I was listening to an episode of Behind the Bastards about the slave labor used by Volkswagen in the 1970s and 1980s and this fact came up. Here’s the relevant Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Brazil
Excerpt:
Out of the 12 million Africans who were forcibly brought to the New World, approximately 5.5 million were brought to Brazil between 1540 and the 1860s.
In the podcast I listened to covering modern times, it was Volkswagen doing it. The case literally came to trial THIS YEAR, 2025!
For which Volkswagen was fined approximately $30 million… Compared to having grossed €59.5 billion in 2024… Nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Cost of doing business, you could say.
Not surprising since colonial violence is the foundation of capitalism.