VZCZCXRO3388
PP RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0958/01 3381724
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041724Z DEC 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7725
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 8858
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 3211
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2971
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2527
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 3607
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0621
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2230
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 3908
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 8474
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 SAO PAULO 000958 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA AND DRL 
NSC FOR TOMASULO 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
USAID FOR LAC/AA 
DOL FOR ILAB 
 
TAGS: ELAB EAGR EIND PHUM SOCI KTIP BR
SUBJECT: FORCED LABOR IN BRAZIL: URBAN MYTH OR RURAL REALITY? 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Recent reports in the Brazilian media have focused on the 
question of forced labor in Brazil and whether or not the GOB is 
doing enough to combat poor labor conditions in the country.  Some 
observers question whether forced labor exists in Brazil at all but 
harsh working conditions are clearly widespread in some elements of 
agriculture and some types of manufacturing such as textiles.  While 
the Ministry of Labor created inspection teams in 1995 to look into 
alleged cases of forced labor, their overall efficacy is difficult 
to assess as the problem persists at comparable levels to when these 
teams were instituted.  Regardless of GOB efforts to combat forced 
labor, vested interests, public apathy, and a lack of reliable 
information have impeded progress on this issue.  End Summary. 
 
Agricultural Forced Labor 
------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Leonardo Sakamoto, Coordinator of Reporter Brasil, the 
largest organization combating forced labor in Brazil, told Poloff 
that out of approximately 17 million farmers and rural workers in 
Brazil, there are more than 100,000 forced laborers.  Sakamoto 
admitted that the number of forced workers involved in agriculture 
is hard to pin down, highlighting that an organization with which he 
cooperates closely, the Pastoral Land Commission, cited a figure of 
25,000 "slave laborers" in the Amazon region alone.  (Note: The GOB 
and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have cited this 
number as well but in reference to the whole of Brazil.  In short, 
there are no reliable figures available.  End Note.)  He added that 
Brazil's forced labor is largely manifested through debt bondage. 
Workers are forced to repay inflated debts for transportation, 
lodging, and food costs.  Sakamoto explained that the conditions for 
forced labor in Brazil are similar to those found throughout the 
world.  Forced laborers work in miserable and unsanitary conditions 
with little or no food and shelter for minimal, if any, 
remuneration.  However, though uncommon, Reporter Brasil has found 
some rare cases in which workers were actually held in physical 
bondage which might constitute true slave labor.  Sakamoto cited the 
case of an individual who was "enslaved" for 17 years, though he 
added that "slave labor" such as this is not a common phenomenon in 
Brazil. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Sakamoto said that small farmers do not normally employ 
forced labor; it is more commonly found in larger family-run farms 
or agricultural companies.  He discussed a large research program 
funded with the help of the USG, ILO, and private industry that 
found that 62 percent of forced laborers work in cattle-raising, 
(Note: The Ministry of Labor claims 80 percent.  End Note.), 12 
percent in coal mining, and another 13 percent in agriculture such 
as soy (5.2 percent), cotton (4.7 percent), and corn (3.1 percent) 
production.  While admitting that forced labor occurs within cities 
and on the periphery of metropolitan areas as well, Sakamoto 
emphasized that it is most commonly found in remote locations that 
are on the edge of the economic frontier.  Sakamoto further 
explained that the reason forced labor is not often seen in the 
interior of the Amazon is due to the low level of organized economic 
activity there.  When looking at the Amazon's periphery, where 
economic activity is increasing due to illegal logging and 
cattle-ranching, forced labor is a more common trend.  Reporter 
Brasil's investigations have also found that many of the large 
corporations that have employed forced laborers export their 
products, including to the United States. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Caio Magri, Partnership Manager for the Ethos Institute, 
which brings together businesses and civil society to research and 
promote social development, emphasized that there should be no doubt 
about the existence of slave labor in Brazil.  According to Magri, 
who coordinates the institute's efforts on Brazil's National Plan 
for the Eradication of Slave Labor, serious violations of human 
rights and labor laws are widespread throughout Brazil.  Magri said 
that rural employers isolate their laborers in areas not accessible 
 
SAO PAULO 00000958  002 OF 005 
 
 
to public transportation and surround enclaves with armed security. 
Since this prevents laborers from escaping, they are in fact slaves, 
even if they are not an owner's legal property.  Similar to when 
slavery was actually legal in Brazil, today's slaves receive only 
enough food and shelter to keep them alive and working, he said. 
 
