This is one of the consequences of the time D’o or for more than two years. In South America, several countries face an increase in violence between gangs linked to illegal mining. This is particularly the case of Peru, the main gold producer in South America, where almost 40 workers in the province of Pataz have been killed in the last three years, while two common wells discovered last fall.
But this violence also refers to other countries in the region whose territory is partially covered by the Amazon forest and its rich subsoil, such as Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela. Due to a value that has almost doubled in two years to flirt with the $ 3,500, the ounce of gold causes lusts and not simply of the Asian average classes. Therefore, many local gangsters see in precious metals a complement to their cocaine traffic income that could lose profitable, while Cocaïer cultivation has doubled in fifteen years in the countries of the Andean community.
Gold sales that already supplant those of cocaine
And the figures dizzy. According to the Institute of Peruvian Economy, Peru exported almost $ 5 billion in illegal gold in 2024, almost half of the country’s gold exports, while the illegal trade proportion was only 20% ten years ago.
The Brazilian government estimates that gangs generated around $ 3 billion in 2022 thanks to the sale of gold against 2.5 billion cocaine. The transition from one product to another is facilitated on the one hand by the important cocaine income that is reinvested in mining projects that allow whitening the production of gold to make their legal extraction and, on the other hand, thanks to common infrastructure such as landing clues for the plans.
Faced with the expansion of the phenomenon, governments react differently. If the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro prefers to collaborate with the gold mines gangs to guarantee his political loyalty, the Colombian government did not hesitate to resort to violence against the Gulf clan after the flight of about 200 million dollars in gold from the largest gold mine in the country, in Buritica. A decision that led to the death of 20 soldiers and police in retaliation. Last month in Ecuador, where 11 soldiers were killed during an operation to close an illegal mine.
When he returned to power, President Lula took severe measures against illegal gold researchers who actively participate in the deforestation of the Amazon, but were content to go from the other side of the border with Venezuela. In Peru, the pandemic was a balancing period during which the mafias really took control of Pataz Mining Sites, competing for access to local resources. And the deployment of the Peruvian army since February 2024 under the state of emergency has not resolved the situation.
Peru does not find a solution
In 2012, Lima tried to regulate the sector with the implementation of a record that exempts criminal sanctions with minors without a license until they comply with the regulations and prove their rights on the land that operate. But the Reinfo device is a failure in several aspects.
First, only 2.3% of registered minors eventually obtain a permit and those who wish to improve their standards do not benefit from support. Worse, the registration offers gang coverage that does not intend to register and that are content to buy or steal the recorded minors document to bleach illegal gold.
It is supposed to be temporary, the reinfill will probably be extended this summer by the government, which struggles to reform the sector due to the many allies in the gangs of the Congress. Several experts suggest that starting to rethink budgetary positions: in the annual budget, only $ 17.5 million have been planned to end illegal mining, more than four times less than the amount assigned to the fight against drug traffickers in the annual budget.
Source: BFM TV
