Brazil enslaved people in Libya.

By Claudio Julio Tognolli - With much praise, Libya's figures attracted major Brazilian construction companies: Odebrecht, Queiroz Galvão, and Andrade Gutierrez. After all, in Gaddafi's land, the construction sector had been generating 4% of the country's GDP, employing around 700 people, with a growth rate of 5% per year. What was never known is that this workforce, especially that heavily employed by Brazilian construction companies, is enslaved. And the working conditions are no better than those of a concentration camp – a situation further worsened by the schemes set up to extort the enslaved with prices that are out of line with those of the poorest citizens.

The Brasil 247 news report obtained testimonies from six Odebrecht employees, brought back to Brazil in February after the situation in Libya turned sour. The employees are from Pernambuco, Ceará, Minas Gerais, Bahia, and Rio Grande do Sul. They claim that the three Brazilian giants, Odebrecht, Queiroz Galvão, and Andrade Gutierrez, use slave labor schemes.

The employees are adamant: with the support of the Labor Department, the name given to the Libyan Ministry of Labor, the workforce for the three Brazilian construction companies comes from employees brought from Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Thailand, and Vietnam. “The numbers of those involved in slavery were tallied and taken to Egypt by two Libyan fugitives named Faher and Moussa. But everyone knows that an Argentinian, an Odebrecht employee, now stationed in Panama, named Claudio Herrero, was the one who went to pick up a large part of the slave labor in the other countries,” recounts a Brazilian. According to him, Claudio Herrero's contacts at the Libyan Ministry of Labor were always with two officials appointed by Gaddafi himself, named Juma and Chuckre.

Brazilians unanimously report that Odebrecht, Queiroz Galvão, and Andrade Gutierrez used the services of Juma and Chuckre. "You see, the scheme with the government was so powerful that a work visa, which officially cost 50 Libyan dinars, was charged, through the shady dealings, at 600 dinars." The average worker's salary on these projects was US$1. "But the conditions are terrible: I always witnessed meals being served consisting of fried chicken skin, trampled vegetables, roasted dogs and rats, alcohol made from potatoes, with employees addicted to wasting their rest hours gambling, pure gambling that eats up the rest of their salary."

The situation of these workers takes on a special significance when considering the numbers involved: the Libyan construction incentive program, the GMR, stipulated that approximately 10% of government revenue would be allocated to housing and infrastructure projects over the coming years, averaging US$6,7 billion annually. Odebrecht alone halted two major projects in Libya: the new passenger terminal at the international airport and the third ring road of Tripoli, totaling US$2,3 billion.

Odebrecht, which has been operating in Libya since 2005 through its Portuguese subsidiary, Bento Pedroso Construções, and the Lebanese company CCC-Consolidated Contractors Company, began construction of two terminals in 2007. They were expected to be completed in September 2009.

Another project by the Brazilian construction company in the capital Tripoli was the construction of a ring road in the city. The work was being carried out by Libyan Brazilian Construction and Development (LBCD), in which Odebrecht is 60% owned and UDHC, a Libyan government company, is 40%. In February, Odebrecht ordered the evacuation of its 5 employees in the country, including 187 Brazilians – including family members.

Andrade Gutierrez had been operating in Libya since 2009, working on urban infrastructure projects including water, sewage, drainage, and paving.

The Brazilians interviewed lived well: they earned around R$7 per month, always staying in good hotels or at the Palm City condominium in Tripoli. They maintain that the Brazilian government was always aware of the use of semi-slave, or slave, labor in the construction projects carried out by Brazilian companies in Libya.

"All of this has always occurred under the watchful eye of one of Gaddafi's sons, who is part of the scheme that exploits labor under these conditions, and who gives carte blanche to Libyan government officials to exploit these workers, whether through gambling or extortion, to turn them into legalized workers," reports another Brazilian.

The son of Gaddafi being referred to is the "visual artist" Saif El Islam El Gaddafi. Eloquent and prone to artistic travel, the Libyan dictator's son was praised in Brazil last year. On the Ministry of Culture's website, the Libyan dictator's son was presented as follows in March 2010:

"The Minister of Culture, Juca Ferreira, participated on Monday evening, March 8th, at the Afro Brasil Museum in São Paulo, in the opening of the exhibition 'The Desert is Not Silent,' about Libyan art. In his speech at the ceremony, in addition to commemorating International Women's Day, Minister Juca Ferreira praised cooperation between Brazil and Arab countries. 'I want to congratulate the artist and the sponsors who facilitated the cultural exchange with Arab countries, strengthening economic and cultural relations, and promoting public policies to consolidate the bonds of friendship between the countries.'"

The Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations, under the leadership of architect and visual artist Saif El Islam El Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar El Gaddafi, and the Afro Brasil Museum are promoting the exhibition "The Desert is Not Silent" – a selection of the most important works of archaeological heritage and contemporary art from Libya.

The exhibition has already been mounted in Paris, Berlin, London, Rome, Milan, Geneva, Vienna, Madrid, Tokyo and Montreal.

According to Gaddafi, Brazil's size and importance were the reasons why the country was chosen as the first destination for the exhibition in Latin America.

When he came to Brazil, the dictator's son was shown around by Marcelo Odebrecht, president of the country's largest construction company, and honored by socialite Ana Paula Junqueira.