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| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Brazil authorities raid biofuel plantation over labor conditions | |
| 2007-07-04 | |
Brazil leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was criticized after calling ethanol producers "national and world heroes." Authorities said the raid was Brazil's biggest to date against debt slavery, a practice that lures poor laborers to remote spots, where they rack up debts to plantation owners who charge exorbitant prices for everything from food to transportation. But the Amazon plantation's owner -- the biggest ethanol producer in the northeastern state of Para -- vigorously denied the charges Tuesday and said the workers make good money by Brazilian standards. The raid was in the remote town of Ulianopolis, the government-run Agencia Brasil news agency said late Monday. The company running the plantation said the government action started Friday and lasted three days. Police found 1,108 poor workers working from 3 a.m. until 5 p.m. with only a short break for lunch, Humberto Celio, coordinator of the Labor Ministry's special unit that frees debt slaves, told Agencia Brasil. Many of them were sick because of spoiled food or unsafe water, slept in cramped quarters on hammocks and did not have proper sanitation facilities, Celio said. The company, Para Pastoril e Agricola SA, has been in operation since 1969, and each year produces 13.2 million gallons (50 million liters) of ethanol, often billed as an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline. A Para Pastoril executive said allegations of abuse at the 24,700-acre plantation are "totally false." "We have never had these type of problems, and we must submit to constant government inspections," the executive, Fernao Zancaner, said in a telephone interview. The Labor Ministry said no one would be available to comment until Tuesday afternoon. The company has 1,800 employees, Zanacer said. Sugar cane cutters receive between 700 to 800 reals ($368 to $421) per month, far above the nation's minimum wage of 380 reals ($200). In the Amazon region, many workers make less than the minimum. Brazil is a huge user of ethanol because eight out of every 10 new cars sold are "flex-fuel" models that run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of the two. Ethanol currently sells for about half the price of gasoline in Brazil. Brazil is also a major ethanol exporter and is receiving billions of dollars of investment amid rising international demand for the alternative fuel. | |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #1 Tennesee Ernie Ford is singing in my brain "I owe my soul to the company store" |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-07-04 10:59 |