"Hundreds of hectares of pristine rainforest destroyed by illegal mining in Venezuela", 17 July 2022

...In a recent report, local NGO FundaRedes denounced the disorderly exploitation of the Arc and blamed the Nicolás Maduro administration for the environmental disaster, which is said to be promoted from the top down “to cover the income deficit caused by the oil crisis, the dismantling of basic industries and failed economic policies”...

“FundaRedes has repeatedly denounced the massive clear-cutting of trees, which is carried out in the OMA in order to prepare the ground for the construction of illegal runways, used for the takeoff and landing of aircraft involved in drug trafficking and mineral smuggling operations,” the report reads.

According to the NGO, deforestation is causing the fragmentation of ecosystems and this, in turn, is leading to the loss of biodiversity, and soil and water contamination...

The experts consulted for the report also pointed out that the use of pressure washers is having an impact on the soils as well, leaving them completely sterile and devastating their biodiversity in a manner that makes it almost impossible for them to naturally recover.

“The State is an accomplice in the irrational exploitation of our mineral wealth in the Orinoco Mining Arc and, thus, has violated fundamental rights such as the right to life, to a healthy and sustainable environment, the right to work, to owning property, to health, the rights of Indigenous peoples, among others”...