,
299
00:28:35,948 --> 00:28:37,183
on the people and so on."
300
00:28:38,117 --> 00:28:40,087
[singing]
301
00:28:40,487 --> 00:28:43,322
[Father Christopher] And what was supposed to be a simple blessing
302
00:28:43,523 --> 00:28:45,892
became a 5-page speech.
303
00:28:47,793 --> 00:28:51,765
I was very brave the night I wrote it
304
00:28:52,298 --> 00:28:55,502
and I was shivering with fear
305
00:28:56,135 --> 00:28:58,303
when I suddenly had to read out
306
00:28:58,938 --> 00:29:02,142
the words that I had very courageously written.
307
00:29:12,052 --> 00:29:16,388
I was describing the horrible living conditions
308
00:29:16,422 --> 00:29:19,558
and telling the President that he had come
309
00:29:19,592 --> 00:29:21,227
to the threshold of hell.
310
00:29:21,260 --> 00:29:23,997
[calm music playing]
311
00:29:39,145 --> 00:29:41,113
[Paul Newman] The publicity forced the Vicini
312
00:29:41,147 --> 00:29:43,115
into discussions with the Church.
313
00:29:43,950 --> 00:29:47,087
For three years the family held meetings with a committee
314
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,522
that included the Priests, the Bishop
315
00:29:49,555 --> 00:29:52,492
and the Church's lawyer, Noemí Méndez.
316
00:30:19,385 --> 00:30:21,420
[Paul Newman] And then came the death threats.
317
00:30:46,678 --> 00:30:48,915
[soft music playing]
318
00:30:52,185 --> 00:30:55,455
Father Christopher's upbringing is in stark contrast
319
00:30:55,488 --> 00:30:57,923
to the situation he is now confronting.
320
00:30:59,625 --> 00:31:03,128
His mother, Pilar, is from the Spanish aristocracy.
321
00:31:04,297 --> 00:31:08,000
The daughter of a count, her family includes a marquis,
322
00:31:08,033 --> 00:31:10,570
an ambassador, and even a prime minister.
323
00:31:12,705 --> 00:31:14,407
His father's family founded
324
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:16,575
the famous British company Hartley's Jam.
325
00:31:23,115 --> 00:31:25,585
We'd been married for five years living in London
326
00:31:26,452 --> 00:31:29,155
and our three children were born in London.
327
00:31:30,557 --> 00:31:33,325
And we came to live here in 1964
328
00:31:34,327 --> 00:31:36,028
and we've been very happy.
329
00:31:38,097 --> 00:31:39,632
Christopher is the oldest,
330
00:31:40,567 --> 00:31:43,468
Virginia and William, Billy.
331
00:31:44,570 --> 00:31:48,007
At school if we were in any sort of trouble
332
00:31:48,207 --> 00:31:51,210
we could say, "We'll call Christopher
333
00:31:51,243 --> 00:31:54,147
and he will, you know, fix this fight very quickly,"
334
00:31:54,180 --> 00:31:55,448
you know, so we did.
335
00:31:55,482 --> 00:31:57,483
I definitely felt protected by him
336
00:31:57,517 --> 00:32:00,453
and he was very much there for us in school
337
00:32:00,487 --> 00:32:04,657
so he did have already kind of a strong personality
338
00:32:04,690 --> 00:32:07,727
that he was kind of respected.
339
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,363
And not only strong personality but also strong...
340
00:32:10,397 --> 00:32:12,132
Strong. He was strong physically.
341
00:32:12,165 --> 00:32:14,100
He was a sportsman.
342
00:32:14,433 --> 00:32:17,303
[Virginia Hartley] He was very competitive in his sports
343
00:32:17,337 --> 00:32:19,205
so he always wanted to win.
344
00:32:20,005 --> 00:32:22,208
He really was very competitive.
345
00:32:23,208 --> 00:32:25,143
[Pilar Hartley] He had so much energy.
346
00:32:25,177 --> 00:32:26,712
You know, we couldn't stop him.
347
00:32:27,347 --> 00:32:30,215
And then sometimes you know
348
00:32:31,417 --> 00:32:33,585
we ask him to do something and...
349
00:32:35,622 --> 00:32:38,457
he was a little bit how you say it, 'rebelde'.
350
00:32:39,292 --> 00:32:40,660
He was a rebel.
351
00:32:41,127 --> 00:32:42,528
He was always getting into trouble.
352
00:32:42,562 --> 00:32:44,497
He was very difficult.
353
00:32:55,173 --> 00:32:58,010
[Paul Newman] But when he was 15 years old
354
00:32:58,043 --> 00:33:01,413
Christopher had an experience that would change his life.
355
00:33:05,818 --> 00:33:09,355
I have never told anyone the story of my vocation
356
00:33:09,788 --> 00:33:13,558
because I do not know how to put into words
357
00:33:14,293 --> 00:33:15,495
what happened to me.
358
00:33:16,262 --> 00:33:19,465
All I know is I sat on the edge of my bed
359
00:33:19,832 --> 00:33:22,768
and I realized that I was a very unhappy person
360
00:33:23,602 --> 00:33:26,272
with no reason whatsoever to be unhappy.
361
00:33:29,208 --> 00:33:32,112
At that point I realized that God loved me
362
00:33:32,145 --> 00:33:35,047
and that I wanted to give my whole life to him.
363
00:33:43,355 --> 00:33:46,058
[Pilar Hartley] As soon as he came into the room he said to me,
364
00:33:46,092 --> 00:33:48,027
"Mami, I want to go to a seminary"
365
00:33:49,328 --> 00:33:52,565
and I start laughing because I thought, really
366
00:33:52,598 --> 00:33:56,468
it's the last thing I can hear from him, the seminary.
367
00:33:57,503 --> 00:34:00,305
Yes, you! I said: Come on.
368
00:34:01,707 --> 00:34:03,408
Don't joke. Come on!
