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O episódio mostra a realidade da escravidão rural no Brasil a partir do caso emblemático do trabalhador Zé Pereira.
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00:00:23THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:00:36THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:01:02THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:01:07The day I came to the Amazon, which here is a region of land without men for men without land.
00:01:41THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:01:47THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:01:49THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:01:55GREEN PASTURES OF THE FOREST OF MILK AND HONEY
00:02:06In 1972, the first "pau de arara" trucks left with families from that region where we lived.
00:02:15of our relatives.
00:02:19We migrated to the south of Pará, to the city of Conceição do Araguaia, where my parents still live today.
00:02:41THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:02:54And we literally came into the forest, to clear the forest and create pastures for cattle, to plant in a first
00:03:05At that time, they created pastures for a large landowner of the era.
00:03:36THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:03:39The City in Brazil
00:03:40I went to Rio Maria, I used to play soccer in Vila Nova, on Rio Maria.
00:03:49We would study during the holidays and then go work in the fields with my father.
00:03:53That's how we got to know other boys in the countryside.
00:03:57You could say I dropped out of school because I ate too much, that we got cold and never went back.
00:04:01to school.
00:04:04THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:04:05I have him as a child; he's a hardworking boy, a quiet, calm boy.
00:04:11My wife, who is the mother of this child, was very ill.
00:04:16So everything I earned on the farm, the money I had left over from the farm, I spent on my illness.
00:04:21her.
00:04:22So they had to work to support themselves, right?
00:04:24So Cadacal would look for a farm to work on.
00:04:29It got to the point where he hunted down that damn farm over there.
00:04:34He's one of the biggest cattle ranchers in Pará, in Brazil, right?
00:04:38He owns more than 30,000 acres of land.
00:04:41I didn't even know the job existed before; I'll find out later what happened to me.
00:04:46The other one called, I answered, and we ran away.
00:04:48And everything went wrong.
00:04:55And there
00:05:26And there
00:06:04And there
00:06:04And there
00:06:14And there
00:06:14And there
00:06:15And there
00:06:15And there
00:06:15And there
00:06:16And there
00:06:1616, with the black one being 17 years old.
00:06:17The urge to get away like that, to see other places, you know? Other farms, to disrupt farms.
00:06:21And women, like me, had no resources; they also lived off their own labor.
00:06:26Then they would go out to work.
00:06:28I would go out to one place to work and go out to others.
00:06:31That was the life of the four of them.
00:06:34Of the four children.
00:06:36They would leave the whole band to work, I wasn't worried about him, because I knew they were...
00:06:39workers.
00:06:40They were the right man.
00:06:42I wasn't worried.
00:06:44Then I left Rio Maria with the Xinguara and there I met someone who recommended a hotel called Pires, a
00:06:52pioneering hotel.
00:06:56One case is a little special because, in general, the workers came from another state.
00:07:01He lived in Rio Maria and on the day he turned 17, he didn't tell his mother, Dona Rosa.
00:07:06Not even to his father, who told him he would manage on his own.
00:07:10So he took the bus and went to the city called Xinguara.
00:07:14I went to Xinguara to look for work.
00:07:17He was at the bus station, somewhat desperate, when a man approached him, a certain João, and said, "Are you..."
00:07:23Looking for a job?
00:07:24I am, did you manage to? No.
00:07:26If you want, I have a pension; you can stay at my pension, and when you get a job, you can pay me back.
00:07:34Then he went to Mr. João's boarding house.
00:07:38And he stayed there for two or three days, and after that a contractor, a real crook, showed up and bought the...
00:07:47The group, which consisted of 17 boys.
00:07:49That's the system, right? The so-called pioneering pension.
00:07:53The guy is there, he lives there with his money, it runs out, and he stays in the boarding house.
00:07:56The owner of the boarding house won't send him away.
00:07:57He's accumulating debt with the alimony payments.
00:07:59One day the cat will get there, right?
00:08:00The recruiter of the workforce.
00:08:02Buy it there. How many workers are there?
00:08:05Oh, there are six. How much do they owe? That much?
00:08:07Then he pays and takes the guy to the farm.
00:08:18We went there in the pickup truck, right?
00:08:20It was us and about 15 other guys, right?
00:08:24Nobody knows anyone else's name, nobody is really well known.
00:08:27That's when I went to the registration farm, right?
00:08:29Mr. Benedito Moutran's work took place there, right?
00:08:38So we got there, and the contractor was already waiting for us at the farm, right?
00:08:44But upon arriving at the farm, they were met by armed men.
00:08:50And they were informed that in order to leave they had to pay their debts.
00:08:53So the first debt was for alimony.
00:08:56The second debt is for transportation.
00:08:57And they had to buy food from the shed inside the Espírito Santo farm.
00:09:09We paid for everything, right?
00:09:11Leave your work shoes, clothes, food, everything.
00:09:20Actually, it's not a real debt, is it?
00:09:24That worker believes he has a debt because he's been led into that situation.
00:09:30Anything that is provided to the worker during the trip,
00:09:34the journey itself, sometimes with the most rudimentary, simplest food,
00:09:38Sometimes you just have a loaf of bread, right?
00:09:40And a cup of coffee, all of this is being charged to this worker.
00:09:44And he's already starting to provide services with a debt.
00:09:50The accommodation is a shack, right?
00:09:52Made of wood, timber, wattle and daub, instead of wood and plastic.
00:10:02The water is a small stream, a little creek, right?
