Clarín in Caracas: How is the black gold trade with which Maduro seeks to survive – 01/02/2019

The triangulation carried out this week by the government of Nicolás Maduro to sell some of the gold reserves to the United Arab Emirates through Russia has revived the debate over the dark origin of the precious metal Venezuelaand also on the entangled mining process taking place in the famous Orinoco Mining Arc, a company where mafias, miners, garimpeiros, traffickers, Colombian guerillas and military dedicated to illicit companies converge.

This fraternity was formed by decantation due to inoperability, apathy and, obviously, a high rate of corruption. It started with an interesting process of nationalization of the industry by Hugo Chávez in 2011, with the aim of diversifying the production matrix in Venezuela so as not to depend so much on oil and ended up being devastated by illegal companies .

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Production has been totally flattened in recent years, despite the fact that Venezuela has one of the largest gold deposits in the world. Now, Maduro had to resort to this metal again before the financial crisis that suffers from international sanctions and, especially, before the loss of oil revenues.

The mechanism of this exploitation is complex and absolutely contaminated by illegal groups. It extends over 111,000 square kilometers near the Amazon – the extension of Cuba – and it is estimated that in addition to gold, there are reserves of copper, diamonds, coltan, iron, bauxite and other minerals.

"There are a lot of resources in the mining ark, but the focus is on gold, diamonds and coltan.There are mostly Venezuelans who work alone, although there is a lot of work going on there. there are also Colombians and Brazilians, and the ELN (National Liberation Army, Colombian guerrilla), "he said. Clarin the president of the Chamber of Mines of Venezuela, Luis Rojas Machado.

The specialist points out that There were four companies in the region at the time of nationalization. "A sort of gold socialization process has started, from 5,000-hectare concessions to plots of 10 to 50 hectares, and they have been given to people without industrial or technological resources." The idea was that they would produce and sell gold in the state, which would have another income. "It was the official plan, but it failed," he says.

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"The reality is that there is no serious exploration, it is a series of people picking pebbles by pickaxe and shovel, or doing one or the other excavation. They do it in an artisbad way, they open a hole until they get something and this causes a devastation of the jungle, a huge environmental pollution and significant damage in the deposits, "said Rojas. Machado.

Vilisa Morón, president of the Venezuelan Society of Ecology, denounces the more devastating effects than we see: "It was badumed that the intention was to install a mechanism to regulate this. that was extracted by informal mining, but there is no such monitoring and not only is an illicit extraction being produced, but there is also no control of the environment nor any obligation to repair deforested areas. "

The other side is the marketing of gold. Since there is no control, much of it ends up in the illegal traffic. The small Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, administratively linked to Holland, are the ways out of this wealth. The traffickers find that it is easy to carry gold and diamonds, as they are only 50 km from the Venezuelan coast.

Last February, a Venezuelan man was arrested at the Aruba airport with a suitcase filled with gold bullion. His intention was to transport about 50 kg to Holland, worth close to 1.7 million euros.

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According to the denunciations of international organizations, Chavez officials and military sectors are involved in this illegal trade. The situation has reached such a level that the Dutch legislator Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) has asked the government of his country to apply stricter controls to put an end to this smuggling.

"What is happening is that they dismantled the state structure that existed and that it became a black business.According to the law, gold must be purchased by the bank Venezuela's central bank.But it's not like that.The entity has six informal agents who buy gold for the bank, but many escape via Curacao, Aruba, the traffic drug, garimperos in Brazil.All illegal routes, "said Rojas Machado.

In 2017, it seemed like things were going to go. The plant began to legally buy gold through an authorized agency. But the a hard internal struggle began in Chavez. The sector that won the power launched a purification plan called "metal needle operation", which provided for the elimination of the entire sector that controlled the marketing of gold. There were a dozen inmates. "What they were looking for," says the specialist, was to reduce the current marketing system, which, although protected by the state, was not accepted by the new hierarchies and all resulted in l & # 39; informality ".

"You can put 100,000 people with shovels and picks and you will get gold because the region is very rich, but it is ephemeral, of poor quality, the real gold is in depth. There is no one to invest in. Even the Turks, Iranians and Chinese are asking you to invest a certain formality in the laws and control mechanisms, "Rojas Machado said.

Caracas, special envoy.