[Translation provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"Plundering of Bolivian gold: Chinese companies allegedly hide behind mining cooperatives" - 13 November 2022

... Work in the mining camps in Mayaya, a community in the Amazonian forest, north of La Paz, never stops, or hardly ever. Thousands of workers toil in 11-hour shifts in gigantic areas of barren, polluted, desert-like soil, which breaks through like a disease... The miners work for Chinese entrepreneurs. An illegal partnership between Bolivian cooperatives and foreign investors (mostly from the Asian giant) has made this devastation a reality with the complicity of the Bolivian state. Gold mining has destroyed nature in these villages and the impact reaches Madidi, one of the most critical areas of biodiversity in the world. ... In recent years, the People's Republic of China has become Bolivia's main bi-national creditor. Until the end of 2021, it owed 10.3% of the public foreign debt, equivalent to $US 1,312 million. –“The Chinese take everything and leave nothing for the people, but the government says nothing," says a man who agreed to take us in his truck to the mining areas where the foreign companies operate... We tried to find out what the Ministry of Mining and the Chinese Embassy in Bolivia had to say about these crimes and the plundering of Bolivian gold. There was no response from the embassy, despite several phone calls and visits to its offices in the southern part of La Paz. In a note, the Ministry responded as follows: "In this regard, as the administration of the information requested does not fall within the attributions of this Ministry, it is suggested that you contact the corresponding bodies for the purposes indicated." However, it was not specified what these bodies are. ... The riverbanks, deforested, polluted and turned into rocky areas, are full of Chinese machinery, manufactured by giant companies ... There are Howo dump trucks from the CNHTC (China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co.) ... machinery from LiuGong, a Chinese state-owned company. The company Sinotruck Group, also part of CNHTC, has its products distributed in these areas. ...There are Detank motorised vehicles, a brand linked to the Chinese company Zoomlion, whose directors are members of the CCP... Sany is another giant in the global construction industry whose products are in the gold mines of Bolivia. ... Shantui, a Chinese government-run company and world leader in the manufacture of bulldozers, is also present in these areas that are being plundered...