00:10:08The shift runs from six in the morning to six in the afternoon.
00:10:19Our central element here in Brazil, for the characterization of slave labor,
00:10:26It's the notion of degrading work.
00:10:31Indebtedness, debt bondage, terrible living conditions,
00:10:39Exhausting workdays, coupled with restrictions on freedom of movement.
00:10:45as something extra, not something that will necessarily happen.
00:10:51in all situations characteristic of slave labor.
00:10:59Surveillance, traveling for work, traveling inside the shack, right?
00:11:04It was right there in the shack.
00:11:05We couldn't go out because we were being watched, right?
00:11:07If he had to relieve himself, he would go into the woods and come back.
00:11:10because the area was under surveillance.
00:11:14Here in the Amazon, they're called capango, which means gunman, right?
00:11:17He was being watched.
00:11:23They hired gunmen.
00:11:25Abilão, Chico, Adão Modesto, Luiz Bang Bang,
00:11:29a group of large contractors.
00:11:34They made people from poor backgrounds.
00:11:36They were workers who, at some point, transformed into kittens.
00:11:41first as gunman and then as cat, big cat.
00:11:45So, we had a substantial vertical ascent.
00:11:49Were you going to be killed?
00:11:51Yeah, that was threatening, wasn't it?
00:11:53If he tried to leave, he'd kill him, right?
00:11:54He couldn't rebel, could he?
00:11:57Nobody was just walking around the farm, right?
00:11:59It was only there in the shack.
00:12:00There were about 10 of them, all armed.
00:12:05So, there, the colleagues who worked together there,
00:12:10He said that the farm there was very bad.
00:12:14He wasn't paying what he owed.
00:12:15the jar was no good,
00:12:17And if he ran away, he would kill him, which didn't happen.
00:12:20He was the only one who didn't die, because God watched over him.
00:12:24At 18 or 19 days,
00:12:27I tried to escape.
00:12:28Me, another well-known guy from Paraná, right?
00:12:32He's a guy of about 25 years old, right?
00:12:34Perhaps because of his age, he despaired and said,
00:12:37I'm not going to stay, I'm going to run away.
00:12:39He did not have the moral problem that most people have.
00:12:43That is, I have debt, I can't go out.
00:12:45He said, "I'm leaving, I'm not staying."
00:12:47There was no other way to escape, right?
00:12:50There was no other way out.
00:12:52The only option was to run away.
00:12:58We all lived in one shack, right?
00:13:01Then he said, look, let's go out.
00:13:03I said, "What do you mean?"
00:13:05I'm going to run away.
00:13:06Then I said, "Hey, let's go then."
00:13:14So, at 3 a.m.,
00:13:15They went into the woods.
00:13:18They clung to the net, entered the woods,
00:13:20And they walked through the woods until 6 pm.
00:13:38But the farm is very large,
00:13:40We didn't know the farm very well.
00:13:43Then we spent the whole day walking,
00:13:44I think the farm is more than 3,000 acres, right?
00:13:47No, no, no.
00:14:18The gunmen were already there waiting, because they saw the tracking indicating that the gun had entered the woods.
00:14:23We found the base around six-thirty, seven o'clock, we met with Chico and his gunmen.
00:14:42Put a trap in front, right? Then we fell on top of them, right?
00:14:50Then the first one in front was my son's classmate.
00:15:11And then Paraná was shot in the head and died instantly.
00:15:16José Pereira received an order to walk, and imagining that he was also going to be shot,
00:15:21He put his hand here, lowered his head, and indeed, a shot rang out.
00:15:30I was shot here in the face, he pulled it out here, it came out here, it hit my finger.
00:15:34Even my finger is still crooked today, in this case, I'm shooting.
00:15:38I fell to the ground, it was night, after eight o'clock at night, I pretended to be on a hill, right?
00:15:43Were you holding your breath?
00:15:45I was so caught up in those moments when they caught me on the ground, I was holding my breath and everything, you know?
00:15:49He softened the body, and that's when it was clear that the people were actually dead.
00:16:07And he overheard a conversation with one of the gunmen, who was saying, "Shall we throw the two bodies into the Rio Vermelho?"
00:16:11Then the other one said, no, let's play a walking game, doing the Brasil Verde route, which was, I don't know, 40 or 50 kilometers long.
00:16:18from that place where they were.
00:16:25Then came the pardon, he maneuvered, he threw us there, right?
00:16:31He played the one who had died first, that is, he shot first, actually.
00:16:36He threw it, then grabbed my son and threw him over the top.
00:16:40But he was saying that he was dead too.
00:16:43Then I heard it, I didn't faint or anything, it didn't make sense, then I heard when they left, right?
00:16:51Then I got up and went to the Prost farm, he threw us near the farm, about 3 meters away, right?
00:16:57The bags were left behind, and the document from us, like being undocumented, was thrown away, right?
00:17:01Nobody knew where it came from, or where it went at night, right?
00:17:04There's no way around it.
00:17:15And Zé Pereira got up, a little dizzy, saw a light, which was from the farm, went over there and...
00:17:23The farm manager rescued him and took him to Xinguara, where he was hospitalized and survived.
00:17:40I felt really bad, didn't I?
00:17:42For a father, hearing the news that his son has been shot and is in the hospital isn't a very good thing, is it?
00:17:49So, since I couldn't come that same day because it was nighttime, it was completely impossible, and the farm was also...
00:17:56I didn't have it.
