Are Slave Heirs in the Way of Brazil's Economic Growth?

To ensure their farms and mines prospered in colonial Brazil, the Portuguese in the 16th century imported slaves from Africa, a practice that continued until 1888. Today, descendants of those slaves are again at the center of questions about Brazil's prosperity in the debate over the disposition of the quilombos.

Quilombos are rural settlements founded by freed or runaway slaves. The right of inhabitants to their land is enshrined in the Brazilian constitution of 1988. Since 1995, the government department responsible for land regularization, Incra, has been formalizing their ownership. Still, residents are frequently harassed and threatened with displacement, all the more so when their land rights get in the way of somebody else's business or the government's economic growth plans.