Rousseff says government committed to recovering Doce river

President Dilma Rousseff said Tuesday (Dec. 15) that the government is committed to recovering the Doce river and compensating those victimized by the collapse of the dam of mining company Samarco, which laid waste to a district in the city of Mariana, Minas Gerais, early in November.

The president pointed out that the first step is and always has been providing assistance to victims, “helping them recover what they've lost and restoring their normal, dignified lives.” The second measure, Rousseff said, is to “hold the ones responsible accountable and establish mandatory measures of recovery and reparation in cases of both human and patrimonial loss.”

In her speech during the inauguration ceremony of the Museum of Congonhas, in the Bom Jesus de Matosinhos Sanctuary Complex, 75km from the state capital, the president pledged that the government will demand from those accountable for the tragedy in Mariana the restoration of the Doce river. “It is important to us to transform river Doce back into what it formerly was: a place with reforested banks and preserved springs, recovering the river in its entirety.”

The Museum of Congonhas

Built as part of a partnership between United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN), and the city government, the Museum of Congonhas will serve as an extension of the Bom Jesus de Matosinhos Sanctuary Complex to give tourists a chance to learn about local history.

During the event, Dilma Rousseff said that the initiative to encourage tourism and local culture helps boost economic activity and decrease the region's dependence on the mining in the state. “This goal is even more important after the tragedy in Bento Rodrigues, a district in Mariana, which affected the whole river basin, all the way to Espírito Santo [state] and the sea.”

Rousseff said that the plan is to turn the museum into a center for the conduction of studies and research on Brazilian baroque. She went on to stress that, through the Accelerated Growth Program (PAC) for Historic Cities, the government plans to recover other elements in the historic area of Congonhas, like churches and a theater-cinema, in addition to the construction of a park next to the new museum.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira