Volkswagen's Time in Brazil Has Left a Dark Past

Global companies, like major automakers, often end up operating businesses in industries completely unrelated to their general operations, but this story about Volkswagen takes things in a disturbing and unexpected direction. In the late 1970s and 1980s, a Brazilian subsidiary of the German automaker operated a cattle farm where workers were basically enslaved and held in terrible conditions.

Volkswagen answered calls from the Brazilian government, looking for entities to clear and develop rainforest land into cattle farms. Its subsidiary in the country, Vale do Rio Cristalino Co., allegedly lured hundreds of workers to the property, promising a better life and more money, but trapped them with debt and disease once they were there, with one worker saying, “We worked Monday to Monday, often without eating.”

Stories from the property include tales of caves where murdered workers were buried, starvation, and diseases like malaria. Others said workers were beaten and then forced to return to work, and one told the story of a man who was beaten and left tied naked in the forest.

Volkswagen didn’t respond to The Washington Post’s requests for comments but said it “categorically refutes and rejects all allegations” of abuse. The automaker was taken to Brazilian court, where several workers testified against the company, but a verdict is still forthcoming.

[Images: foto_budda/Shutterstock.com, jhampier giron m/Shutterstock.com, Maarten Zeehandelaar/Shutterstock.com]

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