00:00Volkswagen is currently on trial in Brazil for the enslavement of hundreds of workers in the 70s and 80s.
00:06Not in a car factory, but on a cattle ranch.
00:09That's right, VW not only produced cars like the Beetle in Brazil, it also tried to earn money raising cattle.
00:16Where did all this happen?
00:18Here, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, on a massive cattle farm the size of Sao Paulo.
00:23Between 1974 and 1986, during the military dictatorship, the cattle ranch Cristalino was operated by a subsidiary of Volkswagen.
00:33VW is also alleged to have used this cattle breeding activity to develop the Amazon region, a key interest of the military dictatorship.
00:41On top of that, there are reports of tax evasion.
00:44The labor prosecutors alleged serious violations of human rights, such as exhausting working hours and degrading working conditions.
00:50The trials against VW do Brazil are backed by evidence collected by Ricardo Risenche.
00:56He encountered runaway workers at that time.
00:58For him, Volkswagen is clearly to blame.
01:08VW has previously denied responsibility, saying the workers were not directly employed by the company.
01:14Professor Christopher Koppa, who authored a study on VW do Brazil's labor abuses during the military dictatorship,
01:19also wants to see the carmaker held to account.
01:22We know from Brazilian advocacy institutions, associations, that this was really very close to slave labor.
01:30You would call this indented labor, and this was something which was abolished in Europe in the 19th century.
01:38In response to our inquiry, Volkswagen stated it strongly rejects the accusation of the investigation.
01:44And Volkswagen do Brazil is fully committed to universal human rights and the principles of human dignity.
01:50The Brazilian labor prosecutor's office is demanding 165 million reals in damages for the victims.