00:17:57So I had to endure it, I didn't sleep all night, I spent the night tossing and turning in the hammock, unable to get out.
00:18:04Then the next morning, the first thing I did was get up, just splash some water on my face, and go back to bed.
00:18:08The road was nearby.
00:18:09I took the first car and drove here.
00:18:15I also stayed there for about ten days, then I left, you know?
00:18:19Then the marine one.
00:18:30The José Pereira case is an emblematic case, considered emblematic in the system of combating slave labor in Brazil.
00:18:36Several points that are now part of Brazilian legislation, that is, the national policy to combat slave labor,
00:18:44They are born as a result of the pressure caused by the José Pereira case.
00:18:48The interesting thing is that what happened to José Pereira was happening to so many other workers in Brazil at that time, in
00:18:5680s and 90s.
00:18:57There are many other Josés, right? Who went through the same situation, some who unfortunately passed away, right?
00:19:05Some have disappeared, and to this day we don't know where they are, and who are unfortunately invisible to society.
00:19:17For the State, right?
00:19:18And the exploitation, it perpetuates itself.
00:19:22That's because things are calmer here today, but back then the crime rate was much higher.
00:19:30There was a lot of crime here.
00:19:33Here, the real power lay with the landowners and gunmen; it was all about money.
00:19:39The revolution reaches the jungle.
00:19:42Each tree that falls writes a story quite different from those that populated the land of the Saci Pererês.
00:19:49and large macaws and snakes.
00:19:51President Médici expressed his confidence that the Trans-Amazonian Highway could be the path to discovering one's true vocation.
00:19:59economic situation in the Amazon.
00:20:08At that time, the military government was financing multinational companies with tax breaks to occupy the Amazon.
00:20:16The idea was that this place was empty, and if it wasn't occupied, a foreigner would come and take over.
00:20:21Back in the 70s, I went to do research on the occupation of the Amazon,
00:20:28It's actually about the formation of capitalism in the Amazon and the role of the State in the Amazon.
00:20:32A country estate belonging to Severo Gomes, who was a minister, a senator, and everything.
00:20:38They came to talk to me.
00:20:39They said, "Look, sir, do you want to buy land?"
00:20:41He thought I wanted to buy land.
00:20:42I wanted to study what's going on.
00:20:44They said, don't worry, I'll take care of it, don't worry about the labor.
00:20:49We bring it, but where do we bring it from?
00:20:52Maranhão, Piauí, from the poorest region of the Northeast, takes it there.
00:20:55We send these people into the woods, and they break things because we had to cut down the forest.
00:21:01And there's discipline there; you can't have a machete, you can't have women, you can't have anything.
00:21:05If they misbehave, give them an injection of alcohol, they'll never do it again.
00:21:10And once a month, we take them to a small town because there used to be a brothel.
00:21:13Well, that was what's called slave labor.
00:21:17This idea of forced labor is an old one in Brazil.
00:21:21To develop the region according to the military's logic, they released a package, thus,
00:21:27of measures that are so beneficial to economic groups and livestock farmers in other regions of Brazil.
00:21:34who wanted to come here, which even motivated those who never had any agricultural inclination.
00:21:48We weren't dealing with the old farmer with the spur hat.
00:21:54We were dealing with large agricultural enterprises.
00:21:58But the owners of the agricultural projects were groups, mostly business groups.
00:22:05who did not have a tradition of working with the land.
00:22:14For example, Volkswagen, which only produced vehicles, decided, due to the facilities offered by the military,
00:22:24They thought it was advantageous to open a cattle fattening farm here in southern Pará.
00:22:30Similarly, Banco Bradesco, Banco Bamerindos, Super Gás Brás...
00:22:43Imagine how many thousands of workers would be needed to cut down that forest and turn it into farms, into pasture.
00:22:52To build the fences and the farm headquarters so they could bring the cattle in.
00:22:55Back then, even chainsaws weren't used to clear land by cutting it down with a scythe or an axe.
00:23:03So, the military's intention was to relocate the workforce to establish these farms and sawmills.
00:23:11The person from the Northeast of Brazil who migrated to the Amazon was selected by INCRA.
00:23:16He knows he will receive a house, two hectares of cleared land, and five minimum wages in the first five months of his employment.
00:23:24occupation.
00:23:25You can plant crops and raise livestock.
00:23:28By acquiring 25% of the area, you will obtain definitive title to the property.
00:23:40The advertising brought in more people than the demand could handle.
00:23:47And many families arrived here, only to find they hadn't found the promised land.
00:23:55The goal of settling approximately 500,000 families at that time was far from being achieved.
00:24:03And within a short time, the military abandoned this policy.
00:24:07People who had been invited by the military government to go to the region to get land and, upon arriving, did not
00:24:14There was land for them.
00:24:15And the sawmills had all been bought by plane and with great corruption in the land registry offices, with overlapping definitive titles.
00:24:26Regarding the issue of land titles for an area that could not be titled because it already had long-standing residents.
00:24:32It was land chaos.
00:24:34Even when I went to the sawmills, there was little work available.
00:24:37And when they sought employment on farms, they were generally subjected to a system of slavery.
00:24:44I have nine years of experience in Labor Inspection, but I already have a history with the Labor Inspection department, even before that.
00:24:50Work,
00:24:50I already have a history related to social issues and, especially, to issues of labor exploitation.
00:24:58I was also a union member in the past.
00:25:06From the ages of 15 to 20, I worked as a farm laborer in the interior of Mato Grosso.
