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Increase in illegal mining in the Amazon rain forest is hard to fight
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Caracas, 09 Sep. ABN. (By Tessa Marsman).- Despite ongoing government operations in the Venezuelan dense rainforest, illegal gold mining seems to increase. Colombians, Brazilians and, to a minor extent, Venezuelan gold miners are crossing the state border into the southern Amazon province.
Illegal mining has always been a problem in the Amazon province, but with a state initiative to retrain miners to become fishermen, farmers or tour operators in order to stop pollution and heavy social problems, illegal miners moved on to the Amazons.
Gold mining is polluting the area due to the use of mercury and mining methods, which include sifting ground. The mining areas are left bare and intoxicated.
«Its incredible how what once was a tropical rain forest turns into a sandy beach», said Juan Carlos Arroyo, guide and Social Promoter in the Amazons to the Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN).
Moreover, mining is extremely dangerous for the miners and for the native indigenous living in the area. Death rate is high due to the numerous tropical diseases, like malaria, that miners bring into remote areas and due to the violent attitude of the miners towards native indigenous.
Not only do miners destroy the native’s habitat, they also actively kill the original inhabitants when they contradict their interests. «Events like these never make the news because of the remoteness of the area», states Morela Jiménez Grazzina, professor on indigenous issues in Venezuela.
Mining is forbidden by law in the virgin rainforest of the Amazons in accordance with the environmental penalty law. However, authorities estimate the presence of about 1200 illegal miners in the area.
In order to fight mining, the Venezuelan government nationally offered the option for miners to be retrained according to the new rule of Retraining of Miners. The objective is to actively combat «the risks and the harms caused by mining practices that affect the municipalities of Sifontes, Raúl Leoni and the Gran Sabana of the Bolivar State», as stated in the official decree.
The decree is part of the Piar Mission, which falls in line with the current Integral Plan of Sustainable Development for Mining Communities executed by the Ministry of Energy and Mines. The Mission seeks to improve the quality of life of small-scale miners while promoting environmental sustainability.
But the unwanted result of both the decree and the mission is that illegal miners cross the state borders from the mining states into the jungle of the Amazons to continue illegal mining practices, according to Egildo Palau, vice president of the indigenous commission of the national Parliament, in an interview with the Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias.
Illegal mining in the Amazons is directly fought by operations carried out by the National Guard in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and the District Attorney’s Office under the guidance of Jesús Bermúdez.
Operations consist of helicopter maneuvers carried out when, upon the information of local people or other grounds of suspect, illegal activities are suspected.
But the battle is hard. First of all because the rainforest is hard to penetrate and second because the miners are well organized and supposedly backed by large companies supporting and informing them.
«How else is it possible that a group of Colombian miners is found in the vast jungle of Sierra Neblina, far from the Colombian border, with large pumps and other heavy equipment?», says Palau.
Miners have everything at their disposal. Not only satellite telephones or small airplanes, there is even a miners cemetery where the National Guard cannot enter, according to Juan Carlos. However, «of the final sales price miners only get a ten percent».
The centre of the illegal mining activities in Venezuela is San Fernando de Atabapo. Before it is shipped to the big cities and out of the country the main destination of the gold is in Puerto Inirida, the capital of the Colombian department of Guainia.
«Only ten to twenty percent of the reception is concentrated in Venezuela», says Palau.
Another factor that makes it hard to fight illegal mining is its tight relation to drug and arm trafficking within the province, but especially over the border to Colombia and in a smaller extent to Brazil.
In Colombia mining is legal, «hence there are no agreements between Colombia and Venezuela to stop polluting activities», concluded Palau. |
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| ABN 03:10 pm 10/10/2006 |
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