(Castellano)
Main photo: Leonardo Sá
This November will mark 8 years since one of the biggest environmental and social crimes in Brazil and the world was perpetrated by the Samarco mining consortium (participated by the Brazilian Vale and the Australian BHP (formerly BP Billington) in equal shares): the breaking of the dam of mining waste or toxic sludge (tailings) from the Fundão mine in Mariana (Minas Gerais). Eight years later, more than a million inhabitants of the Río Doce basin affected by that crime continue to demand justice.
It was a crime because Vale and BHP ignored the warnings that the dam was not safe, prioritizing its benefits over safety and the environment that they affect and destroy every day and that then destroyed even more. The Doce river (the Sweet river) turned bitter: it was murdered. Or even more, because until then they has already polluted it enough. After the crime, and until very recently, the companies and the Renova Foundation insisted on denying the relationship between the collapse of Fundão in Mariana and the environmental impacts that extended and multiplied throughout the Doce River basin and also along the coast of its mouth.
The reality is that eight years ago the Doce River was annihilated: its life, its fishing, the agriculture that depended on its water, the communities that depended on it and its fish, or even its water for drinking, cooling or washing were ended. Today, many communities lack potable water. The affected municipalities are 46, in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, and indigenous communities of the Krenak, Guaraní, Pataxó and Tupiniquin peoples were also affected. In eight years, it has been impossible to restore the economic activity prior to the rupture of the dam that supported all these communities, because there is no possibility of using the river for fishing, agriculture, tourism or leisure.
This crime cost the lives of 19 people, but it also represented a humanitarian crisis as it caused the displacement of thousands of people because their communities and territories were no longer suitable for living. Another of the bleeding cases of this lack of reparation is that eight years later, two destroyed communities in Mariana have still not been rebuilt. This was also a health crisis caused by the different diseases caused by the dispersion of heavy metals from sludge in the water, as well as the lack of drinking water and quality food. At the health level, we also have to add the effect of all this apathy, of all the disregard from the side of companies and institutions, and the frustration that this causes and which adds to all the effects suffered by the affected people, having a direct effect on their mental health.
For eight long years, the communities and affected people have faced the permanent consequences of this unpunished crime, because criminal companies evade their responsibilities and take refuge in their power: Vale is the main Brazilian and South American mining company, but also one of the largest company in the world, while BHP is the largest company in Australia and the largest mining company in the world (2022) (in terms of market capitalization).
Due to that power, the governments of the day have supported them, especially the recently ended Bolsonaro. But they have also used the slowness of justice and tricks such as the creation of an intermediary to manage this disaster, the Renova Foundation, which they used to distract, delay and, in short, evade responsibilities. As the affected people themselves express, «We are outraged by the superficial and insufficient actions of the Renova Foundation, a company controlled by BHP, Vale and Samarco, to silence and defeat us.» The Renova Foundation has even been delegitimized by the Minas Gerais Public Ministry (MPMG) itself, which has gone so far as to judicially request the extinction of the Renova Foundation, alleging that it does not have the necessary autonomy vis-à-vis mining companies.
Because they are still active. In front of them they have had an affected population, but also organized, on platforms such as «Revida, Mariana», using networks already configured such as the MAB (Movement of People Affected by Dams) and others, which continue to demand reparation and justice.
As they denounce: «The renegotiation of the Mariana case that is underway has not taken into account the voice of the victims nor of civil society. As it stands, it does not address all of our losses and only furthers commercial and political interests. In order to confuse and hide, the amount proposed for compensation mixes funds already paid years ago. To make matters worse, it represents only a third of what the oil company BP paid more than ten years ago for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which was, until the sinking of Fundão, the largest environmental disaster in the world. Why should we accept less for a crime of such magnitude?».
Within this continuous activity demanding justice, the victims of the Doce River held a march on August 31 in the city of Governador Valadares (Minas Gerais) under the slogan «Fair Compensation Now!». The demonstration was supported by thousands of affected people from the Doce River basin. In it they delivered a letter and a list of 14 demands to government representatives.
This demonstration is part of a broad agenda of actions to pressure governments and authorities to end impunity for criminal enterprises. Above all, they demand «popular participation and decision-making power in the process of renegotiating reparation for crime» of which, as we say, the companies and their intermediary, Fundaçao Renova, have been depriving them, with the approval of the institutions.
The people affected by the Mariana crime obtained a great victory this past July when the British Supreme Court decided to include Vale S.A. as a defendant in the trial of thar case. This case has been taking place since 2018 in London and it had until now BHP as the only prosecuted. In this way, Vale will also be obliged to pay the compensation decided by that court. Until now, Vale’s strategy has been to respond only to the Brazilian justice system, because it is aware that it is flawed. As MAB coordinator Joceli Andreoli explained, since «it has influence in the judiciary, there it has been dragging a solution for those affected for eight years.» The sentencing of this process is scheduled for October 2024.
But this decision from London is also a precedent that should expose the Brazilian courts. That is why the campaign wants to continue pressing now so that both the Brazilian government and the state and Brazilian courts act in accordance.
The election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president last January meant the revival of hope for those thousands of affected people that their cases would be resumed. This is how Lula himself expressed his commitment to resuming negotiations and the configuration of a special government commission that includes 14 ministries (Health, Agricultural Development, Family Agriculture and Communications Secretariat, etc.).
