Volkswagen admits links with dictatorship in Brazil

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26 September 2020

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Brasilia, Sep 26 (Prensa Latina) The German automaker Volkswagen (VW) admitted that it had links with Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985) and will compensate 50 workers and their relatives whose rights were violated in the country.

'We regret the violations that occurred in the past. For Volkswagen AG it is important to deal responsibly with this negative chapter in the history of Brazil and to promote transparency,' Hiltrud Werner, a member of the company's board of administration, said in a communiqué after an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office of Sao Paulo.

Through the settlement, the firm will pay some 2.5 million dollars to the Association of Workers of Volkswagen, a company that is proud of having three cars in the list of the ten best-selling automobiles of all times: Golf, Beetle and Passat.

According to the press release from the German company, most of the money will go to old employees who proved that their human rights were violated during the military regime.

Volkswagen also informed that the Federal University of Sao Paulo will receive about 900,000 dollars to identify the victims buried in common graves and 'verify the complicity of companies in human right violations during the military government'.

Many employees were fired, arrested or harassed by the police and could not find new jobs for years.