Case Studies

The Verité report investigates forced labour indicators within Bolivia’s Brazil nut, cattle, corn, and peanut sectors. Human trafficking emerges as a critical issue, particularly in remote rural areas where workers face coercion and exploitation. Vulnerable individuals, often from marginalised communities, are trafficked and subjected to abusive recruitment practices, debt bondage, and inadequate living conditions. The report highlights that victims are frequently misled about the nature of their work, wages, and living conditions, leading to situations where they cannot freely leave or seek help. It underscores the necessity of stringent enforcement of labour laws, enhanced labour inspections, and support systems for victims to combat trafficking. The study calls for collaboration between governmental, non-governmental, and international entities to address the root causes and provide comprehensive support to affected workers. Ending trafficking and forced labour requires a multifaceted approach that includes regulatory oversight, victim protection, and education initiatives to raise awareness about these issues. 

Keywords: Latin America, Bolivia, cattle, primary production, human trafficking, forced labour, modern slavery

Source: https://verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Research-on-Indicators-of-Forced-Labor-in-the-Bolivia-Brazil-nut-Cattle-Corn-and-Peanut-Sectors__9.19.pdf 

In 2022, Bolivia lost 245,177 hectares of primary forest, making up 12.4% of total Amazon deforestation. This is largely due to unchecked fires, often human-caused to clear land for agriculture and cattle farming, in a practice known as “chaqueo”. These fires emit massive amounts of carbon dioxide, making Bolivia a hotspot for carbon emissions during fire season. 

The Bolivian government’s promotion of agribusiness in the Amazon, particularly for cattle-rearing and farming, has led to increased rates of deforestation. The Authority for the Social Audit and Control of Forests and Lands (ABT) authorised the deforestation of 212,000 hectares annually between 2016 and 2021, accounting for 83% of total deforestation. 

Legal changes, such as the 2013 Forest Restitution Law, have allowed farmers to legalise land that was illegally cleared for agriculture and cattle farming. Land titling laws further promote deforestation by requiring landowners to show productive use of the land within two years or risk confiscation. 

Keywords: Latin America, Bolivia, cattle, primary production, deforestation, agriculture

Source: https://insightcrime.org/investigations/vanishing-trees-lakes-deforestation-bolivias-amazon/ 

A study found that tax havens offer a major conduit through which investors can fund agribusiness in tropical areas; 68% of all investigated foreign capital flowing into nine of the top companies in the soy and beef sectors in the Brazilian Amazon was transferred through tax havens between 2000 and 2011. A large proportion of this was through the Cayman Islands. The report noted that the secrecy and transparency offered by such havens appear to be important to those investing large sums in agribusiness companies responsible for significant land conversion in the Amazon, likely because it protects them and allows them to more thoroughly conceal their involvement. 

Keywords: Latin America, Brazil, cattle, soy, primary production, tax evasion

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0497-3  

According to Mongabay, it was uncovered in February 2023 that three landowners had orchestrated the largest single instance of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon's history, clearing 6,469 hectares of forest in Pará state. This large-scale land grab, conducted between February and May 2020, cost at least $2.5 million and is expected to yield nearly $20 million in profits from selling the land for soy farming or cattle ranching. This took place along the BR-163 highway, between the districts of Castelo dos Sonhos and Vila Isol, regions known for their economic activities, including gold mining, timber, cattle, and soy farming. The land, initially public and belonging to the Brazilian federal government, was illegally appropriated and cleared without environmental authorisation. This deforestation, larger than the area of Manhattan, represents a significant loss of biodiversity and a contribution to climate change, as well as a breach of Brazilian environmental laws. The three key figures behind this land grab are Jeferson de Andrade Rodrigues, Delmir José Alba, and his brother Augustinho Alba. They all have a history of environmental fines and infractions.

Keywords: Latin America, Brazil, cattle, primary production, illegal deforestation, agriculture

Sources: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/the-20m-flip-the-story-of-the-largest-land-grab-in-the-brazilian-amazon/

A criminal complaint has been fined against several French banks, accusing them of money laundering and financing meat companies driving deforestation in Brazil. From 2013 to 2021, the four French banks involved, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, BPCE, and AXA, invested nearly $70 million in bonds issued by leading Brazilian meat companies, generating about $11.7 million in profits. An analysis of JBS and Marfrig slaughterhouses, financed by such investments, in Pará and Mato Grosso found that over 50% and 40% of suppliers, respectively, showed evidence of deforestation and intrusion into Indigenous lands. The founder of the NGO Harvest, that contributed to initiating the complaint, emphasised that banks have an obligation to prevent money laundering and must exclude actors profiting from illegal deforestation. In response to the complaint, Crédit Agricole and BPCE did not comment, while BNP Paribas and AXA provided statements emphasising their commitment to ESG standards.  

