LatinNews Daily - 28 May 2025

*Brazil’s labour prosecutor’s office (MPT) has formally filed a lawsuit against the Chinese car manufacturer BYD on the grounds that it had allegedly contracted labourers that worked in slave-like conditions. The company owns an electric vehicle (EV) production plant in Camaçari municipality, in the north-eastern state of Bahia, which was due to begin operations in March 2025, but it is now uncertain when the factory will start production. In December 2024 the MPT and the federal prosecutor's office (MPF), as well as other Brazilian authorities, found 220 Chinese workers in conditions “analogous to slavery”. The MPT’s current lawsuit demands R$257m (US$45.6m) in damages from BYD and its two contractors, China Jinjiang Construction Brazil Ltda. and Tonghe Equipamentos Inteligentes do Brasil Co., the firms responsible for contracting the workers.

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