Slavery in Brazil

This morning on Catholic radio I was listening to a report about slavery in Brazil. Workers are lured by promises of jobs, but after they arrive in remote agricultural areas thousands of miles from home and family, they are told they have to pay off their transportation debt.

It occurred to me that before our President offered their President Dilma Rousseff (a Marxist in her youth, and daughter of a Bulgarian Communist) money for off shore, deep ocean drilling for oil and gas (which we then will purchase from them) he should have inquired about this problem. When I checked it on the internet, our own State Department which has an anti-trafficking section reported both sex slavery of women, boys and girls as well as labor slavery:

Brazil is a source country for men, women, girls, and boys trafficked within the country and transnationally for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, as well as a source country for men and boys trafficked internally for forced labor. The Brazilian Federal Police estimate that 250,000 to 400,000 children are exploited in domestic prostitution, in resort and tourist areas, along highways, and in Amazonian mining brothels. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009

In his speech to the Brazilian people on March 20, 2011, he praised their diversity, the beauty of their country and our similar backgrounds, but failed to note that slavery hasn't ended in Brazil since it is documented both by the U.S. State Department and the Roman Catholic Church, two of the most powerful organizations in the world.

When you think about it, the journeys of the United States of America and Brazil began in similar ways. Our lands are rich with God’s creation, home to ancient and indigenous peoples. From overseas, the Americas were discovered by men who sought a New World, and settled by pioneers who pushed westward, across vast frontiers. We became colonies claimed by distant crowns, but soon declared our independence. We then welcomed waves of immigrants to our shores, and eventually after a long struggle, we cleansed the stain of slavery from our land. Transcript

So even if we ignore the idiocy and hypocrisy of sending our industry south to Brazil and the fact that if there is an accident similar to the one he dithered about in May, we still are doing business with a slave holding country with a Marxist president!