Indigenous community displaced by dam collapse now fears Covid-19

First, they lost the river, their source of water for drinking, cooking, and bathing, and of fish, which formed the cornerstone of their diet. Then, they lost their land, where they planted crops and followed their traditional customs. And now, they run the risk of losing their lives from Covid-19. This is the story of the Pataxó-hã-hã-hães indigenous community, ran out of their homes after the collapse of the Córrego do Feijão tailings dam in January 2019, in the town of Brumadinho, Minas Gerais. 

Before the tragedy, which resulted in the death of almost 300 people, the destruction of entire communities, and the contamination of several sources of freshwater, 18 families lived in the Pataxó-hã-hã-hã-hãe Naô Xohã village, in São Joaquim de Bicas, a small municipality in the Paraopeba River valley. Most had only lived there for two years, after leaving their homeland in southern Bahia due to lack of water. Naô Xohã means “warrior spirit” in Patxohã, the traditional language still spoken by some members of the indigenous community.

Of this group, 122 people from 13 families left the region of Brumadinho at the beginning of 2020, as they no longer saw any sense in living in an area contaminated by mining waste, which made it impossible for them to survive according to their culture. The community divided, with some migrating from the forest in the interior of Minas Gerais toward the state capital of Belo Horizonte, and others moving back to southern Bahia.

Those who remained in Minas Gerais moved to the town of Ibirité, on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte. Unlike the relative quiet of Brumadinho, Ibirité is overpopulated, poor, and often violent. However, this was where they were able to subsist on monthly damages payments from mining company Vale, the firm responsible for the collapsed dam in 2019. They recieve one BRL 1,045 (USD...