Arapoema, Brazil (CNN) -- In this small town on the edge of Brazil's somewhat lawless agricultural frontier, streets turn to mud under tropical rains and laundry hangs limp in front of cement-box houses.There's one bank and two churches. But for most folks here, if you want a job, you have to head to one of the nearby cattle ranches - only recently carved out of the steamy Amazon jungle.
Luiz Cardoso da Silva -- known as Seu Luiz-- was sleeping on the floor of a cattle corral, surrounded by fetid mud. He and six relatives had been living and working on the ranch for two years, building fences and weeding pastures. There was no bathroom, just a single outdoor spigot to shower and wash clothes and dishes. Nearby bushes served as a toilet.
Seu Luiz tells inspectors that they haven't received any money for the last two years. He says the ranch owner provides them with food, deducts it from their wages and claims that they ended up owing him money.
"You can't leave because you owe money for the food he's given you, you have a debt."
He says he was afraid for the safety of his family if he left. Debt bondage is common in Brazil's lawless cattle country, according to the coordinator of this latest operation, Andre Wagner, also from the Labor Ministry.
"You'll see someone working in degrading conditions, with an exhausting work schedule, eating one meal a day, while they don't receive any form of salary or a very small one, because their food and tools are discounted," he says.
In fact, more than 50,000 workers have been rescued from what Brazil defines as slave-like conditions since the mobile units were created in 1995. A third of them came from ranches.
They also end up working in coalmines, sugar cane fields, urban construction sites and garment factories.
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