P U R E Z A
Mrs. Pureza’s son, Abel, left Maranhão with great plans, but ended up as a victim of modern slavery inside a farm in the southeast of Pará. Similar stories are shared by many workers coming from different Brazilian states, mostly in the Northeast of the country, such as Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará and Bahia. The protagonists of many of these stories end up becoming numbers, or not even that, they simply “disappeared into the world”.
With the lack of news from her son, Pureza did not observe this situation inertly, but instead waged a colossal struggle, probably much greater and more complex than she could have imagined when she started the three-year journey in search of her son.
Clues led Pureza to a farm where she was able to unmask a major modern slavery scheme. With immense courage, she was able to change not only the life of her son but also lives connected to several other families and friends, bringing into focus the violation of human rights happening openly in Pará. A region that has been made invisible on the national scene and even more ignored on an international scale.
LIMA, Ana Rosa de. Extract taken from Recommendation: Pureza (movie) – Meli (meli-bees.org). Accessed on June 6th. Text slightly modified