00:25:11I grew up experiencing this exploitation.
00:25:16I lived in an isolated place, without the minimum conditions for housing or food.
00:25:25Nobody, neither me, nor my family members, nor any of the workers there had a formal employment contract.
00:25:31I had no social protection of any kind.
00:25:38This is what is clearly found today as degrading work.
00:25:45which is one aspect of contemporary slave labor.
00:25:49To escape this, what was the other alternative?
00:25:52Returning to their home states was no longer an option.
00:25:56The migrant who arrives in a makeshift truck, he spent everything he had back there to get here.
00:26:01There's no going back.
00:26:03What alternative did he have left?
00:26:06If it weren't for being a slave on a farm or in a sawmill,
00:26:09It was, then, an attempt to unite and try to occupy a land.
00:26:14to conquer a space by occupying a large estate, a farm.
00:26:20And that's what happened to hundreds of immigrant families who arrived here.
00:26:27My family arrived in this region of southern Pará in the mid-1970s.
00:26:32And when we arrived here, my family acquired the land through occupation.
00:26:42Along with other landless workers who came here and also failed to obtain land,
00:26:48coordinated by the Rural Workers Union of Conceição do Araguaia,
00:26:52They occupied a farm near that city where my brothers were settled by INCRA years later.
00:26:59Land occupation was an alternative found by landless migrant workers.
00:27:05to escape the practice of slave labor.
00:27:12My siblings and I, at the age of three, already realized that this wasn't going to work...
00:27:16Eldorado was an illusion, and it wasn't going to lead anywhere.
00:27:20We returned to the city to resume our studies.
00:27:23My brother worked as an ice cream vendor and I worked as a construction laborer.
00:27:28and studying, studying and working to earn a basic living.
00:27:33Because, in fact, our parents didn't even have the means to support us there in the city.
00:27:37I ended up doing two degrees, already at a somewhat advanced age.
00:27:41I finished my law degree when I was 36 years old.
00:27:45I enrolled, the only one in my family who managed to study.
00:27:50And then I went to a seminar there in Conceição do Araguaia,
00:27:54initially with the goal of becoming a priest.
00:27:57I finished minor seminary, then I completed my Theology degree in Bethlehem.
00:28:01This was during a period when Liberation Theology was being persecuted by the Vatican.
00:28:08And so I decided not to be ordained a priest.
00:28:11And in 1996, when the Eldorado do Escarjás massacre occurred,
00:28:18I was at the site of the massacre the following day, accompanying Friar Henri de Rosier.
00:28:24At the time, I was a lawyer for the CPT in Xinguara, and I was invited to work here.
00:28:31And then, in August 1996, I started working here in the Diocese of Marabá.
00:28:48Today the union is for Ural workers, but it's not too late, don't leave it.
00:28:54Long live the workers of the Ural!
00:28:57In 1975, the Pastoral Land Commission was created.
00:29:01In 1977, he arrived in Conceição do Araguaia, which was the epicenter of the Brazilian land conflict.
00:29:06That area had the highest levels of violence in the countryside and slave labor.
00:29:12Brothers and sisters, let us stand and conclude this Holy Mass.
00:29:17Invoking the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
00:29:23The violence was so great that I remember we prepared for the Bishop of the Diocese, in '79,
00:29:33the relationship of land conflicts that existed in that area where we operated,
00:29:39approximately 45,000 square kilometers.
00:29:50We had 80 collective land conflicts.
00:29:53Conflicts, therefore, involving 300 families, 250, 500 families.
00:30:06And on the other side, those who did not fight for the land, but went to work.
00:30:12And these people were forbidden from leaving the farms.
00:30:28The violence was of both kinds.
00:30:31The violence was so great that, finally, in 1980,
00:30:34when a great friend of mine, Raimundo Ferreira Lima, a foreigner, is murdered,
00:30:39on May 29, 1980.
00:30:41For those who don't know, the foreigner was a contender to be the top seed.
00:30:46He was assassinated on May 29th, just over a week before the first election.
00:30:55I decided, for the first time, to start writing down the names of the dead.
00:30:59The day of the dead and the conditions, the information we had.
00:31:07When I left in '96, the list had 200 names.
00:31:12Of the 200, 105 were related to the struggle for land.
00:31:16And in '95, in the escape from slave labor.
00:31:22And our complaints didn't have much effect.
00:31:25Because it resonated neither in the world of politics nor in the world of civil society.
00:31:33We were a bit like the crazy ones, the mad ones.
00:31:36talking about a problem that seemed not to exist.
00:31:44Then, a second moment of great change,
00:31:47And that has something to do with José Pereira.
00:32:04The first visitor I received was Father Ricardo.
00:32:09The father is Ricardo, and the son is Henrique, right?
00:32:12A wasted ending, who was the union president,
00:32:15He was murdered too, right?
00:32:20He escaped, more or less, on September 13, 1989.
00:32:24I met him a month later.
00:32:27On October 14th, I visited him in Rio Maria.
00:32:34And then he told me this story.
00:32:36I was very impressed and concerned for the others who were on the farm.
00:32:40There was still a group being held there.
00:32:43And I talked to him and said, look, José, you survived a series of miracles, didn't you?
00:32:48And you seek help at a farm that is also accused of committing the crime, and you are rescued.
00:32:53Fazenda Brasil Verde is a farm that has been reported for several consecutive years.
00:32:59through the use of slave labor. For years.
