The leader of a truth commission investigating abuses during Brazil’s military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985 lambasted German automaker Volkswagen AG at a hearing on Friday for providing what he called “unsatisfactory” testimony regarding its alleged ties with the regime.
In a contentious, nearly three-hour-long session, Sao Paulo state legislator Adriano Diogo and several former Volkswagen employees pressed a company executive to explain whether and how the automaker collaborated with the right-wing regime.
Documents uncovered last year suggest that Volkswagen and dozens of other companies gave the dictatorship names, home addresses and other sensitive information regarding union activists on their payrolls in the 1980s.
The workers appeared on a so-called “black list” compiled by police. Some were then fired, detained or harassed by security forces and were unable to get new jobs for long periods afterward, a Reuters investigation found.
Volkswagen, which had more workers on the list than any other company, was one of three companies called to testify on Friday before the Sao Paulo state commission, chaired by Diogo, a member of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party.
The other two companies, Brazilian industrial firms Grupo Aliperti and Cobrasma, did not send representatives.
Volkswagen manager of legal affairs Rogerio Varga said the company respected the work conducted by various truth commissions across Brazil, but it was still reviewing internal files to see whether allegations of collaboration were true.
“There is no document in any archive that has been uncovered that places the institution of Volkswagen in collaboration with any violation of human rights,” Varga said.
The information on workers on the “black list” could have been obtained by police or unions instead of provided by the companies, Varga said.
“The company has nothing to hide,” Varga said.
At the hearing’s conclusion, Diogo called Volkswagen’s testimony “absolutely unsatisfactory.”
“To come here without any kind of information, without any recognition of the role companies played, they continue to laugh in our faces,” he said.
The probe’s leaders said they would provide the information gathered on Friday to federal prosecutors. Some legal experts have said companies could face civil lawsuits or demands for reparations based on truth commissions’ discoveries, although others doubt the evidence is solid enough.
Former Volkswagen employees present also expressed frustrations. Lucio Bellentani, 70, said he was arrested inside a Volkswagen factory in 1972 with the aid of a senior company executive.
Bellentani, 70, said he was beaten and then taken to a jail, where he was held for more than a month.
“I’m mystified by some of the things that were said here today ... that Volkswagen never ... hurt human rights,” Bellentani said, addressing Varga. “I don’t know, I think you’re on another planet.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was