369
00:34:03,442 --> 00:34:06,545
And he looked at me in such a way.
370
00:34:06,578 --> 00:34:10,081
I can't forget it, you know? His eyes like that.
371
00:34:10,114 --> 00:34:12,752
He said: "Mami, I am gonna go to seminary
372
00:34:12,784 --> 00:34:17,290
because Christ asked me to follow him
373
00:34:17,322 --> 00:34:18,824
and I'm going to follow him...
374
00:34:19,625 --> 00:34:22,795
And in that moment, in the way he looked at me,
375
00:34:23,362 --> 00:34:25,197
I understood that was serious.
376
00:34:26,398 --> 00:34:28,400
Well, if your son says
377
00:34:28,433 --> 00:34:30,368
that he's going to be an engine driver
378
00:34:30,402 --> 00:34:33,605
or a mass poisoner or something,
379
00:34:33,638 --> 00:34:37,743
you can remonstrate, you can talk to him.
380
00:34:38,377 --> 00:34:42,148
If he says he wants to be a priest, it's very difficult.
381
00:34:42,482 --> 00:34:45,784
You can't say a priest is intrinsically a bad thing to be.
382
00:34:46,318 --> 00:34:48,353
You are not gonna earn any money, I mean,
383
00:34:49,388 --> 00:34:53,893
so I found myself as far as that goes at a dead end,
384
00:34:53,927 --> 00:34:55,495
there's no, nothing you can,
385
00:34:55,527 --> 00:34:57,397
you can't really answer that one.
386
00:35:02,202 --> 00:35:05,337
The type of society that I grew up in,
387
00:35:05,370 --> 00:35:07,607
you know, very exclusive, very privileged
388
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,475
may seem many times like you know,
389
00:35:10,508 --> 00:35:12,645
throwing away a phenomenal future...
390
00:35:12,678 --> 00:35:14,780
but this year it's gonna be thirty years
391
00:35:14,813 --> 00:35:18,317
that I entered the seminary, and I've never had a doubt.
392
00:35:20,385 --> 00:35:22,855
[children singing]
393
00:35:39,672 --> 00:35:41,840
[singing]
394
00:35:45,210 --> 00:35:47,413
[Father Christopher] Christmas of 1976.
395
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:51,317
I had already spent a year, year and a half in the seminary.
396
00:35:51,783 --> 00:35:55,588
One of the gifts was a book from my Father
397
00:35:56,355 --> 00:35:57,757
and it was about Mother Teresa.
398
00:35:59,825 --> 00:36:02,528
With the most striking images
399
00:36:02,562 --> 00:36:06,465
about the horrible misery of the streets of Calcutta.
400
00:36:16,675 --> 00:36:19,845
When I saw those photographs, I never said nothing to anybody,
401
00:36:20,780 --> 00:36:25,585
but deep down in my heart I recall distinctly saying:
402
00:36:25,618 --> 00:36:28,955
"I want to spend the rest of my life doing exactly this."
403
00:36:31,923 --> 00:36:34,493
I met Mother Teresa for the first time
404
00:36:34,527 --> 00:36:36,995
in August of 1977.
405
00:36:37,028 --> 00:36:38,663
I was 18.
406
00:36:38,697 --> 00:36:41,500
I volunteered to work in one of her shelters
407
00:36:41,533 --> 00:36:43,302
in the outskirts of London.
408
00:36:43,702 --> 00:36:46,338
I remember her very distinctively saying:
409
00:36:46,372 --> 00:36:48,740
"Love the poor and be holy.
410
00:36:49,608 --> 00:36:51,710
Love the poor and be holy."
411
00:36:53,345 --> 00:36:56,548
And that was like carved in my brain
412
00:36:57,048 --> 00:36:58,717
like chiseled with fire.
413
00:37:01,953 --> 00:37:04,590
[Paul Newman] Christopher spent much of the next twenty years
414
00:37:04,623 --> 00:37:06,592
working for Mother Teresa.
415
00:37:14,833 --> 00:37:18,337
[Father Christopher] Once, working in the Home for the Dying in Calcutta.
416
00:37:18,903 --> 00:37:23,475
I remember there was this man brought from a gutter
417
00:37:24,510 --> 00:37:27,913
who was obviously gonna live not another day.
418
00:37:29,515 --> 00:37:32,885
Mother Teresa told me: "Christopher, take care of him."
419
00:37:33,885 --> 00:37:36,422
At lunchtime we were told we all had to go home.
420
00:37:36,455 --> 00:37:38,623
I wanted to stay, but I was forced to go home,
421
00:37:38,657 --> 00:37:40,492
we all had to have lunch.
422
00:37:40,525 --> 00:37:42,971
I was sure that when I came back in the afternoon to work there,
423
00:37:42,995 --> 00:37:44,363
he would be dead.
424
00:37:45,430 --> 00:37:47,700
When I came back he was barely alive
425
00:37:47,967 --> 00:37:51,903
and from his little cot, he looked at me,
426
00:37:51,937 --> 00:37:54,273
he stretched his arms out
427
00:37:54,607 --> 00:37:58,310
and I held his hands in my hands
428
00:37:58,743 --> 00:38:03,415
and his last words just before he died were:
429
00:38:03,448 --> 00:38:04,883
"'I've been waiting for you."
430
00:38:06,118 --> 00:38:07,520
And in a sense,
431
00:38:08,353 --> 00:38:10,990
that is what every poor person says to me
432
00:38:11,823 --> 00:38:14,493
with words, without words, with different words:
433
00:38:15,093 --> 00:38:16,962
"I have been waiting for you."
434
00:38:18,097 --> 00:38:21,067
[sprinkling]
435
00:38:33,112 --> 00:38:35,580
[Paul Newman] Fear and hatred of Haitians
436
00:38:35,613 --> 00:38:38,617
has long been a part of Dominican society.
437
00:38:40,753 --> 00:38:43,522
Almost everyday the media reports
438
00:38:43,555 --> 00:38:45,825
on acts of violence around the country.
