In Brazil, Indigenous Pataxó protesters blocked a railroad Tuesday to mark three years since a dam collapsed in the state of Minas Gerais, killing some 270 community members.  The dam was owned by the mining company Vale. 

Brasilia, January 27 (RHC)-- In Brazil, Indigenous Pataxó protesters blocked a railroad Tuesday to mark three years since a dam collapsed in the state of Minas Gerais, killing some 270 community members.  The dam was owned by the mining company Vale. 

Protesters have vowed to continue the blockade until the mining company helps resettle them to a new territory, builds new homes and starts paying reparations. 

An Indigenous Pataxó leader and organizer of the protests, Sucupira Pataxó-Hahahae, told reporters: “We are here on the train track, me with my people, claiming our territory.  Vale has to give us another territory, because our village is polluted with minerals.  The water brought all those minerals to our water and to our houses.  We ask people outside of Brazil and the United Nations for justice.  Please intervene and help us.  We are living here on the Vale company train track.  We have nowhere to go.”