Brazil convicts Volkswagen of enslaving labourers on Amazon ranch 40 years ago

Brazil's Superior Labour Court on Monday found Volkswagen do Brasil guilty of holding hundreds of workers in slave-like conditions at its Cristalino cattle ranch in Pará state between 1974 and 1986. The ruling orders the company to pay 165 million reais (about $30 million) in collective moral damages.

The case is built on testimony gathered in the late 1980s: workers were kept on the remote ranch by armed guards, charged for equipment from their wages, and indebted to the company-owned canteen. Federal prosecutor Rafael Garcia told the court that « this is one of the worst documented cases of corporate exploitation in Latin America. »

Volkswagen do Brasil said in a statement it respected the ruling but would appeal; a company spokesperson said « operations at Cristalino ended in 1990 and the practices were not sanctioned. » Brazil's Labour Ministry said the fund will be distributed to surviving victims and to the families of former workers. The ruling sets a precedent on the historical liability of multinationals in the Amazon.