439
00:38:49,828 --> 00:38:52,832
[singing]
440
00:38:54,433 --> 00:38:58,370
[Paul Newman] For many Haitians the bateyes, however deprived,
441
00:38:58,403 --> 00:39:00,807
are the only place they can feel safe.
442
00:39:03,442 --> 00:39:06,512
[singing]
443
00:39:36,608 --> 00:39:39,412
[Father Christopher] The first thing we did was begin Feeding Centers
444
00:39:39,445 --> 00:39:41,747
in the spring of 2001.
445
00:39:42,915 --> 00:39:45,083
We had nothing. We didn't have a kitchen.
446
00:39:45,117 --> 00:39:47,720
Kids brought a plate and a spoon from their homes.
447
00:39:47,753 --> 00:39:49,522
We just started feeding people.
448
00:39:51,623 --> 00:39:52,992
This piece of property
449
00:39:53,025 --> 00:39:55,928
was given by the government to the church.
450
00:39:56,962 --> 00:40:01,533
Unfortunately when the sugarcane companies realized,
451
00:40:02,033 --> 00:40:06,572
they brought in the military to basically throw me out.
452
00:40:06,605 --> 00:40:07,940
[camera shutter]
453
00:40:07,973 --> 00:40:09,475
I was very forceful.
454
00:40:09,508 --> 00:40:11,110
I insisted that they were
455
00:40:11,143 --> 00:40:12,878
the ones who were supposed to leave
456
00:40:12,912 --> 00:40:14,647
and I would not move.
457
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:17,650
I was very fortunate that the dwellers of the batey
458
00:40:17,683 --> 00:40:21,720
encouraged by my stand, the, especially women,
459
00:40:21,753 --> 00:40:23,522
all gathered around me
460
00:40:23,555 --> 00:40:27,125
and started screaming at the military supporting me.
461
00:40:27,158 --> 00:40:28,993
[camera shutter]
462
00:40:29,027 --> 00:40:32,598
Finally the military gave in and they never came back again,
463
00:40:33,498 --> 00:40:37,002
but just to be on the safe side, our first major investment
464
00:40:37,035 --> 00:40:41,007
at a tremendous expense was to build this very high wall
465
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,842
around the property because unfortunately
466
00:40:43,875 --> 00:40:47,045
in places where the rule of law does not exist,
467
00:40:47,078 --> 00:40:50,582
walls speak much more eloquently than signatures.
468
00:40:55,653 --> 00:40:57,488
[Paul Newman] Father Christopher raised money
469
00:40:57,522 --> 00:40:59,992
from the Spanish government to build a compound
470
00:41:00,025 --> 00:41:01,927
in the middle of Batey Paloma
471
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:04,997
and began to serve meals on a grand scale.
472
00:41:07,633 --> 00:41:10,535
[Father Christopher] We are at present feeding over 450 children
473
00:41:10,568 --> 00:41:12,672
every day Monday through Friday.
474
00:41:15,773 --> 00:41:18,510
It's the only decent meal that they are going to have
475
00:41:18,543 --> 00:41:19,645
in the whole day.
476
00:41:20,312 --> 00:41:22,180
[soft music playing]
477
00:41:47,707 --> 00:41:49,284
[Father Christopher] The Vicini had the intention
478
00:41:49,308 --> 00:41:51,177
of beginning the harvest this season
479
00:41:51,210 --> 00:41:54,112
without telling them the price per ton of sugarcane
480
00:41:54,145 --> 00:41:56,015
that they were going to be paid.
481
00:41:56,048 --> 00:41:58,183
"Oh! They'll find out on first payment day."
482
00:41:59,217 --> 00:42:01,787
But did anybody ever take up a job
483
00:42:01,820 --> 00:42:04,523
without knowing how much they were going to be paid?
484
00:42:12,832 --> 00:42:15,300
I went to every batey and I said: "Nobody works."
485
00:42:15,933 --> 00:42:18,637
It was the first strike. You start with a strike.
486
00:42:20,105 --> 00:42:22,675
[Paul Newman] The head of the Vicini plantation guards,
487
00:42:22,708 --> 00:42:24,977
Merité, tries to intervene.
488
00:42:39,792 --> 00:42:42,093
[Father Christopher] They try to avoid as much as they can
489
00:42:42,127 --> 00:42:44,095
a direct confrontation with me.
490
00:42:45,030 --> 00:42:47,867
Because psychologically on the employees
491
00:42:47,900 --> 00:42:50,835
it looks very negative if they have a confrontation
492
00:42:50,868 --> 00:42:52,938
and they lose every confrontation.
493
00:42:52,972 --> 00:42:54,273
Because I don't budge.
494
00:42:58,243 --> 00:43:00,678
[Father Christopher] It also would be very negative if I lost
495
00:43:00,712 --> 00:43:02,213
one of these confrontations.
496
00:43:02,748 --> 00:43:05,950
That's why I always try to be very sure
497
00:43:05,983 --> 00:43:07,820
that what I am doing is right.
498
00:43:07,853 --> 00:43:10,022
It might be dangerous, it might be risky,
499
00:43:10,288 --> 00:43:11,823
but it has to be right
500
00:43:11,857 --> 00:43:13,592
because that's my only protection.
501
00:43:32,210 --> 00:43:34,347
[people talking]
502
00:43:40,718 --> 00:43:42,320
We began to explain to them
503
00:43:42,353 --> 00:43:44,990
some of the teachings of the church,
504
00:43:45,423 --> 00:43:48,127
which sometimes are even very unknown to Catholics,
505
00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:50,995
but the church in the Second Vatican Council,
506
00:43:51,028 --> 00:43:52,363
of all documents,
507
00:43:52,397 --> 00:43:55,033
says that workers have a right to strike.
