Urban slavery and filth uncovered as Brazil cracks down Chinese migration
Dozens of businesses targeted by inspectors in pre-Olympic Rio de Janeiro, as local authorities describe filth and slave-like working conditions
As soon as Li Yan saw the inspectors from the Labour and Health ministries enter her cafeteria in Rio de Janeiro, she knew there would be trouble.
"I have been living in Brazil for seven years, and I never had problems. I came here to work", she argued in a fluent Mandarin after the raid on her centrally located snack bar.
Officials descended on her premises as part of a crackdown on "urban slavery and human trafficking" launched last week in the Brazilian city. About 80 businesses are due to be inspected, and more than a third are thought to be Chinese-run cafeterias and fast food restaurants, which authorities believe could be harbouring illegal Chinese migrants kept in slave-like conditions.
Businesses successfully prosecuted face fines of up to US$25,000.
Accompanied by TV reporters and photographers, officials found what they called a "horrific scenario" of filth and health violations at Li's premises. Two Chinese workers were arrested.
"A cat was sitting on the same table in which they were preparing shredded chicken to produce snacks. The Chinese owner said the animal was used to hunt rats, but the cat could defecate and urinate in the food. Insects were just everywhere", said Fabio Domingos, an official of the Brazilian consumer protection agency.
On the second floor of the cafeteria, inspectors uncovered a three mattress room - without windows and a ceiling height of barely one metre - in which three Chinese employees were allegedly living.
"We believe the working conditions here are similar to slavery", said Larissa Abreu, from the Labour Ministry.
Many Chinese migrants - mostly from Guangdong province - have settled in recent years in cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, where the economic boom of the last decade has created many opportunities.
In the host city of the 2016 Olympics Games, Chinese own dozens of cafeterias and discount stores, many of them in wealthy neighbourhoods such as Copacabana and Botafogo.
But Chinese migrants have also managed to run shops in dangerous Brazilian slums, areas partially controlled by armed drug gangs and where deadly shootouts are common.
Some officials believe Chinese-run mafia-style organisations are behind the rapid expansion of Chinese businesses.
"We believe there is an underground structure to promote illegal migration from China to Brazil," said Guadalupe Couto, a prosecutor at the Labour Ministry, who led a case in 2013 in which a Chinese bar owner was sentenced to eight years in prison for labour exploitation and torture. "The employee, who was also Chinese, worked 18 hours per day and had not a single day off. When he was tired and his working performance decreased, his boss beat him and burned him with cigarettes and hot oil," recalled Couto.
Two other cases involving Chinese suspected of promoting illegal migration and labour abuses are now in hands of Brazilian justice officials.
In order to obtain tourist visas, migrants seek the help of criminal organisations in China, which provide them with fake documents and organise their trip to Brazil. For this, they charge a high fee to the migrant, who must repay the debt with non remunerated job.
Once they have entered Brazil, their documents are taken away at the airport by representatives of the same Chinese gang, in order to avoid any attempt of escape. In short, they are virtually in hands of their employers.
