This series about the Mariana disaster was originally published by Brio, in Portuguese. It was translated by Gustavo Ribeiro and edited by Christine Bootes
Chapter 3: The Origins of the Mariana Disaster
Forty years prior to the devastation of the Mariana Region, government negligence opened a breach that would result, decades later, in the collapse of the dam – Brazil’s worst environmental disaster, ever. Dozens of authorities had the opportunity to disarm that ticking time bomb but systematically failed to do so.
During the 1970s, Brazil was going at full steam. The dictatorial government of General...