508
00:45:15,247 --> 00:45:18,050
[Paul Newman] After strikes in 23 bateyes,
509
00:45:18,083 --> 00:45:20,952
the Vicini concede to the workers' demands
510
00:45:20,985 --> 00:45:23,122
and tell them how much they will be paid...
511
00:45:24,288 --> 00:45:26,792
even giving them a small pay raise.
512
00:45:28,527 --> 00:45:31,097
But there would be consequences.
513
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,218
[Father Christopher] This year has been a terrible drought
514
00:45:44,242 --> 00:45:46,145
and they had plenty of fires,
515
00:45:46,178 --> 00:45:49,047
which they are trying to blame on me.
516
00:46:23,348 --> 00:46:25,983
[Father Christopher] I have been threatened several times.
517
00:46:26,552 --> 00:46:29,888
The last one was only about a week ago.
518
00:46:31,423 --> 00:46:33,958
The message that was sent to me was,
519
00:46:33,992 --> 00:46:37,362
"Tell the Reverend that one day
520
00:46:38,330 --> 00:46:42,902
someone is going to find him lying in the sugarcane fields
521
00:46:43,502 --> 00:46:45,537
with his mouth full of flies."
522
00:46:46,872 --> 00:46:49,508
And the other was a threat,
523
00:46:50,975 --> 00:46:54,278
especially nasty because what it implied is,
524
00:46:55,947 --> 00:46:57,548
we're not going to hurt you,
525
00:46:57,582 --> 00:46:59,985
we're going to hurt the people who work with you.
526
00:47:27,345 --> 00:47:31,617
[Father Christopher] I mentioned these threats on a Sunday Mass at my sermon.
527
00:47:33,185 --> 00:47:35,387
Where I said: "May everyone be aware
528
00:47:35,420 --> 00:47:36,988
that this has happened.
529
00:47:37,588 --> 00:47:41,158
I want to make it very clear that nothing,
530
00:47:41,192 --> 00:47:45,263
absolutely nothing in this world is going to stop me."
531
00:48:11,390 --> 00:48:14,425
[singing]
532
00:48:26,237 --> 00:48:29,507
[Paul Newman] Father Christopher's latest effort at helping the Haitians
533
00:48:29,975 --> 00:48:32,945
gives his enemies an opportunity to attack him.
534
00:48:51,463 --> 00:48:56,000
[Paul Newman] For 15 years Vicente lived in Batey La Redonda
535
00:48:56,033 --> 00:48:57,668
in a dark and tiny shack.
536
00:49:00,772 --> 00:49:03,642
[singing]
537
00:49:11,650 --> 00:49:12,683
[camera shutter]
538
00:49:14,652 --> 00:49:19,090
After years of struggle, Father Christopher has been able
539
00:49:19,123 --> 00:49:21,025
to persuade the Dominican government
540
00:49:21,058 --> 00:49:24,262
to provide a few new houses in Batey Gautier.
541
00:49:26,230 --> 00:49:27,265
[camera shutter]
542
00:49:27,698 --> 00:49:30,002
The first houses that we built
543
00:49:30,035 --> 00:49:32,170
were built with government money.
544
00:49:32,670 --> 00:49:35,340
It is the first time in the history of this country
545
00:49:35,373 --> 00:49:38,077
that the government has invested a dime
546
00:49:38,710 --> 00:49:41,012
in building a home for a Haitian.
547
00:49:42,580 --> 00:49:45,217
[Paul Newman] In the end, fewer than half the homes
548
00:49:45,250 --> 00:49:46,618
were given to Haitians.
549
00:49:47,585 --> 00:49:50,688
But now Vicente lives in a three-room house
550
00:49:50,722 --> 00:49:52,690
complete with indoor plumbing.
551
00:49:53,592 --> 00:49:56,728
[radio music playing]
552
00:50:21,853 --> 00:50:25,090
[children cheering]
553
00:50:25,123 --> 00:50:27,292
[Paul Newman] Although most of the houses at Gautier
554
00:50:27,325 --> 00:50:28,693
were given to Dominicans,
555
00:50:30,093 --> 00:50:33,098
word spreads that the Priest is being unfair to the locals.
556
00:51:44,568 --> 00:51:47,538
I'm very frequently scared,
557
00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:50,375
but it's something I've learned to live with
558
00:51:50,808 --> 00:51:54,245
so I very seldom think about it.
559
00:51:54,278 --> 00:51:59,650
I don't think the times that I've experienced fear
560
00:51:59,683 --> 00:52:02,553
has ever changed my life in any shape or form.
561
00:52:26,878 --> 00:52:29,480
[Paul Newman] The turmoil in Father Christopher's parish
562
00:52:29,513 --> 00:52:31,583
attracts the attention of the media
563
00:52:31,617 --> 00:52:33,518
in the United States and Europe.
564
00:52:43,328 --> 00:52:45,897
Even Dominican reporters cover the story.
565
00:52:47,232 --> 00:52:49,300
[reporting in Spanish]
566
00:53:26,270 --> 00:53:27,914
[Paul Newman] But the international attention
567
00:53:27,938 --> 00:53:30,508
hasn't protected Father Pedro Ruquoy.
568
00:53:34,012 --> 00:53:36,815
Like Father Christopher, he is under attack
569
00:53:36,848 --> 00:53:38,750
for defending Haitian cane workers.
570
00:53:39,985 --> 00:53:42,453
After he is physically assaulted,
571
00:53:42,487 --> 00:53:45,923
Amnesty International starts a campaign in his defense.
572
00:53:54,465 --> 00:53:56,768
Despite letters from Human Rights groups
573
00:53:56,802 --> 00:53:58,470
around the world,
574
00:53:58,503 --> 00:54:01,272
the Secretary of the Interior and Police
575
00:54:01,305 --> 00:54:04,008
refuses to take the complaints seriously.
576
00:54:12,817 --> 00:54:16,287
When Father Pedro finally meets with the Secretary
577
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:18,723
he is ridiculed in front of the press.