00:33:03So, you have a responsibility to try to save others.
00:33:06But there's no point in talking to the police here.
00:33:08It has to be done with the Federal Police.
00:33:10Then, after I got to know the CPT (Pastoral Land Commission), which helped me a lot, they took me to Belém and I filed the complaint.
00:33:15there in Bethlehem.
00:33:22The complaint was filed, and the Federal Police entered the farm with him.
00:33:29They found people being held captive on the farm and freed them.
00:33:38But it came out in the Jornal Liberal and they found out about it.
00:33:43Then they all ran away. When they got there, only their comrades were still working.
00:33:46The police released them and collected their payment there.
00:33:50They found the car, they found the plastic stained with blood.
00:33:54For example, he is certain that it belonged to him and to Paraná.
00:33:58In Paraná, the body disappeared.
00:34:02We don't know Paraná's name, we don't know the father's or mother's name.
00:34:06We have no information about Paraná.
00:34:09The family could not be notified.
00:34:16The federal judge in Marabá will convict one of those involved in the crime.
00:34:22He does not criminally prosecute for homicide because there was no body.
00:34:28And he didn't even convict him for attempted murder, he only convicted him under article 149.
00:34:35And since he was a first-time offender, he was sentenced to the minimum penalty, which was two years.
00:34:40And since the minimum sentence is two years, he doesn't need to go to jail.
00:34:43There could be a replacement of imprisonment with an activity, for example, community service.
00:34:50This is a case where there was negligence on the part of the State.
00:34:53This is how my boy tells it: what did he shoot, what did he shoot?
00:34:58when she learned that he had been brought to Xinguara for hospitalization,
00:35:02They ran because he hadn't died.
00:35:05The gunmen ran.
00:35:08The farmer was not at the farm.
00:35:10At that time, he doesn't stay on the farm.
00:35:13Then the gunmen ran away, disappeared into thin air, no one was punished, no one was arrested, nothing happened.
00:35:19He's out there in the world.
00:35:21I regret not having hooked up with the guy, you know?
00:35:27What can I do, after he treated my son the way he did?
00:35:31That one.
00:35:33Why do you think this happened, that they didn't suffer any harm?
00:35:38He's been getting a lot of lawyers lately, hasn't he?
00:35:43Maybe, right? I've never had an audience with him, have I?
00:35:47And the guys who found out ran away, right?
00:35:51And Pará is a very large state, right?
00:35:53It's hard to find someone in here, isn't it?
00:35:56He's one of the biggest cattle ranchers in Pará, in Brazil, right?
00:36:00He owns more than 30,000 acres of land.
00:36:03His bull has already been a three-time Brazilian champion in exhibitions, Nelore cattle breeding, and so much more.
00:36:13Do you think he knew?
00:36:16You know, because I think the owner knows what goes on inside the farm.
00:36:19It could be a large farm, a small farm, you know.
00:36:22Yes, I knew.
00:36:39During that period, there was also uncertainty as to whether the jurisdiction to prosecute and judge crimes of slave labor belonged to...
00:36:46whether it was from the federal court or the common court.
00:36:48This uncertainty, this void, persisted for many years and prevented anyone from being convicted of the crime of...
00:36:57slave labor.
00:36:58Nobody was very interested in establishing it as a priority, in defining the competence.
00:37:04or punish those responsible for the crime committed against Zé Pereira.
00:37:14A farmer named Expedito Ribeiro de Souza had been murdered in Rio Maria.
00:37:20And Expedito's murder had international repercussions.
00:37:28Le Monde, diplomatically, had already dedicated two pages to him, with his photo and the caption: "This man is going to die."
00:37:35The Brazilian press is waking up to the problem, and as it wakes up and starts talking,
00:37:40This opens up space for the issue of rural areas to be included in national discussions.
00:37:56In light of the murders in the countryside, a huge pattern of violence, starting with the murder of Expedito...
00:38:02The CPT, then, together with SEGIL, which is a human rights organization,
00:38:11They decided to take the case to the Inter-American Court.
00:38:18I went to the OAS and, on behalf of these three organizations, I filed a petition against the Brazilian government.
00:38:24Actually, it wasn't one, it was three petitions.
00:38:26That was a case of slave labor on the Espírito Santo farm, which is the case of Zé Pereira.
00:38:33The case of the São Luís farm in Floresta, which was a case of workers who had fled from a farm.
00:38:39And the police arrested the workers to return them to the farm.
00:38:42And the third case I presented was the case of a murdered worker, João Canuto.
00:38:48He had been killed in '85 and in '91 they still hadn't concluded the police investigation.
00:38:54They accepted Zé Pereira's case.
00:39:01Once the petition is admitted, the Brazilian State is summoned and notified so that it can present its defense.
00:39:10So this bothered the Brazilian state.
00:39:17Because he could face a conviction, which would prove a violation of an international treaty signed by Brazil.
00:39:28These were years of trips to the Inter-American Commission in Boston, of lobbying, of lobbying,
00:39:35so that the process could actually produce the effects that it ended up producing.
00:39:52There were years of trips to the Inter-American Commission.
00:40:02There were years of trips to the Inter-American Commission.
00:40:10And then I know that when I went out on the street, people were asking questions and talking.
00:40:13I know it came from the reporter and then I...
00:40:16Yes, that's exactly how I was, and everyone wanted to know.
00:40:19Then I said, no, I said, Father Ricardo,
00:40:22Father Ricardo, no, you...
