Authorities in Venezuela announced on Tuesday that they had removed about 10,000 people from an illicit gold mine that collapsed in February, killing at least sixteen people.
Bulla Loca mine in Bolivar state, Venezuela’s Amazon area, is officially “closed and evacuated,” according to general Domingo Hernandez Larez of the operational command of the military forces, who made the announcement on X.
He posted a video of the massive holes caused by illicit mining on the internet, along with the scores of downed trees that grew up all around the mine inside the La Paragua Forest Reserve.
Following the collapse of the open-pit mine in February, evacuations started. Locals claim that the official death toll of sixteen was significantly underestimated.
About 14,000 illegal miners have also been forced to leave the Yapacana National Park in the nearby state of Amazonas, where extensive mining has destroyed large portions, since last year.
Protesters condemn the “ecocide” occurring in the region and the exploitation of kids who toil long hours without any safety.
According to authorities, illegal miners damage the environment and Indigenous populations by engaging in underground drilling, burning and felling trees, and contaminating water supplies.
President Nicolas Maduro issued an order in July of last year to bring the armed forces into action against an evil that he claimed was “destroying the Amazon of South America… and Venezuela.”
Human rights advocates have criticized the disproportionate use of force used in the process of evicting foreign workers from illicit mines in Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and other countries.
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