Understand why January 28 is the National Day to Combat Slave Labor

The 28th of January was declared the National Day to Combat Slave Labor in honor of four labor inspectorates murdered in an ambush in the interior of Minas Gerais, while investigating allegations of exploitation of workers in the region.

The crime that took place in 2004 became known as the slaughter of Unaí, a municipality 601 kilometers from Belo Horizonte. The labor inspectors Eratóstenes de Almeida Gonçalves, João Batista Soares Lage and Nelson José da Silva, and the driver Ailton Pereira de Oliveira were killed.

Last year, the former mayor of the municipality, Antério Mânica, was sentenced by a popular jury to 64 years in prison, accused of being one of the masterminds of the massacre.

He was even sentenced to one hundred years in prison in October 2015 for quadruple murder, triple qualified for a base reason, against payment and without the possibility of defending the victims.

However, in November 2018, the conviction was annulled by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1), which accepted an appeal from the defense that pointed to insufficient evidence. It was determined, therefore, to carry out this new trial.

According to Sinait (National Union of Labor Tax Auditors), Nelson José da Silva was working, at the time, in investigations of labor irregularities on the properties of the Mânica family and had been receiving threats.

In addition to Antério, his brother, Norberto Mânica, was appointed by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office as another person responsible for the massacre. He was also sentenced to one hundred years in prison, but his trial was upheld. At the STJ (Superior Court of Justice), he managed to reduce the sentence to 56 years.

Men who hired gunmen also had their sentences reduced. Hugo Alves Pimenta was sentenced to 31 years and six months, and José Alberto de Castro, to 58 years and ten months. According to the MPF, the three gunmen received sentences of more than 50 years in prison. Erinaldo Vasconcelos is open, with an ankle bracelet. William Miranda is in prison and Rogério Allan is on the run.

The Mânica are large bean producers, according to Sinait, with properties in Paraná and Unaí. Antério was mayor of the municipality of Minas Gerais for two terms, in 2004 and 2008, and is known in the region as the “king of beans”.