This past July, from the 14th to the 24th, representatives of the federal government and political leaders of Minas Gerais participated in a caravan through the Doce river basin and 15 of its municipalities to learn about the current situation of the area and its inhabitants through direct contact. Presidential advisor Luiza Dulci highlighted the importance of social participation in socio-environmental repair.
The conclusion is that after eight years, due to negligence and the lack of repair and restoration of living standards prior to the crime, the impacts caused have given rise to new ones, so that tragic situation has only gotten worse. As the participant in that caravan, PT PM Beatriz Cerqueira, denounced, «the Renova Foundation has renewed the crime.»
Eight years later environmental contamination persists
On the other hand, this August 17 and 18, the fourth annual report of the Aquatic Biodiversity Monitoring Program of Environmental Area I (Capixaba Portion of the Doce River and Adjacent Marine and Coastal Region) was presented, revealing 8 years after the crime of Samarco/Vale-BHP, contamination levels still worrisome in the Doce River basin.
This research was carried out by a network of universities headed by the Espírito Santo Technological Foundation of Espírito Santo (Fest/Ufes), which has had the participation of 500 researchers from more than thirty institutions, mainly federal universities from several Brazilian states.
The Río Doce Mar Network (RRDM) has managed to collect data for four years in which the same equipment and methodology have been used, which is reflected in the results obtained. But this has not been achieved without difficulties, as Renova also tried to stop the research and hire a company that was favourable to it. The case had to be settled in court, where Renova was unable to terminate its relationship with the universities. The programme itself will expire next year.
In an interview with Seculo Diario, CTBio member and environmental analyst at the Chico Mendes Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio), Joca Thomé, explained that «pollution of the biota in the river is at worrying levels, with a growth explosive of invasive species. A strong intervention will be necessary to try to recover a little, in the sense of capturing exotics, closing some areas, introducing natives. At sea, you have to evaluate by type of fishery. Shrimp, which have a short life cycle, have recovered more quickly than other species. In the Costa das Algas APA [Environmental Protection Area] there has been a great transformation in the type of algae that occupy the bottom, and the number of species has decreased. At the mouth of the river there have been great changes: the muddy area has increased a lot. The other mangroves, so important socially, are highly contaminated».
And Thomé concluded: «The social impact is as great or greater than the environmental impact».
Eight years later, a proposal to dredge the river is still being prepared, as well as a proposal to plant native species, while there is no proposal for decontamination in the sea, mangroves and sandbanks. The option of dredging at sea comes with the difficulty that it is a very large area and that the impacts could be even worse.
The report lists 295 impacts, which are grouped by sections. Of these impacts, 96 occurred in the freshwater environment (rivers), 130 in the marine environment and 69 in the coastal environment. In its conclusions the text states that «The results indicate that both the abiotic and biotic matrix suffered impacts, at levels ranging from low to critical. Most of the impacts in the media were classified as directly or indirectly related to the collapse of the Fundão dam, affecting the environment in terms of Sedimentology, Chemistry, Ecotoxicology, Ecology, Genetics, Health and Behavior».
Vale’s crimes are replicated
In 2019, another tailings dam breach owned by Vale occurred in Brumadinho, with catastrophic results: this time the death toll was 270. The destruction it caused in the Paraopeba river basin, and by extension in the San Francisco river basin, was similar. In addition to the Doce and Paraopeba river basins, mining in Brazil has also wiped out other basins such as the Tromaí river basin (for the Aurizona mining project) in the state of Maranhão, or the Pará river basin (for the Barcarena mining project).
These days it has also been known that the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais, together with the Federal Public Ministry and the Public Defender’s Office of Minas Gerais, decided on reparation measures for the Vale mining company for the damage caused in Barão de Cocais, state of Minas Gerais. The mining company was fined €8.30 million in restitution, advance compensation and emergency assistance. Gongo Soco Mine, in the city of Barão de Cocais is one of the many mines in Brazil that are at risk of collapse. Nearly a thousand people were forced to abandon their residences in the state of Minas Gerais.
In this municipality, a high risk (level 3 by the National Mining Agency) of possible rupture of the tailings deposit, the Sul Superior dam at the Gongo Soco mine, was identified in 2019. More than 400 inhabitants were forced to evacuate their homes. homes in the communities of Socorro, Vila do Gongo, Tabuleiro and Piteiras. Although this deposit, built in 1982, was closed in 2008 (probably, as in the other cases, due to total clogging), it suffered a structural failure similar to that of Mariana in 2015. Therefore, despite its closure, the risk continues, or increases, as over time the condition of the reservoir worsens.
The families affected in 2019 were assigned a monthly contribution that Vale will provide them. In 2020, Vale ceased this assistance arguing that it was the government’s responsibility to care for the affected citizens. But the courts also decided against Vale and reinstated the assistance. Today many of the families evacuated then still remain in residences provided by Vale, with no plans to return immediately.
As resident Cleonice Martins Gomes reported at the public hearing, the situation remains tense: “We live in constant fear. When we hear the siren of an ambulance, we think it is the dam’s alarm. We now take prescription medications that we didn’t need before, such as blood pressure medications. We pay these expenses ourselves.
In the same sense, Martins Gomes regretted the lack of support for the affected people and demanded compensation from Vale for the devaluation of the properties. She noted that the families’ rights had been violated by the mining company, which had not listened to their concerns.
The Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG) and the Movimento dos Atingidos e das Atingidas por Barragens (MAB) published in 2020 a report on Vale’s actions after Marianan and Brumadinho, concluding that the company maintained the same irresponsible behaviour that characterised it in those cases.
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