578
00:54:21,392 --> 00:54:23,462
The message is clear,
579
00:54:23,495 --> 00:54:26,297
priests who advocate for the Haitians
580
00:54:26,330 --> 00:54:28,467
will have no guaranty of protection
581
00:54:28,500 --> 00:54:29,633
from the government.
582
00:54:29,667 --> 00:54:31,770
[fire crackling
583
00:54:32,003 --> 00:54:36,073
[Father Christopher] As events have unfolded in the past months,
584
00:54:36,107 --> 00:54:40,545
the sugarcane industry has been trying to pressure me
585
00:54:40,578 --> 00:54:43,948
and the people who work with me to basically back off
586
00:54:44,715 --> 00:54:46,718
and to leave things the way they are.
587
00:55:31,763 --> 00:55:33,432
I am worried about him,
588
00:55:34,532 --> 00:55:36,768
because I know that he is not going to stop.
589
00:55:38,068 --> 00:55:40,938
He is very much an all or nothing person
590
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:47,912
and if he has to hedge his ideals,
591
00:55:48,980 --> 00:55:52,917
I think it would be very sad, I'd rather see him go out
592
00:55:53,852 --> 00:55:55,687
true to his beliefs
593
00:55:56,453 --> 00:56:00,358
than hang around not being true to his beliefs.
594
00:56:13,572 --> 00:56:17,008
The Dominican media rarely supports the Haitians.
595
00:56:17,542 --> 00:56:20,612
Consuelo Despradel has two shows a day
596
00:56:20,945 --> 00:56:23,615
and she is not shy about speaking her mind.
597
00:56:36,928 --> 00:56:41,532
I've been accused of every possible scheme, crime,
598
00:56:41,565 --> 00:56:43,868
immorality that you can possibly conceive
599
00:56:43,902 --> 00:56:45,703
through a smearing campaign.
600
00:56:47,238 --> 00:56:51,642
The church is fully aware that this is a staged campaign
601
00:56:51,675 --> 00:56:53,545
and the Bishop is not going to give in.
602
00:56:55,213 --> 00:56:57,015
[Paul Newman] The Vicini pressure the Bishop
603
00:56:57,048 --> 00:56:58,817
to remove Father Christopher.
604
00:57:00,185 --> 00:57:03,120
But Bishop Ozoria has stated publicly
605
00:57:03,153 --> 00:57:05,157
that he supports his Priest.
606
00:58:02,747 --> 00:58:04,548
[Paul Newman] Father Christopher's comments
607
00:58:04,582 --> 00:58:06,617
rarely make the Dominican news.
608
00:58:58,135 --> 00:59:02,207
[Father Christopher] I have about seven hundred square miles of a parish
609
00:59:02,707 --> 00:59:05,008
with sixty villages and bateyes.
610
00:59:07,178 --> 00:59:09,780
I travel just about every afternoon
611
00:59:09,813 --> 00:59:12,683
to a different village to celebrate Holy Mass.
612
00:59:14,885 --> 00:59:16,220
[Paul Newman] Today he has brought
613
00:59:16,253 --> 00:59:18,355
the American doctors to El Manguito
614
00:59:18,388 --> 00:59:20,892
to help his Dominican parishioners.
615
00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:25,162
This is not a batey eh? These are Dominicans.
616
00:59:25,195 --> 00:59:28,232
It's not? It seems like people were a little better off here.
617
00:59:28,265 --> 00:59:30,200
No. They... no... and they own the land.
618
00:59:30,233 --> 00:59:32,970
This is their piece of property, generation after generation.
619
00:59:33,003 --> 00:59:34,843
They are not rich, maybe they are just as poor.
620
00:59:34,872 --> 00:59:36,984
- You can see the houses look... - But they take care of it.
621
00:59:37,008 --> 00:59:38,375
Yeah. And you own the place.
622
00:59:38,408 --> 00:59:40,778
How do these folks feel about the Haitians?
623
00:59:40,812 --> 00:59:43,356
[Father Christopher] Ah, historically there is a tremendous hostility
624
00:59:43,380 --> 00:59:45,248
toward the Haitians.
625
00:59:45,282 --> 00:59:47,885
Remember that this country never became independent from Spain,
626
00:59:47,918 --> 00:59:49,920
it became independent from Haiti.
627
00:59:50,220 --> 00:59:52,323
When the Spaniards left the island,
628
00:59:52,357 --> 00:59:53,992
they abandoned the island,
629
00:59:54,025 --> 00:59:56,093
Haitians moved in for twenty-two years
630
00:59:56,127 --> 00:59:59,397
so their freedom, their independence is from Haiti
631
00:59:59,430 --> 01:00:03,267
so they, they view them as the aggressor, etcetera.
632
01:00:03,300 --> 01:00:05,044
And then of course there is the question of race,
633
01:00:05,068 --> 01:00:07,305
they see them, but they are just a little more black
634
01:00:07,338 --> 01:00:09,140
than they are,
635
01:00:09,173 --> 01:00:10,984
so they are just about the only people they can look down upon
636
01:00:11,008 --> 01:00:13,010
because they are poorer and blacker.
637
01:00:18,115 --> 01:00:20,852
I've been in many places in the Dominican Republic
638
01:00:20,885 --> 01:00:22,720
and in many other developing countries
639
01:00:22,753 --> 01:00:25,055
I have been taken to places where people have said:
640
01:00:25,088 --> 01:00:26,823
"Oh, look at this. Isn't this terrible?
641
01:00:26,857 --> 01:00:28,760
Isn't this tragic? Isn't this poor?"
642
01:00:28,793 --> 01:00:31,362
You know they really all pale in comparison to the bateyes.
643
01:00:31,395 --> 01:00:33,932
[guitar music playing]
644
01:00:38,737 --> 01:00:41,672
[Paul Newman] Father Christopher arranges for the American doctors
645
01:00:41,705 --> 01:00:44,842
to hold a clinic for the children of three bateyes.
