Brazil threatens to sue Volkswagen over claims of ‘slavery’ during military dictatorship
Brazil is threatening to take the German carmaker Volkswagen to court over allegations that it used slave labour on a vast ranch in the Amazon, after talks on compensating workers ended without agreement.
Public prosecutors in Brazil are seeking compensation for men who they say were forced to work in “humiliating and degrading” conditions, with no clean water or sanitation, on the Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino cattle ranch, which was owned by the company in the northern Pará state, between 1973 and 1987.
Volkswagen denies all allegations of abuse.
The men were hired by local contractors to chop down the rainforest and clear land for the cattle ranch. When they arrived, they were forced to buy their own tools, food and housing materials, which left them in debt bondage, say prosecutors, who have shared a dossier of evidence with the company.
“Grave violations of human rights took place on a farm owned by one of the largest companies in the world and reparations should be paid on a large scale,” Rafael Garcia, the public prosecutor for the Brazilian labour ministry, told the Guardian.
Brazilian prosecutors summoned Volkswagen to a meeting on 29 March – the fourth time the two sides had met to discuss compensation – but the talks ended without agreement.
Garcia said Brazil’s government would now “take all judicial and extrajudicial measures necessary to seek reparations for the damages caused by the company”, adding, “We will take all appropriate action in courts in Brazil and abroad.”
Official documents seen by the Guardian reveal that Volkswagen received grants and tax breaks worth more than $129m (£104m) to buy and run the cattle ranch from Brazil’s military government, which was in power between 1964 and 1985.
The case is
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