Agriculture Working Conditions 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Sao Paulo State Federation of Workers in Agriculture 
(FETAESP) President Braz Albertini said that while working 
conditions in the countryside are extremely difficult, he would not 
characterize agricultural labor, at least in Sao Paulo State, as 
"forced" or "slave."  According to Albertini, it is possible that 
"slave labor" exists in some parts of Brazil but that he would 
relegate it to the northeastern and poorer regions of the country. 
The Sao Paulo State Government is actively engaged in inspecting 
farms across the state in order to make sure forced labor is not 
occurring, he said.  He stated that there is no doubt that 
agricultural work, as exemplified by sugar cane production, is 
tiresome, strenuous and exhausting, but that this is the case in 
rural labor all over the world.  Many migrants come from Brazil's 
northeast to work in Sao Paulo State because as hard as life is in 
Sao Paulo, the conditions are significantly better than in the 
northeast.  Albertini further stated that most of the complaints 
regarding forced labor come from what he characterized as radical 
leftists or disenchanted groups whose members have not experienced 
even a day working in the countryside.  Admitting that some of these 
organizations' calls for better living conditions, health insurance 
and educational opportunities for agricultural workers are valid, 
Albertini noted that FETAESP is working hard to increase farmers' 
wages, find employment for displaced agricultural workers and 
develop vocational courses for field hands during fallow periods. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Luiz Bassegio and Luciane Udovic, two forced labor experts 
from the Brazilian human rights organization, Cry of the Excluded, 
noted in a recent press interview that due to high unemployment 
rates in the northeast, many people from the region are forced to 
pursue any employment available, even if it means horrible working 
conditions.  According to their studies the northeastern and 
northern states of Maranhao, Piaui and Tocantins are the three 
principal sources of forced labor, and the states of Para and Mato 
Grosso are the largest receiving states. 
 
Not Just a Labor Issue 
---------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Sakamoto stated that forced labor in Brazil is an 
"interdisciplinary crime" because not only does it directly impact 
workers' rights but also violates other laws.  For example, since 
workers are made to cut down trees in protected areas, they are 
forced to break environmental regulations.  Employers do not pay 
their subordinates, thereby violating social security protections 
and the requirement to provide health coverage.  Labor bosses do not 
allow forced laborers to express their demands or organize in 
contravention of constitutional freedoms of association, assembly, 
and expression.  Father Ricardo Rezende Figueira, a member of the 
slave labor research group at the Federal University of Rio de 
Janeiro, noted that forced labor has international commercial and 
trade law implications because goods produced, planted or harvested 
with forced labor in one country are often sold in another. 
 
Bolivian Textile Workers in Sao Paulo 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) While the focus of efforts against forced labor is largely 
carried out in agricultural areas, the issue is of potentially 
serious concern in the cities as well.  In Sao Paulo, there is some 
evidence that forced labor is taking place in the textile industry, 
where many illegal Bolivian immigrants find employment in garment 
sweatshops, Sakamoto said.  Bassegio and Udovic estimate that 
between 150,000-200,000 undocumented Bolivians are living in Sao 
Paulo.  The Sao Paulo mayor's office generally uses the 200,000 
figure, and claims that many work as unlicensed street vendors of 
 
