Newsletter #21 covers the latest threats to indigenous peoples in Southern Venezuela & continued rise in illegal mining
Newsletter 21 | October 2020
Coronavirus Spreads Deep Into the Amazon, Imperiling an Ancient Tribe Article in the Wall Street Journal - September 27, 2020
Covid-19 is infecting the Yanomami in Brazil & Venezuela, who are uniquely vulnerable due to their isolation, poor health care and high sociability.
An investigation of mercury trafficking networks in the Amazon reveals how Venezuelan gold is laundered into legitimate supply chains and could end up in products made by the world’s biggest corporations.
Venezuela's Illegal Mining - Human Suffering and Environmental Disaster
With an introduction by Dr. Peter West, Economist at EM Funding and Chair of the British Venezuelan Society & Chamber of Commerce and panelists Dr. Vanessa Neumann, Official Representative of President Juan Guaidó to United Kingdom and Honorary President of the BVS and Cristina Burelli, Founder and Executive Director of @V5 Initiative, a nonprofit that advises and connects civil society organisations in the Americas, and international liaison for SOSOrinoco
Moderation and closing remarks by Dr. Federica Paddeu, Derek Bowett Fellow in Law at the University of Cambridge who specialises in law of State responsibility and the law on the use of force. WATCH WEBINAR
New SOSOrinoco report (in Spanish) Autana Natural Monument: Guerrilla, Mining and Drug Trafficking at the Foot of the "Tree of Life"
Since 2012, armed groups from Colombia, calling themselves members of the FARC-EP, settled in Autana and began illegal mining activities for the extraction of gold. Since 2013, the Uwottüja indigenous organizations denounced this situation before different regional and national governmental institutions, demanding the expulsion of the armed invaders, without obtaining any response. They also held meetings with the guerrillas themselves and asked them to withdraw from their territories. As of 2016, there is evidence that the ELN has also taken control of the territory.
Indigenous organizations have systematically denounced the invasion of their ancestral territory by these foreign irregular armed groups. These invaders represent a threat to the life, self-determination and territorial rights of indigenous peoples, who demand the eviction of armed groups and illegal mining from their territory.
The complaints presented by indigenous organizations reveal a series of situations that threaten and violate the human rights of the indigenous peoples of Autana. The Venezuelan State authorities that have the duty to investigate these complaints and take action to protect the affected communities have been negligent and inoperative; complaints have received no response and the institutions have ignored the calls of indigenous organizations. Download full report
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