SOSOrinoco Newsletter #10
PRESS RELEASE
SOSORINOCO PUBLISHES A NEW REPORT.
THIS ONE ON ILLEGAL GOLD MINING IN YAPACANA NATIONAL PARK (VENEZUELA'S AMAZON REGION) | A NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL & GEOPOLITICAL MATTER OF EXTREME URGENCY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
This report by SOSOrinoco highlights the following key points regarding the situation in Yapacana National Park, in the state of Amazonas, Venezuela:
- Of Venezuela’s 44 national parks, Yapacana is without doubt the national park in Venezuela that has suffered the highest level of destruction. “Two thousand hectares of Yapacana National Park's surface is being subjected to gold mining activity, a case of extreme ecocide. The impact on its ecosystems manifests itself not only on the surface area that has been directly destroyed but also as the radial and expansive effects caused by the more than 2,000 miners currently occupying the National Park.” (Summary)
- Venezuelan authorities have ceased to take effective measures and have surrendered control of this territory and mining activity to the Colombian guerrilla, mainly the ELN. “This surrender has been agreed to under a criminal scheme that benefits Venezuelan military officers and politicians.” (Summary)
- “Yapacana is the largest and least regulated mining area in the entire Orinoco-Amazon region (including Colombia and Venezuela), something that contributes essential sustenance to Colombia's economy and serves as the main source of financial support for the ELN. This mining activity in Yapacana is closely linked to drug trafficking and to the cocaine that is processed in Colombia.”( Summary)
- “Yapacana could very well be called the "territorial" manifestation of an "ELN State," that is to say a State that possesses the three existential elements: a population, a territory, and power. It even enjoys de facto recognition from the Venezuelan government.” “The configuration of its territorial space, whose borders are defined by rivers, a sort of "inland island," makes this image of the State have an additional and real meaning: when one crosses the river one is entering into the ELN's country.” (Chapter 6)
- “Yapacana has become the hub whose spokes branch out as a gradual and progressive invasion by the guerrilla forces toward the interior of the states of Amazonas and Bolívar, and without a doubt, plays a key role in the strategy of survival and evolution of this complex and efficient criminal organization.” (Summary)
- The Maduro regime has abandoned the state of Amazonas: “they have done so deliberately with the intention of leaving it in the hands of an alien and corrupting entity in order to obtain political and economic benefits in what constitutes a negative deed, unprecedented in Venezuela's history. (Chapter 7)
- “This situation persists, furthermore, with the complicity, by action or omission, of the Colombian authorities, which have also abandoned their exercise of sovereignty over their own territory adjacent to Venezuela, and has been left to be used as a safe haven for the guerrillas (yet with sporadic political/military actions), and which makes it possible for a large portion of Venezuelan gold enters into Colombia. “ (Chapter 7)
Attached to this press release is the complete report, which can be downloaded here.
Information about SOSOrinoco:
This is the second report prepared by the SOSOrinoco team, that has been working anonymously to date, concealing the names of its team members and witnesses, due to the level of high risk that this type of investigation currently involves in Venezuela.
The first report “Current Gold Mining Situation in Canaima National Park: A World Heritage Site in Venezuela”, submitted to UNESCO and IUCN in July 2018, recommended that Canaima National Park be placed on the World Heritage Site in Danger List.
If you have further questions, please contact info@SOSOrinoco.org
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Video of satellite images of illegal mining inside Yapacana NP (WorldView2 24 Enero 2017) @DigitalGlobe
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Video of 3D satellite images of illegal mining inside Yapacana NP (Sentinel-2 2018)
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VISIT WWW.SOSORINOCO.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION
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SOSOrinoco #10YearChallenge
#10YearChallenge for Yapacana National Park, Cerro Moyo Sector
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