Inspectors from Brazil’s labor ministry on Friday freed 212 farm workers who were being held in “slavery-like” conditions, the ministry said in a statement.
These workers were released during inspections at alcohol and sugar cane producers in three municipalities in the states of Minas Gerais (southeast) and Goias (center-west), the ministry said.
He specified that this intervention brings to 890 the number of workers held in undignified conditions released since the beginning of 2023.
Also according to the same source, employers did not provide workers with food, forced them to pay for their work tools and accommodation in unsanitary premises, and did not give them appropriate protective equipment while they were exposed. to toxic products.
Federal police have opened an investigation.
In Brazil, modern slavery is mainly in agricultural activities, including sugar cane and coffee, but cases have also been reported in urban areas, including in clothing, domestic work and construction.
The workers are often recruited by intermediary pharmacies in the poor regions of the north-east of the country.
In 2022, the Brazilian Ministry of Labor had rescued 2,075 people in this situation, the highest figure since 2013 (2,808).