The Luxembourger Albert Heinen was the director of The Companhia Açucareira Rio Doce (CARDO), a sugar cane factory founded in 1948 by the Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo Mineira in Governador Valadares.

Albert Heinen had already been sent to João Monlevade in the early 1920s, but left Belgo Mineira after disagreements with the company director. In the aftermath of World War II, he decided to return to Brazil and lived with his family in Governador Valadares.