00:40:24Is there anywhere else you could go, outside of Rio Marinho?
00:40:27I said, yes.
00:40:28Then I saw my grandparents' music system being installed, and I stayed there for a long time until things cooled down.
00:40:32It got cold, because in Rio Marinho it was a common question, right?
00:40:44I was afraid those people would come after him and kill him.
00:40:49I used to get very worried, you know, worried sometimes about him being filmed.
00:40:56He appears on television and they recognize him and sometimes come looking for him, right?
00:41:01Wanting to do evil to him, right? And less to me, to the people who only do evil to him.
00:41:08Because there was pressure from the UN, there was pressure from the OAS,
00:41:13The press also talked about it a lot, so there was a whole context to it.
00:41:16The death of Expedito Ribeiro de Sousa, but he ended up being an exemplary case.
00:41:23And at the political level we thought, well, we have to take it to the south of Pará.
00:41:29some high-profile people are trying to save lives.
00:41:36That's where Paulo Betti, Cristina Pereira, Letícia Batella, Ângelo Antônio came in, and then Sérgio Mamberti started.
00:41:44that these people started going to the region and walking the streets with those who had received death threats.
00:41:50And at the international level, on behalf of the Pastoral Land Commission,
00:41:55I spoke at the UN plenary session in Geneva, making a statement that there was slave labor in Brazil.
00:42:03And, to our surprise, the Brazilian ambassador to the UN acknowledged that there was a problem, which was Celso Amorim.
00:42:17Brazil was, in fact, the first country, even at that time, to admit that slave labor existed.
00:42:25No country had signed the Convention, but they wouldn't admit that it existed; Brazil did.
00:42:30And it was an important step and, without a doubt, it had a great impact on the world.
00:42:36Well, at least in the diplomatic world, in governments.
00:42:59So, we managed to get this case of José Pereira, not just as, in quotes,
00:43:08The case of José Pereira, a victim who received no assistance and deserved compensation for the serious harm he suffered.
00:43:17But, beyond that specific case, the reparations measures were reparations for the whole of society, for Brazil.
00:43:25Brazil deserved to have a policy to combat slave labor, so that this emblematic case would not be repeated in the future.
00:43:32other cults.
00:43:33To avoid being included in a report against the Brazilian government, a proposal for an amicable agreement was then made.
00:43:42This proposal was probably made in '96.
00:43:47As part of the amicable settlement proposal, in addition to compensating José Pereira, approval was given to amending Article 149 of the Code.
00:43:56Brazilian Penal Code
00:43:58giving a definition of what slave labor was.
00:44:05The proposal also included approving the draft constitutional amendment that provides for the forfeiture of the property that was to be used.
00:44:14slave labor.
00:44:15A national campaign to eradicate slave labor was part of the proposal.
00:44:23The Brazilian government agreed to discuss the proposal, but couldn't reach a conclusion, just kept postponing it.
00:44:31This issue never reached a conclusion, and 2002 ended without anything being signed.
00:44:41The State delayed, citing various factors that justified the delay.
00:44:47I remember once, on behalf of the CPT, our campaign, I sent an official letter, the title of which was blah,
00:44:56blah, blah.
00:44:57In the José Pereira case, the signing has been postponed once again.
00:45:02We waited two or three years for the signing of this agreement, which was finally signed in May or June of 2003.
00:45:12during Lula's government.
00:45:13Throughout my time there, we were sending prosecutors to put an end to forced labor.
00:45:21We created a new regulation that was finalized, but it wasn't finalized until October 2002.
00:45:28Lula was elected president in October 2002.
00:45:32I thought it was fairer for this to become a state policy, not just a policy of my government.
00:45:38So we left it to Lula to sign the decree, which he did, and he moved forward with this program to reduce...
00:45:46forced labor,
00:45:48what we call slave labor.
00:45:51I believe that Fernando Henrique's government deserves credit for acknowledging the persistence of this crime before the United Nations.
00:45:57in 1995.
00:45:58He acknowledged it before the UN, he acknowledged it before Brazil, and he withstood the pressure to speak out: "There is slave labor, we will fight it."
00:46:05When Lula's government took office, it increased the capacity for oversight and intensified the fight against labor exploitation.
00:46:13enslaved in a very large way.
00:46:16From 1995 to 2002, that is, during Fernando Henrique's government, approximately 5,000, a little over 5,000
00:46:23People were freed from slave labor.
00:46:26Now, from 2003 to 2010, during Lula's government, there were almost more than 40,000.
00:46:33Around 40,000, I don't have the exact number, but it was something of that magnitude.
00:46:37This shows that the power of oversight has greatly expanded at this time.
00:46:48There's no bathroom, right? The water must be drawn from this stream that runs right next to the shack.
00:46:57And what about all this deforestation?
00:46:59There's no deforestation here?
00:47:00No, what is this? What is this piece of wood that's been taken from there?
00:47:07The new government, the Lula government, takes office in January 2003, and in March 2003, he then signs the
00:47:16first national plan for the eradication of slave labor.
00:47:24And the amicable agreement is signed, so the amicable agreement with José Pereira is signed.
00:47:35The request for the release of 52,000 reais to compensate him has been forwarded to Congress.
00:47:48Only ten years later?
00:47:49Only ten years later.
00:47:51Look, I went to Tucuruí, bought a little piece of land there, and stayed there, you know?
00:47:58So, I helped my mother, who was living in Belém at that time, right?