646
01:00:52,450 --> 01:00:54,018
[Dr. Wilson] Rates of AIDS here
647
01:00:54,052 --> 01:00:55,987
are among the highest in the world.
648
01:00:56,020 --> 01:00:58,857
This is a real hot spot now and the rates are increasing.
649
01:00:58,890 --> 01:01:00,925
Over half of the adults have tuberculosis
650
01:01:00,958 --> 01:01:03,693
and we know that over a quarter of the children here
651
01:01:03,727 --> 01:01:04,862
have had tuberculosis.
652
01:01:05,962 --> 01:01:09,333
Many women die prior to giving birth or in childbirth
653
01:01:09,367 --> 01:01:11,768
and we know that infant mortality
654
01:01:11,802 --> 01:01:14,305
and children who die in the first month after birth
655
01:01:14,338 --> 01:01:16,373
or at birth is just, it's just incredibly high.
656
01:01:18,475 --> 01:01:21,878
And what's really tragic about those numbers
657
01:01:21,912 --> 01:01:25,015
is that we know how to treat all those conditions,
658
01:01:25,048 --> 01:01:27,785
we know how to prevent them and we know how to treat them
659
01:01:27,818 --> 01:01:30,422
and the treatments are simple and they are cheap
660
01:01:30,455 --> 01:01:33,390
and what's truly tragic is how very few
661
01:01:33,423 --> 01:01:35,960
of those simple basic life saving interventions
662
01:01:35,993 --> 01:01:37,262
are getting out here
663
01:01:37,295 --> 01:01:38,735
to the people who need them the most.
664
01:01:41,865 --> 01:01:45,368
He has a skin disease. Has bacteria.
665
01:01:46,270 --> 01:01:48,272
This is also malnutrition.
666
01:01:49,407 --> 01:01:51,975
[children crying]
667
01:03:37,315 --> 01:03:39,617
[Paul Newman] Besides the help the church provides,
668
01:03:39,650 --> 01:03:42,018
there is almost no outside aid
669
01:03:42,052 --> 01:03:44,355
to the Haitian cane workers in this parish.
670
01:03:46,923 --> 01:03:48,993
Just three Peace Corps volunteers
671
01:03:49,027 --> 01:03:51,128
work in the vast Vicini plantations.
672
01:03:53,630 --> 01:03:55,567
I have never had a sit down conversation
673
01:03:55,600 --> 01:03:57,435
with Juan Bautista Vicini.
674
01:03:57,468 --> 01:04:00,470
Most of my work comes from, is with people at lower levels.
675
01:04:02,673 --> 01:04:06,410
The administrative head of this region of bateyes,
676
01:04:06,443 --> 01:04:07,945
I work very closely with him,
677
01:04:07,978 --> 01:04:09,647
possibly closer than Father Chris does
678
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:12,015
because he's working with them at a very high level,
679
01:04:12,048 --> 01:04:14,418
change this, pay them more,
680
01:04:14,452 --> 01:04:16,387
uphold your health care commitments, uphold...
681
01:04:16,420 --> 01:04:20,057
And my work here is about really, my neighbors,
682
01:04:20,490 --> 01:04:23,893
how can we make their lives better tomorrow.
683
01:04:23,927 --> 01:04:26,130
So that's an easier question to go to them with:
684
01:04:26,163 --> 01:04:29,200
"Okay, we want to do a garden can we get some seeds?"
685
01:04:29,233 --> 01:04:30,968
That's an easier thing than
686
01:04:31,002 --> 01:04:32,602
"change your entire system of existence."
687
01:04:38,375 --> 01:04:41,445
Father Christopher comes off as kind of proud
688
01:04:41,478 --> 01:04:43,380
and that kind of, in my opinion a little bit
689
01:04:43,413 --> 01:04:46,050
can be kind of brash, like: Who do you think you are?
690
01:04:46,083 --> 01:04:48,352
You know, aren't the issues more complicated than that?
691
01:04:48,385 --> 01:04:50,053
Don't the Vicinis have a right
692
01:04:50,087 --> 01:04:52,022
to at least have a sugarcane industry,
693
01:04:52,055 --> 01:04:54,301
maybe they owe their workers more than they are giving them,
694
01:04:54,325 --> 01:04:56,003
but don't they have the right to be doing this?
695
01:04:56,027 --> 01:04:58,195
Or don't they have some rights too and,
696
01:04:58,228 --> 01:05:02,467
and he is just so committed to the rights of the people
697
01:05:02,500 --> 01:05:05,970
that, that sometimes it's easy to imagine
698
01:05:06,003 --> 01:05:07,471
that he is not really that balanced.
699
01:05:07,505 --> 01:05:09,540
[speaking Spanish]
700
01:05:12,710 --> 01:05:15,947
But I think at his core he is humble
701
01:05:15,980 --> 01:05:21,052
beyond anyone I've ever known because none of this is for him.
702
01:05:22,052 --> 01:05:24,988
He is in it to change the system
703
01:05:25,022 --> 01:05:27,290
that causes people to live in poverty
704
01:05:27,323 --> 01:05:29,693
while a billion dollar company profits off of it.
705
01:06:11,768 --> 01:06:14,338
[Christie] Another problem with not having papers
706
01:06:14,372 --> 01:06:16,307
is that they're trapped in the batey.
707
01:06:17,340 --> 01:06:19,677
If these people try to go, move to Santo Domingo
708
01:06:19,710 --> 01:06:21,612
or even travel throughout the country
709
01:06:21,645 --> 01:06:24,548
they are stopped every hour on public transportation,
710
01:06:25,182 --> 01:06:27,350
hauled into prison for however you know,
711
01:06:27,383 --> 01:06:28,618
week, two weeks, three weeks,
712
01:06:28,652 --> 01:06:30,420
and then deposited back in Haiti,
713
01:06:30,453 --> 01:06:32,657
not at their house, just across the border,
714
01:06:33,157 --> 01:06:36,527
wherever, wherever the military may see fit to deposit them.
