One year on, Brumadinho still cries for justice

Walking on the streets of Brumadinho, the small town south-west of Brazil’s sixth-largest city Belo Horizonte, the overriding sensation is of a community in mourning. At the entrance to the town, sitting atop a neatly mowed grassy knoll is a monument bearing the name of the municipality, which over the last 12 months has been vandalized time and time again. Currently, it reads: “Vale, murderers! 270 dead, it hurts so much!”

The target of this outrage is Brazilian mining giant Vale, which was once the biggest employer in Brumadinho. Around town, billboards bearing the company’s name have been desecrated, with locals painting over the Vale logo, daubing “murderers” and “we want justice!” in its place.

On January 25, 2019—one year ago to the day—an iron ore tailings dam belonging to Vale collapsed to the east of Brumadinho. The incident caused approximately 12 million cubic meters of mud to spill into the surrounding region, tearing through the Vale mine cafeteria and killing 270 people—11 of whom have yet to be found.

The sludge that rolled into the nearby Paraopeba river traveled all the way to the São Francisco river—some 200 kilometers away as the crow flies and considerably further following the river’s course—which is one of the most important sources of water for Brazil’s impoverished Northeast region.

While Brumadinho itself did not suffer structural damage from the dam failure—as it is built on high land, overlooking the river valley—the human damage in the small town was unfathomable. In a municipality of fewer than 38,000 people, almost every resident lost a family member or friend in the tragedy.

Astoundingly, 365 days later,...