Description: Death by a Thousand Cuts. A park-ranger's brutal murder opens the way for a journey into the depths of the illegal charcoal trade in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A tangled web of desperation, maneuvering and corruption worthy of a crime novel, exposes the truth behind the rampant deforestation it leaves in its trail.
environment (3637) documentary (3403) dr (1602) haiti (731) charcoal (526) dominican republic (287) republica dominicana (178) deforestation (50) death by a thousand cuts (2) bahoruco (1)
Thousand Cuts, LLC
In DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS, Eligio Eloy Vargas, alias Melaneo, a Dominican Park Ranger in the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park was found brutally murdered by machete. At the time, he was believed to have been on patrol investigating an illegal charcoal production site often run by Haitians coming across the border into protected Dominican forests. This murder becomes the metaphor for the larger story of increasing tension between Haiti and the Dominican Republic over illicit charcoal exploitation and mass
With stunning cinematography, DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS is a feature-length documentary film that is a double murder investigation, seeking to learn about the circumstances of Melaneo’s death and the systematic eradication of the Dominican forests. The film interweaves the many sides of the story of Melaneo’s murder told through: his Haitian wife Calina, brother Chichi, local reporter Luis Medrano and a Haitian Nené working as a Dominican park ranger, all representing different perspectives on a complex soci