715
01:06:36,560 --> 01:06:37,795
So it's a huge problem
716
01:06:37,828 --> 01:06:39,630
because it keeps people trapped here.
717
01:07:16,500 --> 01:07:20,270
[Father Christopher] They are beautiful children with no hope for a better life.
718
01:07:20,303 --> 01:07:23,273
[soft music playing]
719
01:07:51,502 --> 01:07:54,238
This is the residence of the Administrator
720
01:07:54,272 --> 01:07:58,442
Mr. Ricardo Hernández who is the ultimate responsible
721
01:07:58,475 --> 01:08:00,845
for the entire process
722
01:08:00,878 --> 01:08:04,648
from the bateyes to the sugar mill.
723
01:08:04,682 --> 01:08:07,585
He has about twenty-five to thirty thousand people
724
01:08:07,618 --> 01:08:09,687
under his care, his responsibility.
725
01:08:10,653 --> 01:08:13,823
One of his main responsibilities is to make sure that the people
726
01:08:13,857 --> 01:08:15,658
that they bring across the border
727
01:08:15,692 --> 01:08:17,662
into the sugar mill, into the bateyes,
728
01:08:17,694 --> 01:08:20,130
into the sugarcane fields, never leave,
729
01:08:20,663 --> 01:08:23,332
so at any cost he has to make sure
730
01:08:23,367 --> 01:08:26,903
that these people remain here and do not escape
731
01:08:26,937 --> 01:08:30,439
because they've invested money in bringing them over
732
01:08:30,473 --> 01:08:34,211
for this particular purpose, this agricultural activity.
733
01:08:34,245 --> 01:08:35,587
[cameraman] Have you ever spoken to this man?
734
01:08:35,612 --> 01:08:37,279
I've spoken to him many, many times.
735
01:08:37,313 --> 01:08:38,615
[cameraman] What does he say?
736
01:08:38,648 --> 01:08:40,517
He basically hates me.
737
01:08:40,550 --> 01:08:43,153
He hates anybody that interferes
738
01:08:43,187 --> 01:08:44,822
with his business and with his job.
739
01:08:45,354 --> 01:08:48,725
He would be very happy that I went around every batey
740
01:08:48,758 --> 01:08:52,529
and he would be my best friend if all I did was celebrate Mass.
741
01:08:56,233 --> 01:08:59,537
[Paul Newman] Instead, Father Christopher and the Church's lawyers
742
01:08:59,569 --> 01:09:01,672
have been organizing the batey dwellers
743
01:09:01,705 --> 01:09:03,707
to stand up for their rights.
744
01:09:03,740 --> 01:09:06,210
[speaking Spanish]
745
01:09:08,577 --> 01:09:11,648
[Paul Newman] By working together the bateyes have gained
746
01:09:11,682 --> 01:09:13,683
some concessions from the Vicini.
747
01:09:16,319 --> 01:09:19,423
Leading today's meeting is Jhonny Belizaire.
748
01:09:20,457 --> 01:09:24,395
Representing Batey Cánepa is Yela Machasa.
749
01:10:14,845 --> 01:10:16,989
[Father Christopher] One of the things that have changed
750
01:10:17,013 --> 01:10:19,950
is now people enjoy a freedom of movement
751
01:10:20,617 --> 01:10:22,518
and I actively encourage
752
01:10:22,552 --> 01:10:24,488
the workers who are unhappy to leave.
753
01:10:27,792 --> 01:10:30,827
[upbeat music playing]
754
01:10:43,473 --> 01:10:44,875
[Paul Newman] With the guns gone,
755
01:10:44,908 --> 01:10:46,977
Haitians can now leave the bateyes.
756
01:10:47,543 --> 01:10:51,982
But without papers they still risk arrest and expulsion.
757
01:10:54,785 --> 01:10:58,722
Many who dare to flee pass through the town of Los Llanos,
758
01:10:58,755 --> 01:11:00,523
where Father Christopher lives.
759
01:11:04,595 --> 01:11:08,032
Los Llanos has become the center of the Vicini's campaign
760
01:11:08,065 --> 01:11:10,600
to have the Priest expelled from the country.
761
01:12:14,532 --> 01:12:16,367
I am Haitianizing this country?
762
01:12:16,900 --> 01:12:19,870
And I am antagonizing Dominicans and Haitians?
763
01:12:20,702 --> 01:12:23,807
The ones who are funding the campaign, the Vicinis,
764
01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:25,642
who are funding this campaign
765
01:12:26,075 --> 01:12:29,980
by accusing me of 'Haitianizing' this country
766
01:12:30,013 --> 01:12:32,682
are the only ones who cannot live without them.
767
01:12:34,818 --> 01:12:36,820
[Paul Newman] The likelihood of Father Christopher
768
01:12:36,853 --> 01:12:39,657
being forced out increases dramatically
769
01:12:39,690 --> 01:12:41,925
when news breaks about his colleague,
770
01:12:41,958 --> 01:12:43,727
Father Pedro Ruquoy.
771
01:12:44,728 --> 01:12:48,698
After 30 years of working with Haitian cane cutters,
772
01:12:48,732 --> 01:12:51,835
death threats and the lack of protection
773
01:12:51,868 --> 01:12:55,038
have forced Father Pedro to abandon his mission
774
01:12:55,072 --> 01:12:56,673
and leave the country.
775
01:13:04,982 --> 01:13:08,018
[background music]
776
01:13:18,128 --> 01:13:19,663
[Paul Newman] And now the Company
777
01:13:19,697 --> 01:13:21,732
has made it clear to the Haitians
778
01:13:21,765 --> 01:13:25,102
that improved conditions will remain only as long
779
01:13:25,135 --> 01:13:28,072
as Father Christopher is there to protect them.
780
01:13:40,817 --> 01:13:42,652
"When the Father leaves..."
