When a tailing dam operated by Brazilian multinational Vale collapsed in 2019 taking more than 270 lives and destroying the lives of local communities, Dom Vicente Ferreira, an auxiliary Bishop of Belo Horizonte, in Brazil. and the episcopal region of Our Lady of the Rosary (Nossa Senhora do Rosári) provided essential to help to local communities. Importantly, he has continuously called out those responsible for the crimes, denounced the system of corruption that led to the disaster and has been a loud voice for integral reparation and justice.
Three years later, Dom Vincente was celebrating mass in Moneda, in the state of Minas Gerais, when he was threatened by a group of armed men.
Together with other more than fifty international NGOs and social movements, CIDSE and its members express solidarity to Dom Vicente and to all those on the frontline defending our human family and Common Home from corporate abuse. We denounce this attempt to silence a voice for truth and justice, and call on the competent authorities to investigate the Nossa Senhora do Rosário attack and bring the authors to justice.
Photo credits: Guilherme Cavalli.