Natural treasures and biodiversity such as these in Amazonas, Venezuela, are under serious threat from the regime of Nicolás Maduro and the mafias that control the regions South of the Orinoco River.

An article by The SOS Orinoco Team

Two thousand hectares of Yapacana National Park’s surface is being subjected to gold mining activity, a case of extreme ecocide. The impact on its ecosystems manifests itself not only on the surface area that has been directly destroyed but also as the radial and expansive effects caused by the more than 2,000 miners currently occupying the national park. This makes Yapacana the national park that, without a doubt, has suffered the highest level of destruction.

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.

In recent years there has been an increase in information pertaining to a boom in gold mining activity within Canaima National Park (CNP), a World Heritage Site (WHS). Furthermore, this situation falls within the context of a strategic policy of the current Venezuelan government that promotes mining activities over vast geographic areas, and encompasses all mining categories.

Thanks to cooperation with Radiant Earth Foundation, SOSOrinoco got access to and analysis of recent (2018) open data from the European Union Sentinel 2 satellites and access and analysis of high resolution images of Yapacana National Park, courtesy of satellite image ©2018 DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company, that reveal the accelerated pace of devastation and deforestation due to illegal mining inside the park.

Look at the scars left by #illegalmining – prohibited by Decree No. 269 (1989) but allowed by @NicolasMaduro & controlled by the #FARC – that destroy the #Yanomami‘s environment and threaten their livelihood.

La minería ilegal en el Edo. Bolivar y el Edo. Amazonas están convirtiendo a #Venezuela en EXPORTADORES de Malaria. Brasil reconoce el grave problema que esto representa #sosOrinoco @MPPSalud @MineaOficial @CorreodelCaroni pic.twitter.com/pvg7YYfmIe — SOS Orinoco (@SOSOrinoco) May 23, 2018 Out of control illegal mining in the states of Bolivar and Amazonas have converted Venezuela in […]

Mapa de las 15 minas de oro ilegales dentro del Parque Nacional Canaima (Patrimonio de la Humanidad) Map of the 15 illegal gold mining sites inside Canaima National Park (World Heritage Site)

Recent satellite images (May 2018 reveal and confirm the location of the illegal mining site Maraya inside YAPAKANA National Park in Amazonas State (Venezuela) where any type of mining is forbidden in the 1999 Constitution of Venezuela. Criminal illegal mining in this state is not only allowed but exploited by the Venezuelan Armed Forces, in particular by the regional command REDI Guayana.

This past week the presence of ELN guerrillas has been confirmed in the the town of Guasipati, Edo. Bolivar. This is far east of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, confirming what has long been suspected and rumored, that the government of Venezuela has lost control of our national sovereignty and has probably made a deal with the ELN, allowing it to make incursions way inside Venezuelan territory.