days’ time. The youths slept on the streets of Marabá and then returned to the Federal Police Station. That day they spoke to a police agent, but were advised to seek help from the Comissão Pastoral da Terra . The CPT looked after the young men for several days. 187 176. The police agent who sent the young men to the CPT offices advised the Comissão Pastoral that the Ministry of Labor had been contacted and had promised to send a team of labor inspectors, accompanied by Marabá federal police agents, to Hacienda Brasil Verde to draw up the corresponding reports.188 177. On March 15, 2000, Ministry of Labor inspectors, accompanied by Federal Police agents, conducted an inspection of the hacienda. On arriving at Hacienda Brasil Verde they noted that there were only about 45 workers. They then went to Hacienda San Carlos where they found the other workers. The police interviewed the workers and questioned them about their arrival at the hacienda, their salaries and their personal papers. The workers were asked if they wished to leave the hacienda and return to their homes, and the workers indicated their “unanimous decision to leave” and to return to their places of origin where they had been recruited.189 Nevertheless, the rescue did not take place that day and, therefore, the workers had to spend that night in the hacienda, a situation that made them extremely fearful, because they were afraid that the hacienda foremen would kill them while they slept.190 The Pará Regional Labor Delegation also verified the existence of armed guards in the hacienda,191 and corroborated that the workers had been made to sign blank fixed-term and indefinite contracts.192 178. The following day, the Ministry of Labor inspectors obliged a manager of the hacienda to pay the workers the salaries owed in order to terminate their work contracts. It also obliged him to return their work permits. The police agents gave the work permits back to the workers together with some papers and money. However, even though the rescued workers were illiterate and bewildered by the situation, the state agents did not explain to them what the money was for, or what the papers they had been given contained. The inspection report indicated that 82 persons were working in the hacienda.193 Cf. Statement by Antônio Francisco da Silva, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by José Batista Gonçalves Afonso, CPT Regional Coordinator, on the situation of Antônio Francisco da Silva and Gonçalo Luiz Furtado, provided on March 8, 2000 (evidence file, folio 1038), and Report of March 31, 2000, on the inspection of Hacienda Brasil Verde (evidence file, folio 9572). 187 188 Letter to the Ministry of Labor of March 9, 2000 (evidence file, folio 7534). 189 Report of the Pará Regional Labor Delegation (evidence file, folios 9573 and 9574). Cf. Statement by Marcos Antônio Lima, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by Francisco Fabiano Leandro, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by Rogerio Félix da Silva, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by Francisco das Chagas Bastos Souza, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016, folio 1038); affidavit of Antônio Fernandes da Costa, dated May 8, 2015 (evidence file, folio 7567); Affidavit of Francisco de Assis Félix, dated May 8, 2015 (evidence file, folio 7573), and Report of March 31, 2000, on the inspection of Hacienda Brasil Verde (evidence file, folios 9573 to 9575). 190 Cf. Statement by Marcos Antônio Lima, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by Francisco Fabiano Leandro, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by Rogerio Félix da Silva, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016; statement by Francisco das Chagas Bastos Souza, received during the on-site procedure carried out on June 6, 2016, folio 1038); affidavit of Antônio Fernandes da Costa, dated May 8, 2015 (evidence file, folio 7567); Affidavit of Francisco de Assis Félix, dated May 8, 2015 (evidence file, folio 7573), and Report of March 31, 2000, on the inspection of Hacienda Brasil Verde (evidence file, folios 9573 to 9575). 190 191 Report of the Pará Regional Labor Delegation (evidence file, folio 9573). 192 Report of the Pará Regional Labor Delegation (evidence file, folio 9574). 193 Public civil action of May 30, 2000 (evidence file, folio 1049). 43