President Apologizes in Africa for Its History of Slavery
May 29, 2006 07:00 PM EST
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/14943.html#

by Jim Kouri - On a recent visit to several African countries, Brazil's President Inacio Lula da Silva made a point of

apologising for historical slavery in his country, according to BBC News.

In 1888, Brazil was the last country to abolish slavery in the Western Hemisphere.

For almost 400 years, slaves from the African continent were shipped by the millions to endlessly toil on sugar plantations

and other large agricultural estates or fazendas.

Ironically, according to the BBC, 21st Century Brazil is plagued with similar practices. These modern slaves are to be found

mostly in the vast Amazon region of the north of the country, which is still frontier territory that the state cannot always

control or police properly.

The workers are taken on by a gato, or gangmaster, usually to clear areas of the jungle which are then claimed, and

eventually become part of huge cattle farms, after all the timber has been stripped out.