Keywords: Latin America, Brazil, cattle, primary production, money laundering, Indigenous rights, illegal deforestation

Sources:  https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/french-banks-accused-of-money-laundering-linked-to-amazon-deforestation/ 

https://www.asso-sherpa.org/complaint-filed-against-french-banks-for-money-laundering-and-concealment-of-proceeds-from-illegal-deforestation-in-the-amazon 

According to Mongabay, a boom in illegal cattle ranching activities in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in Brazil has caused illegal deforestation and violations of Indigenous rights. An increase in commercial cattle ranching has encroached on large plots of the Arariboia Indigenous Territory. Several bans against such establishments are in place, but cattle ranchers are able to find loopholes since Brazilian laws do not require buffer zones around Indigenous territories, unlike conservation units. Commercial cattle ranching in the area has caused illegal deforestation, as well as other illegal activities such as the construction of an unlicensed airstrip in mid-2023. In addition, the local Indigenous community, the Guajajara, has faced harassment and violence from the illicit loggers. In 2023, four killings and three attempts on their lives were recorded. Killings correlate with areas of illegal activities and police operations against illegal logging. In addition, water contamination and reduced fish stocks due to cattle farming chemicals affect the Guajajara's health and food sources. 

Keywords: Latin America, Brazil, cattle, primary production, illegal deforestation, human rights violations, Indigenous rights violations

Sources:  https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/revealed-illegal-cattle-boom-in-arariboia-territory-in-deadliest-year-for-indigenous-guajajara/ 

Cattle can both themselves be laundered (if they are grazed on land that has been illegally cleared and converted to pasture) and used as a means of laundering criminal proceeds from other exploits, like drugs trafficking. In Brazil, cattle have been laundered to obscure their links to land clearing, when they are moved from ranches that have contributed to land conversion through “clean” ranches that have not resulted in recent forest loss. 

In 2009, several Brazilian slaughterhouses signed the Terms of Adjustment of Conduct, an initiative of the Federal Prosecution Office and the Public Commitment on Cattle Ranching, and a voluntary protocol developed by Greenpeace, which precludes them from purchasing cattle reared on deforested land. However, a single cow might pass through up to 10 farms before it is slaughtered (from birth, through rearing and fattening). Any of these farms might be linked to illegal deforestation but many slaughterhouses assess links to deforestation only on the last farm a cow passes through - their direct supplier. As long as the last farm in the supply chain is from a “clean” ranch that is free from recent deforestation then slaughterhouses (and subsequent transporters and retailers, like supermarkets) are likely to mark them as deforestation-free, even if they have spent the majority of their life on and have passed through nine other ranches that have been converted from forested land. Indeed, data indicates that some ranchers own both “dirty” and “clean” ranches and launder cattle through their own properties. So long as one property is kept clean, they can continue to clear land for cattle grazing purposes on any number of other ranches. 

Other investigations by Global Witness have found that ranchers have fraudulently edited the boundaries of their ranch once they have cleared areas of land, so that this land conversion is no longer included within the property’s scope and the ranch appears free from deforestation. This is alleged to be the case for the Fazenda Espora de Ouro II Ranch in Brazil’s Pará state, which Global Witness also found appears to be registered in the name of an individual who could not legally be its owner (based on assessment of a database of land titles and beneficiaries). 

Cattle can also – and concurrently – be used as a means of laundering the proceeds of illicit activity. Drug traffickers – especially in Colombia (where the traceability of beef produce is particularly poor), Honduras, and Guatemala – are known to launder revenue from drugs by buying or grabbing land which they convert into pasture for cattle, which they also purchase with narcotrafficking proceeds. When the cattle are sold, profits are hard to trace back to the drug network and their illicit proceeds are effectively laundered. This practice, known as “narco-ranching”, is suspected of contributing up to 87% of deforestation in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a large UNESCO heritage area of forest which covers over 2 million hectares of rainforest across northern Guatemala and borders other protected forests in Mexico and Belize. The Reserve is highly vulnerable to deforestation by crime groups due to its strategic location along a significant drug trafficking route up through Guatemala and Mexico leading to the US. 

Cattle ranching in such areas also frequently serves to hide airstrips and production facilities used by traffickers to produce and transport drugs or other illicit products. Airstrips now pepper the Maya Biosphere reserve, which are used by planes coming in from Colombia and Venezuela with cocaine to be smuggled across the border into Mexico. 

Keywords: Latin America, Brazil, cattle, primary production, money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal deforestation

Source: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2022/10/19/23403330/amazon-rainforest-deforestation-cattle-laundering   

According to the U.S. Bureau of International Labour Affairs, there is strong evidence of forced labour, child labour, and other labour violations in cattle raising areas of Brazil and Paraguay, specifically in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso do Sul and in the Paraguayan Department of Boquerón. Indeed, in Brazil and Paraguay's extensive cattle-raising industries, employers are using coercive recruitment and employment practices. These primarily affect rural and indigenous populations that are falsely promised improved livelihoods. The growing global demand for beef is driving the expansion of cattle operations in these countries, exacerbating the risk of forced labour. In both countries, small and medium cattle producers, supplying to larger international slaughterhouses, often use advance payments to trap workers in debt bondage. Workers face coercion, threats, and restrictions on their freedom, with employers commonly retaining their identification documents. The remote locations of cattle ranches and workers' reliance on employers for food and housing further contribute to conditions that facilitate forced labour. 