781
01:13:42,684 --> 01:13:46,055
This is a phrase that the Company
782
01:13:46,088 --> 01:13:48,058
continually repeats to the workers.
783
01:13:49,225 --> 01:13:51,928
"Things are the way they are because he is here,
784
01:13:51,962 --> 01:13:54,932
but just you wait until he is gone
785
01:13:55,632 --> 01:13:58,468
and we will remind you who is in charge of this."
786
01:14:23,227 --> 01:14:26,463
[Paul Newman] Day by day protests mount.
787
01:17:03,687 --> 01:17:06,198
[Father Christopher] I think it's very important for me to be present
788
01:17:06,222 --> 01:17:08,425
for them to know that there is leadership,
789
01:17:08,458 --> 01:17:11,160
that there is presence, that I have not gone
790
01:17:12,128 --> 01:17:15,365
because I can't just leave the battle to my parishioners.
791
01:17:22,105 --> 01:17:24,708
[Virginia] He has this sort of outward personality
792
01:17:24,742 --> 01:17:28,212
of what his mission is but there is, you know,
793
01:17:28,245 --> 01:17:30,380
very much a human person behind
794
01:17:31,013 --> 01:17:36,152
with the pain of being very lonely in what he's doing,
795
01:17:36,184 --> 01:17:38,922
of being, feeling very misunderstood.
796
01:17:41,123 --> 01:17:44,227
Feeling inadequate in what he's trying to do,
797
01:17:45,327 --> 01:17:48,265
as a man struggling there,
798
01:17:48,298 --> 01:17:51,267
you know, very lonely, very often.
799
01:17:59,075 --> 01:18:02,112
[fire crackling]
800
01:18:17,393 --> 01:18:20,763
[soft music playing]
801
01:18:52,495 --> 01:18:56,332
[Father Christopher] In a country where people are working for almost nothing,
802
01:18:56,900 --> 01:19:00,270
the Vicinis have spent an absolute fortune,
803
01:19:00,303 --> 01:19:03,873
thus far, God knows how much they are ready to spend
804
01:19:04,173 --> 01:19:05,875
in the days to come,
805
01:19:05,907 --> 01:19:07,743
in getting me out of the country.
806
01:19:09,012 --> 01:19:11,280
[soft music playing]
807
01:19:23,527 --> 01:19:26,262
[Paul Newman] There's a massive demonstration planned
808
01:19:26,295 --> 01:19:28,132
for the streets of Los Llanos.
809
01:19:28,932 --> 01:19:30,267
And the possibility
810
01:19:30,300 --> 01:19:32,368
of a violent confrontation is high.
811
01:19:45,882 --> 01:19:48,885
[engine running]
812
01:20:15,077 --> 01:20:16,623
[Paul Newman] At the center of the rally
813
01:20:16,647 --> 01:20:19,983
is the television host Consuelo Despradel.
814
01:20:31,360 --> 01:20:33,363
[Paul Newman] Haitians arrive from the bateyes
815
01:20:33,397 --> 01:20:35,232
to support Father Christopher.
816
01:20:39,535 --> 01:20:41,170
They gather in the church
817
01:20:41,202 --> 01:20:43,240
with a crowd of Dominican supporters.
818
01:20:44,540 --> 01:20:47,610
[clapping and singing]
819
01:21:00,657 --> 01:21:03,192
[Paul Newman] But outside protesters assemble.
820
01:22:18,368 --> 01:22:21,570
[Father Christopher] If I give in what am I saying to the worker?
821
01:22:22,172 --> 01:22:23,573
It says "You are the Priest,
822
01:22:23,607 --> 01:22:26,108
you have all the means at your disposal
823
01:22:26,142 --> 01:22:28,110
and you couldn't stand the pressure?
824
01:22:28,143 --> 01:22:31,313
But you come to us and you tell us to not be afraid?"
825
01:22:33,483 --> 01:22:35,385
I think I would be a fraud
826
01:22:36,285 --> 01:22:38,455
if I took even one step back.
827
01:23:34,410 --> 01:23:37,447
[Father Christopher] One of the beautiful things for me is to see the support
828
01:23:37,480 --> 01:23:39,115
and the backing of the community.
829
01:23:39,782 --> 01:23:42,718
If the community had backed my accusers
830
01:23:42,752 --> 01:23:45,188
I would certainly be history today.
831
01:23:45,222 --> 01:23:48,323
[clapping]
832
01:24:55,925 --> 01:24:59,195
[singing]
833
01:25:44,940 --> 01:25:47,743
[Paul Newman] The batey is still a dangerous place.
834
01:25:50,780 --> 01:25:52,715
Jhonny has been fired.
835
01:25:53,850 --> 01:25:55,852
He and his family have been threatened
836
01:25:55,885 --> 01:25:57,520
with eviction from their home.
837
01:25:58,487 --> 01:26:00,457
But without legal status,
838
01:26:00,490 --> 01:26:03,425
they are unable to go elsewhere to make a living.
839
01:26:06,628 --> 01:26:10,367
And the attacks on Father Christopher continue.
840
01:26:13,235 --> 01:26:15,948
[Father Christopher] I would like to be buried in the clandestine cemetery
841
01:26:15,972 --> 01:26:18,273
because I think that's where I belong
842
01:26:18,708 --> 01:26:20,943
with those un-named tombs,
843
01:26:20,977 --> 01:26:23,312
without even maybe a cross and a prayer.
844
01:26:25,582 --> 01:26:27,517
These are my people.
845
01:26:27,550 --> 01:26:31,820
I have come to live in solidarity with them
846
01:26:32,522 --> 01:26:35,692
and whatever happens to them I would like it to happen to me.
847
01:26:42,765 --> 01:26:45,802
[singing]
848
01:26:45,835 --> 01:26:48,237
[sprinkling]
849
01:27:25,642 --> 01:27:28,678
[singing]
63355
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