![]() ![]() ![]() Internal economic migration due to the economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has increased the number of people seeking to work in mining areas. The operations of these illegal mines are also having a devastating impact on the environment and the health of workers, local sources said. ![]() “It is critical for gold buyers and refineries to ensure that any Venezuelan gold in their supply chains is not stained with the blood of Venezuelan victims.” “Poor Venezuelans driven to work in gold mining by the ongoing economic crisis and humanitarian emergency have become victims of macabre crimes by armed groups that control illegal mines in southern Venezuela,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. © 2016 Meridith Kohut A cardboard sign that says in Spanish "No medicine until further notice," hung at the entrance to a small field clinic where malaria specialists test and treat patients for malaria near an illegal gold mine in Las Claritas, Venezuela, on May 26, 2016. Thousands of Venezuelans have been flocking to illegal gold mines like this one in hopes of surviving the current economic crisis by earning in gold instead of the national currency, the value of which has fallen steadily due to one of the world's highest inflation rates. © 2017 Lorena Melendez Gold in a pan at "Cuatro Muertos" mine in Las Claritas, Venezuela. Rangel Photos of victims of the Tumeremo massacre, killed in March 2016, on a sign carried by family members during a protest that closed a road connecting Brazil with Venezuela for nearly a week. Rangel Main road connecting a mining town with Las Claritas gold mines, Venezuela, March 12, 2016. © 2017 JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images Gold mine known as “Ocho Muertos” (“Eight Dead”) in Las Claritas, Venezuela, July 20, 2016. © 2019 Michael Robinson Chavez/Getty Images A worker mixes water with gold and mercury on an aluminum sheet for amalgamation, at a gold mine in El Callao, Bolívar state, southeastern Venezuela, on February 25, 2017. The group is from northern Venezuela but like many had come to try and make some money in the dangerous and crime-infested gold mining towns in Bolívar state in the southeast of the country. ![]() © 2016 Meridith Kohut Miners prepare to walk to a gold mine after getting off a bus in El Callao, Venezuela, on May 13, 2019. Miners work in an illegal gold mine in Las Claritas, Venezuela. The various syndicates that control the mines exert strict control over the populations who live and work there, impose abusive working conditions, and viciously treat those accused of theft and other offenses – in the worst cases, they have dismembered and killed alleged offenders in front of other workers. Although the government has announced efforts to attract partners for legal mining and a crackdown on illegal mining, most gold mining in southern states, including Bolívar, is illegal, with much of the gold smuggled out of the country. Venezuela has reserves of highly valued resources like gold, diamonds, and nickel, as well as coltan and uranium. The armed groups seem to operate largely with government acquiescence, and in some cases government involvement, to maintain tight social control over local populations. (New York) – Residents of Venezuela’s southern Bolívar state are suffering amputations and other horrific abuses at the hands of armed groups, including Venezuelan groups called “syndicates” in the area and Colombian armed groups operating in the region, both of which exercise control over gold mines, Human Rights Watch said today. ![]()
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