Argentines are rescued in a situation analogous to slavery – 02/04/2023 – Market

Four Argentine workers, including a 14-year-old teenager, were rescued on Saturday night (1st) in a situation analogous to slavery, in the municipality of Nova Petrópolis (88 km from Porto Alegre).

The rescue was carried out by the Federal Police, in support of an operation by the Ministry of Labor and Employment.

The Federal Police reported that it received information from the Military Brigade that workers who worked cutting eucalyptus trees on a rural property had been abandoned by their employers. They were in the place without resources for food and housing.

Federal police, military and inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and Employment found the workers, camped in the forest in unhealthy conditions. They lacked potable water, toilets and electricity.

A man identified as being responsible for cutting firewood was arrested in flagrante delicto for subjecting workers to conditions analogous to slavery.

He was taken to the Federal Police in Caxias do Sul and will be forwarded to the Penitentiary System, in Rio Grande do Sul.

In February, in another operation of national repercussion in Rio Grande do Sul, workers from Bahia hired to work in the grape harvest in Bento Gonçalves, in the Serra Gaúcha, were rescued in a situation analogous to slavery, according to authorities involved in the action.

They claimed to have suffered different episodes of violence involving broomstick beatings, bites, electric shocks and pepper spray attacks, in addition to poor working and living conditions.