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The lead editorial
in the Ft. Myers News-Press, entitled "Convicted
slaver shouldn't be back in business," concludes:
"Until big,
respectable names start being linked with "forced
labor camps" and "slavery," the whole
wink-and-a-nod system will continue to be a profitable,
if inhumane way to get cheap fruits and vegetables
to fast food chains, restaurants and our dinner tables." Click
here for full editorial
The editorial recounts the horrors faced
by workers on Abel Cuello's tomato crew, adding:
"Southwest Floridians
have been reminded yet again in an investigative report
by The News-Press on Abel Cuello Jr., convicted slaver,
of our state's decades of sorry treatment of farm
workers. Cuello forced people to work for him by threat
of beatings — or worse. He housed them in cramped,
squalid trailers in remote areas so they didn't know
where they were. He took money from their meager paychecks
to pay their border-crossing debts and rent."
But the News Press opinion went further
than to simply condemn the crewleader. The editors took
the unusual step of drawing the direct connection between
the unremitting poverty and exploitation of farmworkers
at the foundation of the food industry, on the one hand,
and the sparkling, wholesome image -- fueled by tens
of billions in advertising every year -- of the fast-food
restaurants and supermarkets across the country, on
the other. Read
the editorial here!
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12/27:
NEWS-PRESS TO FOOD INDUSTRY: "CONVICTED SLAVER SHOULDN'T
BE BACK IN BUSINESS"!...