Meanwhile, a 2016 report, “Organized Crime and Illegally Mined Gold in Latin America”, issued by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime reports that 91 percent of the gold exported from Venezuela (16 tons per year) is produced and exported illegally.
Illegal gold mining, which uses toxic mercury in its production, pollutes rivers and poisons local populations. Venezuela’s Southeast is already suffering from a “perfect storm” of illegality, deforestation and mafias, while there are regular reportsof attacks on miners and indigenous people in the biologically rich Venezuelan Amazon.
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