“O coração fica doendo, porque lá nasci e criei... mas tive que sair, o jeito foi sair”: a desestruturação dos modos de vida e o processo de migração forçada de atingidos pela Mineração Riacho dos Machados - MRDM

Abstract

This work dissertation is about people affected by Mineração Riacho dos Machados-MRDM, a mining complex located in the municipalities of Riacho dos Machados and Porteirinha, in the northern region of the state of Minas Gerais. Our general objective was to understand the migration process of the people affected from the areas adjacent to the mining company's structures, having as a temporal cutout the reactivation of the activity as of 2008. To this end, we discussed the political and economic context of neoextractivism and the process of reprimarization of the economy in Latin America and Brazil, in order to then deal with the North of Minas as a New Mineral Frontier. In this context, we bring the discussions about the damages of the activity, seeking to understand how the violence and daily violations that led to the destructuring of the traditional way of life of our interlocutors happen, which has made it impossible for them to remain in their traditional places. Through qualitative methodology, bibliographic research and field work, privileging narratives, we also seek to understand under what conditions those affected are trapped and expelled from their places and what it is like to rebuild life in another place. We observe that the process of forced migration in the communities happens in two ways. Those affected by the Ouro Fino community, located downstream of the tailings dam, migrate compulsorily to the urban part of Riacho dos Machados. They leave their homes to protect their lives and health. The residents of Piranga, located approximately one kilometer from the mine pit, continue to live with mining and its destructive effects, trapped in a condition of subjection, where there is no choice and no means to make a choice possible. They are trapped and on the verge of being expelled from the place. In both situations, the people affected are living with tensions coming from "extrahección". They are exposed to situations of vulnerability, changes in the way they live and, consequently, changes in the scenarios in which they live.