The gold city that destroys a sacred Venezuelan mountain

Now heavy machinery tears through the mineral-rich earth. A town of illegal miners, armed groups and Venezuelan state forces has turned Yapacana National Park into the largest illegal mining site in this section of the Amazon, a move that threatens the rainforest, scientists say , crucial for mitigating global change.

“They turned the mountain into sand,” said William, a former miner who still works in the area, who spoke on the condition that his last name not be released out of fear for his safety. “No tree can ever grow there.”

The Yapacana has long been a hub for illegal gold mining. But new satellite images provided to the Washington Post reveal how entrenched mining is, from the foothills to the hard-to-reach summit of the tepui. More than seven square miles of the park have been impacted by gold mining.

Advocacy groups Amazon Conservation Association in Washington and SOS Orinoco in Venezuela used high-resolution imagery to identify at least 8,000 mining camps or pieces of machinery in the park’s lowlands. The group found another 425 camps or pieces of machinery on top of the tepui.

“What we typically see is a handful of dwellings and amenities,” said Matt Finer, senior research specialist at Amazon Conservation. “But when we zoomed in on Yapacana, it was like… ‘What is this? “”

A Post analysis of separate satellite images confirmed the presence of mining camps and equipment.

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Finer, who has studied mining across the Amazon, said he was amazed by the density of operations. He said he had never seen anything like it in a supposedly protected national park.

“It really is the lowest fruit, protecting national parks,” Finer said. “If you can’t clean up your national parks, you’re really in trouble.”

Here, analysts and locals say, Venezuelan authorities aren’t just allowing illegal mining and armed groups into a protected national park — some are profiting.

Guerrilla groups across the Colombian border have been mining the Yapacana for gold for years. After Colombia’s 2016 peace accords reduced violence between government forces and guerrillas, their presence in the park grew, reports the International Crisis Group.

Today the National Liberation Army, a rebel group that did not sign the accords, controls local justice and taxes residents, according to Bram Ebus, an International Crisis Group consultant who has visited the mines in recent years. years.

Some of the gold is given to Venezuelan authorities who arrive by helicopter to collect their share, Ebus said.

Cristina Vollmer Burelli, the founder of SOS Orinoco, said the group had been issuing warnings about the destruction since 2018, when “the world focused on other parts of the Amazon”.

Maduro, appearing at the COP 27 climate conference in Egypt last month, called for the protection of the Amazon.

“Millennia of existence have left an irreparable mark on the Amazon,” he said. “We believe that it is the original peoples who should teach us to save and to live with nature.”

Maduro blamed the “great damage” to the rainforest on capitalism. He did not mention the role his government allegedly played in allegedly allowing illegal mining.

William, the former miner, said Venezuelan forces once protected the site.

“Before, the National Guard wouldn’t let you in,” said the man, who grew up in the park and continues to transport minors across the border by boat. “Now it has become a business.”

Karen once helped run a convenience store near the mines. She said everyone from miners to local traders had to pay taxes in gold to three groups: guerrillas, indigenous authorities and the military.

Hildebrando Arangú, director of Venezuela’s National Parks Institute from 2004 to 2009, said the expansion of mining on the top of the tepui is causing “irreversible damage”.

How the miners get to the top is unclear. “When I was working there,” Arangú said, “the only way to do it was with the support of the armed forces, by helicopters.”

William said most of the machinery is carried up parts of the mountain by groups of men on foot. The hike takes at least five hours. He said he did it twice: “Sometimes you have to climb like a spider.”

Ecosystem destruction threatens species that have evolved in isolation on the mountain.

Venezuelan explorer Charles Brewer-Carias identified mining activity atop Cerro Yapacana in the 1980s. During this trip, he photographed a Navia saxicola, a rare flowering plant. He said the bromeliad, which can only be found at the top of the tepui, is probably lost forever.

The same could be true for the so-called demonic poison frog, a small red amphibian that lives in bromeliads. Celsa Señaris, a Venezuelan herpetologist, says it’s impossible for researchers to access the park to be sure.

“I wonder if it’s already extinct,” Señaris said.