"Colombia’s largest drug cartel extracting gold from protected area ", 05 May 2024

...The governor of Colombia’s central-northern department of Santander, Juvenal Díaz, has denounced the presence of members of the Gulf Clan, also known as the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC), in the Santurbán moor.

The EGC is a neo-paramilitary group and likely the country’s largest drug cartel, which was created after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Their presence in Santander is meant to control illegal gold mining operations...

Díaz also said he is committed to protecting the moor – known as páramo in Spanish – as mining has been forbidden in the area since 2011...

The Santurbán moor is a protected area of the Andes mountains. It is covered with subalpine forests above the continuous tree line but below the permanent snow mark, where water is naturally stored during the rainy season and released during the dry season. 

It is also the area surrounding the $1.2-billion Soto Norte gold project, presented by the Sociedad Minera de Santander (Minesa), a company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi through its investment arm Mubadala Investment Company...