Extraction in the Venezuelan mining arc is a “front” for crimes, says NGO

The Venezuelan initiative Education, Production and Environment Project (EPA) repudiated extractive mining in the area that makes up the Orinoco Mining Arc and its use as a “front” for armed military and irregular groups to operate in the areas where gold is extracted and other minerals.

“The situation of extractive mining in Venezuela is increasingly worthy of repudiation, since the gold business is in the hands of military companies used as ‘facades of legality’ and of irregular armed groups that cooperate with the Venezuelan National Armed Forces”, EPA denounced on his Twitter account.

The project, made up of the NGOs Fundaredes, Fundesus, Fundeturan, Fundación Gerencia Social y Desarrollo Humano Sostenible (Ceides), specified that this situation takes place in the area that includes the Orinoco Mining Arc, between the states of Delta Amacuro, Bolívar and Amazonas. , where “a total of 36 protected areas are located between national parks and natural monuments.”

This strip, with an approximate extension of 111,000 square kilometers from the Guayana Esequiba territory (east) to the border with Colombia (west), has large reserves of gold, coltan, diamonds, iron, bauxite and other minerals.

EPA recalled that it is one of “the richest areas” that has been turned into a scene of crimes of different kinds, due to the extraction of the wealth it contains.

“This (extraction mining) causes the detriment of national sovereignty, turning one of the richest areas in natural resources of humanity, in a land where misery, slavery and death are the constant for those who live there” , pointed out the project.

Last November, EPA urged the Venezuelan State to promote “transparent” environmental policies with the participation of networks and interest groups to promote sustainable development.

On that occasion, he assured that, for more than a decade, the Caribbean country has suffered an economic, social and cultural crisis that now triggers an “environmental emergency”, which if not controlled, could become a “catastrophe” for the indigenous communities.

“The State is responsible for the negative impact on the environment, by virtue of the execution of inadequate public policies generated by those who exercise national power,” he said.