The rapid territorial expansion of capital which took place mostly in Amazonia in the mid-60s, has reinforced slavery through debt or peonage not only there, but in other areas in the country. Unlike classic slavery, settled in captivity of black people, the peonage of our days is characterized by extreme physical violence against workers, often culminating in the murder of those who try to escape. The author's thesis is that slavery through debt is the utmost variety of waged work at overexploitation conditions, namely, in market conditions at which the workers exploitation goes until the limits to put their own survival in jeopardy. Also, that slavery through debt occurs specially when primitive accumulation mechanisms are incorporated in the process of enhanced capital reproduction.
peonage; slave labour; overexploitation; Amazonia