00:48:02I helped her there, did a lot of things there, built a house for her there.
00:48:06And money is an expense, right? I bought some land, went to the farm, cleared the land, everything.
00:48:09Still in the woods over there.
00:48:11That's when things ended, and then some business opportunities came up there, a lot of...
00:48:14A very windy, malaria-ridden place, I just came from there.
00:48:18So, I came here, back here.
00:48:21That's when I was truly ready.
00:48:25So today, all he has left of that money is a small shack where he lives.
00:48:32He was compensated with 52,000.
00:48:35Who paid the compensation?
00:48:37They say it was the State, right? The country, right?
00:48:41That I entered...
00:48:42Friar Henrique, he filed a lawsuit against the country, right?
00:48:45If I am underage,
00:48:47He says the country paid...
00:48:49The payment came from the Ministry of Justice.
00:48:53And do you think the compensation was fair?
00:48:57Look, I think that...
00:48:58By gravity, by the train, yes,
00:49:02I think it was...
00:49:03It wasn't quite like that, was it?
00:49:05I think it was...
00:49:06He deserved more, to tell the truth.
00:49:08He deserved more.
00:49:09Because I was underage...
00:49:11And it came about, right?
00:49:13I think it was...
00:49:15It was small.
00:49:17Go down a little further.
00:49:20But he is still considered a game-changer to this day.
00:49:24I have some from before the José Pereira case and some from after.
00:49:28Following the José Pereira case, we have a public policy to combat slave labor.
00:49:35which was implemented gradually and had this international framework, providing international support for national commitments.
00:49:47So we've made significant progress since the change to the penal code that occurred in December 2003.
00:49:54And this change prioritizes, that is, establishes a criterion of importance and responsibility in relation to dignity.
00:50:04of the human person of the worker.
00:50:05The concept of slave labor in Brazil is praised internationally because it encompasses situations that go beyond...
00:50:14Regarding the issue of the simple weapon, the simple imposition by the employer.
00:50:20It encompasses other forms such as, for example, geographic isolation.
00:50:24The withholding of documents is another way of restricting this freedom.
00:50:31And I would say that to such an extent that Brazil has become an example in various ways of promoting that which
00:50:39The ILO calls it decent work.
00:50:40Brazil became a great example, sharing its experience with other developing countries.
00:50:51It doesn't mean that everything is perfect here, that everything has been resolved, no, but it has decreased a lot.
00:50:54Despite all the indicators pointing to its worst forms of labor exploitation, Brazil has improved significantly.
00:51:01Things had been improving, but they improved significantly during President Lula's administration.
00:51:04To the point that the ILO itself wants to take the Brazilian experience to other countries.
00:51:15Brazil stands out in the fight against slave labor or forced labor.
00:51:20Of the 187 member states, 178 have ratified the convention and committed to eradicating forced labor.
00:51:29But that doesn't mean they have actions, that they implement actions.
00:51:33And in order for you to implement it, you first have to recognize that you have a problem in your territory.
00:51:39So, most countries don't do it.
00:51:42We are talking about serious human rights violations, where sometimes a single case...
00:51:48An animal on a rural property deserves better treatment than a human being, for example.
00:51:54So, these are often unacceptable situations.
00:51:59And that's why I don't go in anymore.
00:51:59I don't think I'll ever go into another form of slave labor again.
00:52:02I don't go far anymore, do I?
00:52:05That's why I don't go in anymore.
00:52:08And now, it's not as violent as it was in the 80s, right?
00:52:13It's more violent than... a lot of laws and farms have emerged.
00:52:16Farming today is very much about formal employment contracts.
00:52:20He works, with a signed work contract.
00:52:23I greatly admire slave labor, but it still arises.
00:52:26But, let's say, it comes up.
00:52:28And why do you think it still continues?
00:52:30I think that...
00:52:33I think there needs to be a bit more oversight, right?
00:52:37Inspection and...
00:52:38I also found awareness on the part of the farmer himself, right?
00:52:41And from the worker too, right?
00:52:42That, before going to a farm, you should consult first, right?
00:52:45How's it going, right?
00:52:47I think that...
00:52:48But the farmer really lacks awareness, doesn't he?
00:52:50But slave labor has decreased significantly.
00:52:53Quite a lot, actually.
00:52:55You have had more than 50,000 people freed from slavery since 1995.
00:52:58Whether you liked it or not, you had two governments, PSDB and PT.
00:53:03that emerge, which are the two main historical forces that emerged after the redemocratization in Brazil,
00:53:09who implemented one of the world's leading instruments
00:53:12for the realization of human dignity and the fight against slavery.
00:53:16Now, the fight against slave labor is generating a counterattack.
00:53:36It was a decades-long struggle involving different movements, legal experts, and so on.
00:53:42so that it can then be incorporated into the Penal Code those conditions that, in fact, characterize slave labor.
00:53:50What we are currently witnessing is a deconstruction of that.
00:53:55Certain structures that support this government, such as rural caucuses,
00:53:59such as groups of specific business owners, in the construction sector, for example,
00:54:05They are pushing for the approval of laws that change the concept of slave labor.
00:54:09that changes the fight against slave labor, that makes certain labor concepts more flexible,
00:54:14that weakens oversight, in other words, that changes this scenario.
00:54:19And with that, the trend is for the continuation and even expansion of slave labor.
00:54:33The spirit of labor law is a spirit of protection.
00:54:37It is beginning to be developed worldwide to protect those who are disadvantaged.