SAO PAULO 00000958  003 OF 005 
 
 
pirated merchandise.  According to labor specialists, more than 90 
percent of these Bolivians work in small textile factories and are 
paid less than minimum wage for piece work in these factories. 
Bassegio and Udovic believe that these Bolivians, who work up to 
eighteen hours a day in dark and totally unsanitary conditions, do 
not denounce their employers or complain about their working 
situation out of fear that they will be forced to return to 
Bolivia. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Father Mario Geremia, Coordinator of the Pastoral Center 
of the Migrant, presented an opposing view of the situation.  Father 
Geremia defined Bolivian working conditions as the "exploitation of 
labor" instead of "slave" or even "forced" labor.  According to 
Father Geremia, who directs a church and shelter for hundreds of 
Bolivians and other South Americans who seek employment in Sao 
Paulo, the textile workers are not slaves because they can leave 
whenever they wish.  They choose to stay because conditions under 
which they work in Sao Paulo are significantly better than those 
they would have in Bolivia.  He mentioned that trafficking in 
persons does become an issue because "coyotes" work across the 
border to bring in Bolivians and other South American workers. 
(Comment: Caio Magri from the Ethos Institute also raised the issue 
of trafficking in persons and highlighted that not only are poor 
work conditions unlawful under labor laws, but that the practice of 
forced labor promotes illegal immigration.  End Comment.) 
Describing his visits to dozens of small textile producers, Father 
Geremia said that while not "slave labor," the work is in 
"slave-like" environments in which the employees work and live in 
the same facilities.  Father Geremia lamented that these small sweat 
shops produce piece work for large Brazilian companies and that 
these businesses are disinterested in knowing the working conditions 
of the employees of their subcontractors. 
 
So What is the Government Doing? 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) According to Sakamoto, Brazil began taking action against 
forced labor during Fernando Henrique Cardoso's (FHC) presidency 
(1995-2002).  FHC issued an executive order banning forced labor and 
creating a unit within the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to monitor and 
fight against slave labor.  Cardoso's successor and a former union 
leader, President Lula, moved further, launching the National Plan 
for the Eradication of Slave Labor and taking concrete steps to 
maintain an active dialogue with activists fighting against forced 
labor.  Lula declared combat against forced labor a state priority 
and allocated funding to fight against the practice.  Sakamoto added 
that FHC was limited in taking large-scale action during his 
administration because his principal supporters came from the 
business community and some of these included major violators of 
labor rights. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Sakamoto noted that one government entity that has 
remained cool on forced labor issues regardless of who governs is 
Itamaraty, Brazil's Foreign Ministry.  Sakamoto charged that 
Itamaraty believes his organization exaggerates the problem in 
Brazil and tarnishes the country's overseas image.  While Sakamoto's 
comments about Itamaraty rang true until very recently, there are 
indications that the Foreign Ministry's approach to the issue, if 
not its attitude, may be changing.  Recently, Itamaraty organized 
and hosted a major national conference on trafficking in persons 
(TIP), an issue closely connected to forced labor.  Representatives 
from the 14 GOB ministries and agencies involved in combating TIP, 
their counterparts from international organizations (the ILO and 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and civil society gathered 
at the meeting, where Sakamoto was one of the NGO presenters. 
Foreign Minister Celso Amorim opened the conference and was joined 
on the dais by the Minister of Justice, the Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court, and the cabinet level Secretaries for Human Rights 
and Women's Issues.  The two-day conference, which was open to the 
press, was meant to demonstrate the GOB's commitment to combating 
TIP in all its forms and its efforts to comply with international 
agreements such as the Palermo Protocol, which it ratified in 2004. 
While Itamaraty remains sensitive to outside scrutiny of the slave 
labor situation in Brazil, it is now at least willing to admit to 
 
