Land and freedom

Aleque Alvis dos Santos [Marcella Haddad]

Slavery was abolished in Brazil 120 years ago and yet there are still 25,000 people living in slave-like conditions there today. Aleque was lucky enough to escape

Aleque Alvis dos Santos got more than he bargained for when he went to collect his pay for clearing rainforest on a farm in the Brazilian state of Pará.

“At the end of the day I got no money for my work just a bullet,” he says.

Aleque was shot by his employer who attempted to kill him rather than pay his wages – thankfully he escaped with his life but many other workers in the region are not so fortunate.

Too scared to tell

He learned later on that two other workers had already been killed on the same farm but local people were too scared to tell him.

He says: “This is common. There are many who leave their home towns because they have nothing. This is their life – they find work where they can.”

Exploitation is commonplace on some of the large farms which dominate the Pará region, where many live in conditions comparable to slavery.

Although slavery was abolished in 1888, there are still an estimated 25,000 people living on farms without pay or decent food, and at times with gunmen guarding the entrances and exits.

In Pará alone, more than 2,300 people working in conditions comparable to slavery were freed in 2007, often ending up in encampments where they try to rebuild their lives again.

Many workers resort to working illegally because they do not have identity papers - leaving them open to exploitation and being denied basic rights such as healthcare and social insurance and other benefits.

Aleque feeding pigs [Marcella Haddad]

Aleque says: “Without ID, I can’t get a better paid job on a farm. If I am sick the hospital won’t take me. Even if I die it’s difficult to be buried because officially I don’t exist.

“I need ID even to register to learn here. But I dream even at my age to have the opportunity to read and write. I can’t own land here without ID either.”

Land is a crucial factor in this complex situation. Brazil’s constitution states that landless people have the right to claim land that is “unproductive and serving no social function”.

CAFOD supports the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), which provides legal support for people such as Aleque who have suffered human rights abuses.

Many workers are afraid to report what happens to them for fear of reprisals, but a publicity campaign by the CPT has brought many workers seeking legal aid.

Aleque says: “Five or ten years ago it was very different - these things were happening all the time. Many landowners would hire foremen to run their business, and some were violent.

“They came to the town looking for workers and took 50 or more men on a truck deep into the forest with gunmen to control them. If people complained about the wages or food they just killed them.”

CPT is helping Aleque get his identity papers and is also supporting him and others in their struggle to legalise their rights to the land they live on.

Without legal entitlement it is difficult for them to build a secure future for themselves and their children.

Aleque has been going from job to job, place to place from the age of ten. Now aged 48, he feels he has finally found somewhere he can make a home.

“After all this time suffering I’m now feeling much better - the last two years have been the best of my life. Thank God, I can work – nobody’s telling me what to do, what not to do.

“I think my destiny is to work on the land, to have freedom. My hope is to have enough land to be able to live in peace.”

take action on human rights

Peru: Speak up for indigenous rights At least 33 people died when police broke up a peaceful protest by indigenous groups against a government plan to implement Peru's Free Trade Agreement with the US. Email the Peruvian government now, telling it to protect indigenous rights

see also

Brazil: Fighting modern-day slavery A CAFOD partner is helping poor people in Brazil stand up for their rights against some of the powerful landowners