00:54:43someone who does not have the same economic and social power as the other person who employs them.
00:54:50The worker only has his labor power.
00:54:52So, this protective legislation has a role in bringing dignity.
00:54:59So what we need to do is ensure that this legislation continues to provide protection.
00:55:05We cannot move forward in a field of excessive profit, of reckless profit.
00:55:12Because otherwise, the capitalist system of production itself fails to fulfill its role.
00:55:17When capitalism begins, it destroys a lot of things.
00:55:21Before having proper legislation, a consolidation of labor laws, there is no law at all.
00:55:25Once these laws are in place, people will go to the fringes.
00:55:29Who escaped this? Then use these people.
00:55:33This issue of slave labor, when does that happen?
00:55:36It occurs in a situation of great precariousness, great misery, and lack of alternatives.
00:55:41Ultimately, ending slave labor requires not only societal vigilance,
00:55:46The actions of governments, but progress, improved living conditions for all.
00:55:50And for capitalism itself to cease being savage.
00:55:54All of this is the result of rampant capitalism.
00:55:56Slave labor, or semi-slave labor, or child labor, or the exploitation of domestic workers, etc.,
00:56:06All of this is linked to a very unequal social base, which ultimately leads workers to accept these conditions.
00:56:15Because there is no alternative.
00:56:16So, I think it can't be viewed in isolation.
00:56:21The legislation is fine, but Bolsa Família is not.
00:56:23No, because Bolsa Família is what enables, first and foremost, it helps with studying.
00:56:28which is fundamental to escaping this vicious, cursed cycle of slave labor.
00:56:33Secondly, it provides living conditions that allow the person to have greater negotiating power with their employer.
00:56:42The problem that needs to be eradicated is the distortions in our development model.
00:56:49It can bring wealth, but it concentrates wealth in the hands of a few.
00:56:54It may bring progress, but it also causes some to advance into the 21st century.
00:56:59while others return to the 19th century.
00:57:28Agribusiness in Brazil, especially in relation to agribusiness,
00:57:31Regarding extensive livestock farming, it's a somewhat outdated and irrational practice.
00:57:38Because this story of having ever larger areas,
00:57:41so that the cattle can graze and roam across thousands of hectares of pasture,
00:57:47That's outdated.
00:57:48And it is possible to raise livestock on smaller areas of land through more intensive methods.
00:57:55This is done in regions, even in other states of Brazil, and also in other countries.
00:58:04But in Brazil, unfortunately, the rural landowners believe that landholdings must be ever larger.
00:58:10to dump more and more cattle in there.
00:58:18The Brazilian government has no intention of forcing the rural sector to adopt these practices.
00:58:24In other words, using their own profits to modernize production.
00:58:29It's a perverse logic, especially when dealing with nature and the Amazon.
00:58:45We faced a great deal of resistance from the National Congress, mainly,
00:58:53from the so-called rural caucus.
00:58:54The rural caucus is very strong, organized, well-connected, and representative, you know...
00:59:00perhaps the fastest growing economic asset that guarantees a surplus in the Brazilian trade balance.
00:59:09For several years now.
00:59:12This is real, right?
00:59:14The strength of Brazilian agribusiness is real.
00:59:17We need this coordination to confront and eradicate contemporary slave labor in Brazil.
00:59:31THE CITY IN BRAZIL
00:59:33Do you harbor any resentment?
00:59:36What are your feelings towards these farmers?
00:59:40I don't think so.
00:59:41There's no need to hold onto that resentment. That's nonsense, right? It already happened and...
00:59:46Don't chase after that, not at all.
00:59:48It's better to just let it go, right?
00:59:50Avoid it, right?
00:59:54Meeting them...
00:59:55I don't think I'll find it anymore, because it's been so many years, right?
00:59:58And I hardly ever go outside, do I?
01:00:01And I don't think we found it there.
01:00:03Are you afraid that the fact that you're giving this interview here...
01:00:12Could it, I don't know, awaken some resentment in them and they'll send the henchman to kill you for good?
01:00:19I don't think so, because nowadays there are more interviews, like, in magazines, liberal newspapers, and outside companies, right?
01:00:27I don't think he's coming after me, no.
01:00:30And... to get to me, you first have to go through CPT, right?
01:00:35I don't think there's any danger.
01:00:38If you hadn't run away, what do you think would have happened?
01:00:41I think we had worked together for many years, right?
01:00:44I think so.
01:00:47By the grace of God, he escaped that train.
01:00:50He's a healthy, chubby man.
01:00:52He continues on his whole life, doesn't he, boy?
01:00:55Calm, be hardworking.
01:00:57Everyone likes him.
01:00:58So, I think he's happy.
01:01:18Do you have any dreams?
01:01:21No, the dream is simply to live.
01:01:25The dream is over.
01:01:26It's just the dream of living, of staying quiet here in my life, among friends and acquaintances, you know?
01:01:31Everyone knows each other, everyone's friends, there's no violence at all, right?
01:01:35People have been murdered here for over 30 years, I think.
01:01:38It's a calm place here.
01:01:39That's the place to live.
01:01:41My dream is to stay right here.
01:01:43It's a calm place.
01:02:13What do you have to do with shutting up the newspaper, right?
01:02:14You have to shut up, right?
01:02:22This has to stop!
01:02:24You have more sweet Application
01:02:24boy!young...
01:02:38I think that's it.
01:02:57Caption by Adriana Zanotto
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