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ACAILANDIA, Brazil — After months of chopping down trees in the forest withoutpay and living on rice, beans and dirty water, Gil Dasio Meirellesdecided he had to escape from the remote clearing in the middle ofthe vast Brazilian Amazon. But he would have to make his way alone through dense foliage, aplace where a man can lose his bearings and find himself lost amida constant, menacing buzz of jungle creatures. "Three other workers helped me come up with the plan," he said."But they got scared and backed out. They thought that if the armedguards didn't shoot us in the back, we'd be lost and starve in thejungle." He knew he had to take his chances, or die trying. Meirelles was one of tens of thousands of Brazilians living in whatcritics call modern-day slavery, mostly in the Amazon jungle, whereranch owners are the law of the land. Promised work, the victims are usually taken to remote, unfamiliarareas, where they face harsh conditions they would never haveagreed to and have little chance of escape. Some receive little or no pay. Others are told they must work topay off "debts" for room and board. Some are threatened withviolence or abused. Others simply cannot afford the journey home. Brutal conditions and a culture of impunity across the1.5-million-square-mile Amazon region persist in the background ofBrazil's stunning economic growth. Although conditions and wages for most Brazilian workers haveimproved over the last decade, exploitation persists in the vastAmazon forest, far from the government's reach. In 2003, the International Labor Organization estimated that 25,000Brazilians were working in conditions it described as slavery. Luis Machado, head of the ILO's unit to combat forced labor, saysthe number is probably larger now. "Over 40,000 workers have been rescued since 1995," he said. "Butnot one single person in the history of Brazil has been jailed forthis crime. These men feel untouchable. They feel they are riskingnothing by doing this." * Meirelles waited until his supervisors were out of sight, thendisappeared into the hot foliage. He wandered aimlessly for hours before he got lucky and found adirt road. As he waited hours for a car to pass, his fear slowlymixed with hunger. What if he flagged down a truck from theoperation he had just fled? He got lucky again when a "safe" truck stopped and gave him a liftto a nearby city, Acailandia, where Meirelles had heard there was acenter that would help people like him. The problem was, he wasn't quite sure that the Carmen BascaranCenter for the Defense of Life and Human Rights of Acailandiaactually existed. Much of the work that Meirelles and others like him do reflects theillegality that reigns in the jungle. They are put to work cuttingdown the forest or at illegal cattle farms on protected parts ofthe Amazon. Others shovel illegally harvested wood into hot pits tomake charcoal, often without protective gear. The government of President Dilma Rousseff has said it is committed to fighting abuse of workers as well asillegal deforestation. Rousseff has been facing pressure fromenvironmental and civil society groups over a new Forest Code billthat would roll back legal protections for the world's largest rainforest. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Water Dispenser Part , Cast Aluminum Heaters, and more. For more , please visit Nozzle Band Heater today!
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