Folha launches documentary ‘Fantasmas da Lama’ – 11/05/2023 – Tv Folha

While families affected by the Mariana (MG) disaster have been fighting for full reparations for eight years, the area occupied by mining is expanding in the region. Removals due to the risk of new landslides in dams create ghost towns and exile residents from their homes.

These are themes from Fantasmas da Lama, a new Folha documentary released this Sunday (5) on YouTube.

Watch the documentary:

Bento Rodrigues, subdistrict of Mariana, was the first place to be reached, on November 5, 2015, by 40 million cubic meters of mining waste from Samarco — a company formed by a partnership between the giants Vale and BHP Billiton.

Symbol of one of the world’s greatest environmental tragedies, the rupture in Mariana was not an isolated case in Brazil. Another Vale dam, in Brumadinho (MG), burst in January 2019, killing 270 people. There were no criminal penalties in any of the cases.

Eight years after the tragedy in Mariana, the Sheet returned to the site to monitor the repair process – still ongoing – for residents affected by the sea of ​​mud and toxic waste. He also recorded the abandonment of those who were unable to sign relocation agreements with mining companies, leaving them alone in an abandoned city. The film also follows the completion of works on the Novo Bento Rodrigues resettlement, built to receive those who accepted the reparation deal and which is currently in its final stage of construction.

While the families of Mariana are still fighting for fair compensation, the area occupied by mining advances across the state and continues to generate direct impacts on the population.

Organizations of those affected coined the term “dam terrorism” to cover the actions of the companies. The risk would be used as pressure for removals, facilitating mining actions. The region’s economic dependence on mining contributes to this process.

“It’s the company itself that reduces or increases the risk. A self-declaration from a company that we don’t trust is very fragile”, highlights environmentalist Ronald Guerra, one of the leaders of the Guaicuy Institute, a non-profit organization that works to support of those affected by mud and displacement.

The progress of resettlement is slow. In addition to the uncertainty of families that they will have a chance to rescue their community and way of life, there is also a delay in the delivery of some homes. Others were built on land different from the original, changing the population’s habits and ways of life.

“We lost the space where we were born and raised, our memory. Everything”, says retiree Marcos Muniz, 59, a former resident of Bento Rodrigues.

At least 58 people from Bento Rodrigues alone have already died before seeing their new homes, according to reports from those affected.