Keywords: Latin America, Brazil, cattle, primary production, forced labour, child labour, human rights violations, modern slavery

Sources:  https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/project-increase-worker-voice-and-address-forced-labor-child-labor-and-other-labor#:~:text=Employers%20in%20Brazil%20and%20Paraguay's,the%20promise%20of%20better%20livelihoods 

Cattle can both themselves be laundered (if they are grazed on land that has been illegally cleared and converted to pasture) and used as a means of laundering criminal proceeds from other exploits, like drugs trafficking. In Brazil, cattle have been laundered to obscure their links to land clearing, when they are moved from ranches that have contributed to land conversion through “clean” ranches that have not resulted in recent forest loss. 

In 2009, several Brazilian slaughterhouses signed the Terms of Adjustment of Conduct, an initiative of the Federal Prosecution Office and the Public Commitment on Cattle Ranching, and a voluntary protocol developed by Greenpeace, which precludes them from purchasing cattle reared on deforested land. However, a single cow might pass through up to 10 farms before it is slaughtered (from birth, through rearing and fattening). Any of these farms might be linked to illegal deforestation but many slaughterhouses assess links to deforestation only on the last farm a cow passes through - their direct supplier. As long as the last farm in the supply chain is from a “clean” ranch that is free from recent deforestation then slaughterhouses (and subsequent transporters and retailers, like supermarkets) are likely to mark them as deforestation-free, even if they have spent the majority of their life on and have passed through nine other ranches that have been converted from forested land. Indeed, data indicates that some ranchers own both “dirty” and “clean” ranches and launder cattle through their own properties. So long as one property is kept clean, they can continue to clear land for cattle grazing purposes on any number of other ranches. 

Other investigations by Global Witness have found that ranchers have fraudulently edited the boundaries of their ranch once they have cleared areas of land, so that this land conversion is no longer included within the property’s scope and the ranch appears free from deforestation. This is alleged to be the case for the Fazenda Espora de Ouro II Ranch in Brazil’s Pará state, which Global Witness also found appears to be registered in the name of an individual who could not legally be its owner (based on assessment of a database of land titles and beneficiaries). 

Cattle can also – and concurrently – be used as a means of laundering the proceeds of illicit activity. Drug traffickers – especially in Colombia (where the traceability of beef produce is particularly poor), Honduras, and Guatemala – are known to launder revenue from drugs by buying or grabbing land which they convert into pasture for cattle, which they also purchase with narcotrafficking proceeds. When the cattle are sold, profits are hard to trace back to the drug network and their illicit proceeds are effectively laundered. This practice, known as “narco-ranching”, is suspected of contributing up to 87% of deforestation in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a large UNESCO heritage area of forest which covers over 2 million hectares of rainforest across northern Guatemala and borders other protected forests in Mexico and Belize. The Reserve is highly vulnerable to deforestation by crime groups due to its strategic location along a significant drug trafficking route up through Guatemala and Mexico leading to the US. 

 
Cattle ranching in such areas also frequently serves to hide airstrips and production facilities used by traffickers to produce and transport drugs or other illicit products. Airstrips now pepper the Maya Biosphere reserve, which are used by planes coming in from Colombia and Venezuela with cocaine to be smuggled across the border into Mexico. 

Keywords: Latin America, Colombia, cattle, primary production, drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal deforestation

Source: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2022/10/19/23403330/amazon-rainforest-deforestation-cattle-laundering   

In Colombia’s Guaviare department, the nomadic Indigenous tribe Nukak Makú is currently endangered by illegal palm oil plantations, coca cultivation, and cattle ranching. The tribe first made contact with the outside world in 1988, and since then, the incursion of external activities has pushed them to the brink of physical and cultural extinction. Indeed, despite their territory being an officially recognised Indigenous reservation, the Nukak have been losing their home to illicit activities. Deforestation and land grabs are driven by criminal groups and former settlers transforming the land for agricultural use. Illegal palm oil plantations have spread in the Guaviare region, encroaching on the reservation. In the past, the region was also heavily affected by armed conflict involving paramilitary groups and guerrillas, further displacing the Nukak people. Despite legal protections and court orders aimed at curbing deforestation and environmental crimes, enforcement has been weak, and illegal activities continue to threaten the Nukak's territory. 

Keywords: Latin America, Colombia, palm oil, cattle, primary production, Indigenous rights

Sources:  https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/palm-oil-coca-and-gangs-close-in-on-colombias-indigenous-nukak-maku/