MOAB discovered during such visits that compensation was never adequate and that the consequence of such dam construction is the migration of the majority of the families affected to the shantytowns of the nearest large cities. MOAB has mobilized local opinion against the dam construction since its foundation and has become a respected and influential organization in the region. Some might reply that the construction of dams represents progress and development. When Jos Rodrigues from the Ivaporunduva quilombo is confronted with such a statement his answer is simple but clear. The dams would not bring progress or development.
Dams bring more hunger, expulsion of small farmers, and misery.
Unemployment is already high in the cities and the future for people expelled from here are the shantytowns. If they finance this project they are financing death, the diminution of life, not only ours but in a real sense of the entire world. I would ask them not to believe everything they read in the construction proposals sent in by those who plan to build the dams. Such reports usually state that the environment and the local population will not be affected. This is a huge lie.