Desastre da Samarco: Desterritorialização e controle territorial em Bento Rodrigues, Mariana/MG

Samarco’s disaster: Deterritorialization and territorial control in Bento Rodrigues, Mariana (state of Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss the process of deterritorialization in Bento Rodrigues as a result of the Samarco/Vale/BHP Billiton disaster and the control of mining companies over the community's territory. In the first topic, we address the damage caused by mining in Bento Rodrigues, before the collapse the Fundão dam and the process of deterritorialization experienced by the community as a result of this catastrophe. In the two following topics, we portray the control of Samarco/Vale/BHP Billiton over the territory of Bento Rodrigues, under the justification of still-existing risk management, based on the access control to the territory and the construction of the S4 dike, on lands retained by the mining company via administrative request issued by the Government of Minas. In methodological terms, we made use, primarily, of pertinent bibliography, of analysis of excerpts from “A Sirene” Journal, of interviews with individuals affected by the Samarco disaster, and public speeches by those affected at the Legal Seminar “Dois Anos de Mariana”, in November 2017 and at the press conference held at the Sindicato dos Jornalistas Profissionais de Minas Gerais, in September 2017. In the final considerations of the work, we highlight the ongoing deterritorialization of the affected individuals in Bento Rodrigues due to the persistent and evolving disaster, also making some considerations about the corporate mining territories, based on the control of Samarco/Vale/BHP Billiton over the disaster-affected area.

Keywords: disaster; Samarco; Bento Rodrigues; deterritorialization; territorial control.