This report, prepared by the Coalition against Illegal Mining in the Amazon (CMIA)—an alliance of organizations from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela—examines how illegal gold mining is accelerating the climate crisis, destroying ecosystems, and violating human rights across the Amazon Basin. Through satellite data, field research, and testimonies from Indigenous and local communities, the […]

September 2025 | Eco Américas
The Venezuelan Amazon, the biodiversity-rich rainforest ecosystem that spans half of this South American country, has come under immense pressure from criminal groups that, in league with Venezuelan government forces, are trans- forming the delicate biome into lucrative mining sites.

Article by Marion Molinari, Ouest France I November 22, 2022

Article by The Economist I March 5, 2022

This situation report is produced by the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) and Global Development One (GDO). It focuses on the malaria situation in Venezuela from January 2000 to June 2019, underscoring the role that the complex humanitarian crisis has played in more recent years. www.icaso.org

An in depth article by the Wall Street Journal discusses the content of the report presented by SOSOrinoco to International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN & UNESCO in July 2018 on the current gold mining situation in Canaima National Park: A World Heritage Site in Venezuela

Illegal mining within the Canaima National Park in #Venezuela, a World Heritage Site designated by @unescowhc.@NicolasMaduro gov’t is responsible for this ecocide. We should raise our voices against this ecocide @UNEnvironment @UN #sosOrinoco

Outdated and destructive mining techniques in Las Claritas Mines and illegal mining is spreading uncontrolled, devastating the environment along the way and increasing malaria to epidemic numbers, toward World Heritage Site Canaima National Park and Imataca National Park

El Parque nacional #Yapacana se localiza en el sector suroeste del #EscudoGuayanés, en la región centro occidental del Estado #Amazonas entre los ríos #Orinoco por el sur y el río #Ventuari al norte y el caño Yagua al oeste.

As the Maduro Regime attempts to maneuver around sanctions that are limiting its ability to produce revenues via PDVSA, they are trying to ramp up gold, diamond and coltan production, circumvent the Central Bank of Venezuela by smuggling these conflict minerals through Colombia, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao and lately direct flights to Turkey, in order to export the minerals directly to Turkey and Iran.

Documentary by Miguel Yabrudes I October 28, 2018 (Spanish) I A documentary series about the Arco Minero del Orinoco, a major mining project and source of massive environmental devastation in Venezuela, which was approved by the Maduro government in 2016 in search of funds to stay in power.

On September 10, 2018, briefer Marshall Billingslea, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing, U.S. Department of the Treasury made a presentation at an informal Arria-formula meeting of the Security Council that focused on the pervasive corruption in Venezuela that has led to instability and a humanitarian crisis, a key aspect of which is the current Gold Rush that is devastating the environment and indigenous peoples.