With the complicity of Venezuelan law enforcement, the environmentally protected Yapacana park is being destroyed by illegal gold mining. In addition, dredges plow the rivers around the park and toxic mercury — used to bind gold flakes — is poisoning the regional water supply.
A 2017 study found that communities living along Colombia’s Atabapo, Guainía and Inírida rivers, near the Venezuelan mines, had about 60 times the maximum safe level of mercury recommended by the World Health Organization. Those three rivers provide much of the water for populations of southern Colombia, Venezuela, and northern Brazil.
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