As reported by investigative website InSight Crime, a recent study by conflict analysts the Toledo International Center for Peace (CITpax) said that in eight Colombian departments including Cauca, illegal gold mining now beats coca as the main source of income for armed groups, with obvious consequences for anyone trying to eek out an honest living.
Across the country, genuine artisanal, ancestral miners say they are being tarred with the same brush as guerrillas and Bacrim – to whom many must pay extortion money - and feel their self-regulated methods are far less environmentally damaging than large-scale extraction. Nonetheless, many subsistence operations have been declared illegal.
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