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Logistics of unfreedom: The labour trafficking of Venezuelan truck drivers in Brazil

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  • Francis Portes Virginio
  • Lívia dos Santos Ferreira

Abstract

This article examines the trafficking of Venezuelan truck drivers for labour exploitation in Brazil. The remilitarisation of politics is increasingly a hallmark of elite-driven strategies to manage the circulation of labour and goods from extractive zones. This article introduces the notion of logistics of unfreedom to explain the growing imbrication between techniques of control by the state and corporations that confine the reproduction of migrants within the realm of logistics processes. The analysis focuses on data from participatory observations and the narratives of 22 Venezuelan refugees who were trafficked from a militarised humanitarian zone in Brazil's Amazon to work for a freight road transport company in Southern Brazil. Findings show that a concerted logistic approach to refugee employment channelled mobility, constrained statutory protection and shaped the ethno-political differentiation of Venezuelans in the labour market. This forced Venezuelans to live in trucks where both productive and socially reproductive aspects of their daily lives were overdetermined by the rhythms of goods distribution. The article concludes that this logistic rationale has converged towards a self-contained regime of labour unfreedom that facilitates the labour trafficking of Venezuelan refugees.

Suggested Citation

  • Francis Portes Virginio & Lívia dos Santos Ferreira, 2025. "Logistics of unfreedom: The labour trafficking of Venezuelan truck drivers in Brazil," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 43(3), pages 433-450, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:43:y:2025:i:3:p:433-450
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544231213196
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rafeef Ziadah, 2018. "Transport Infrastructure and Logistics in the Making of Dubai Inc," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 182-197, March.
    2. Irene Peano, 2021. "Turbulences in the encampment archipelago: conflicting mobilities between migration, labour and logistics in Italian agri-food enclaves," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 212-223, March.
    3. Jörg Nowak, 2022. "Do choke points provide workers in logistics with power? A critique of the power resources approach in light of the 2018 truckers’ strike in Brazil," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 1675-1697, September.
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