SAO PAULO 00000958  004 OF 005 
 
 
other governments that the problem exists and to fulfill its role 
within the framework of the recently drafted National Plan to Combat 
TIP. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The National Plan to Eradicate Slave Labor has had many 
successes and the ILO sees the 2004 creation of a "dirty list" of 
companies and individuals that employ "slave labor" as a major 
achievement in getting Brazil to admit the reality of the problem. 
Each year, the GOB publishes a list of companies and individuals 
that the MOL alleges employ some form of forced labor.  Should a 
company or individual appear on the list, the Ministry of National 
Integration must suspend their access to all public lines of credit, 
private lenders are encouraged to review the list online and deny 
credit to the violator, and the business faces heavy fines.  If a 
company improves its performance over a two-year period based on MOL 
requirements and pays all government-imposed fines and labor and 
welfare debts to the workers, the GOB will remove it from the list. 
However, according to Father Figueira, one of the main obstacles in 
punishing perpetrators of forced labor is the public standing of 
many of the employers.  Father Figueira said that prominent 
politicians ranging from mayors of small towns to Members of 
Congress are either directly involved in or have a personal 
commercial interest in maintaining forced labor.  One of the ways 
they avoid being held accountable for the crime is by residing in 
locales far from the work sites. 
 
Additional Challenges to Government Efforts 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) The MOL task forces created by the National Plan to 
Eradicate Slave Labor have not always succeeded.  For example, a MOL 
task force sent to inspect several rural work sites went on strike 
because of alleged Senate interference into their work.  While the 
task force found and released hundreds of slave laborers in northern 
Brazil several months ago (1108 laborers in one large ethanol 
producer alone in Para State in July), landowners and plant 
operators fought back.  Accusing the inspectors of interfering in 
the farm's work, the owners rallied a group of senators to create a 
separate special commission to investigate the case and visit the 
farm.  The MOL inspectors considered the senators' action to be an 
obstruction of their mandate and, in protest, Secretary for Labor 
Inspections Ruth Vilela decided to terminate the teams' 
investigations in September.  The forced labor task force went back 
to work in early October after the MOL struck a deal with a 
Brasilia-based NGO.  (Note: Under the agreement, the NGO would 
provide legal support and assistance for the labor task force should 
it face Senate accusations and possible legal or legislative action 
against the mobile teams.  End Note.) Regardless of the deal, the 
Senate's special commission is still hearing arguments in the case 
of the ethanol producer in Para. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) A lack of movement on legislation is also preventing 
progress on combating labor abuses.  Proposed Constitutional 
Amendment 438-1001, which relates to government confiscation of 
property in cases where slave labor occurs, was approved twice in 
the Senate in 2003, in the Chamber of Deputies in 2004 on the first 
of a necessary two rounds, and is back in the Senate after revisions 
in the Chamber bill.  However, because Congress has taken no action 
since 2004, the bill has now returned to its draft phase and both 
chambers must approve it again.  According to Reporter Brasil, 
politicians linked to businesses that employ forced labor have 
blocked the amendment and will continue to prevent its passage. 
Caio Magri accused farmers who employ slave labor of financing 
outright the campaigns of friendly politicians, or at least giving 
large amounts of money to "buy off" legislators to vote against 
anti-slave labor legislation.  Whether true or not, members of the 
Bancada Rural, an informal, but powerful caucus composed of members 
of Congress representing the large agricultural states, have shown 
no inclination to pass anti-slave labor legislation. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Regardless of how forced labor is defined and whether or 
 
SAO PAULO 00000958  005 OF 005 
 
 
not slavery indeed exists in modern Brazil,  serious issues 
pertaining to workers' rights and conditions remain cause for 
concern.  Many of our contacts told us that the Brazilian media is 
doing its best to highlight the existence of forced labor in order 
to raise public awareness of the issue.  The near-exponential 
increase in the number of articles appearing on the issue in the 
last couple of years tends to support their contention.  These 
activists add, however, that until better-informed communities take 
action as a whole, workers' conditions across the country will not 
improve.  Post will continue to monitor GOB efforts to combat forced 
labor as part of efforts towards the Human Rights and Trafficking in 
Persons Reports.  End Comment. 
 
¶16.  (U) This cable was cleared by Embassy Brasilia. 
 
WHITE