Lobbying for Slavery in Brazil

Some 10 percent of Brazil’s top politicians received donations by companies entangled in scandals involving modern day slavery. Even though donations to politicians are not illegal in Brazil, the money received is of questionable origin.

Donators include JBS – the world’s biggest meat producer – and other enterprises that can be found on Brazil’s ‘dirty list’ for slave labor. Over 41 percent of all recipients are part of the influential ruralist caucus, a congressional faction keen on revoking land rights of indigenous communities and limiting efforts to combat slavery.

The following statistic shows the top beneficiaries and their party affiliation. A total of 16 percent of all parliamentary deputies of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the party of President Michel Temer received said donations. The leftist Workers’ Party (PT) of former presidents Dilma Roussef and Lula da Silva, who is currently facing imprisonment due to corruption, has received a stunning 20 percent of donations from companies on the ‘dirty list’.