The Andes
Colombia: illegal mining the ‘new coca’?
Outlaw mining operations are a growing sideline for Colombia's narco networks, in a nexus with paramilitaries and companies operating on the margins of the law.
Tag: informal mining
The Amazon
Peru: losing battle against outlaw gold mining
Peru sent elite troops to raid outlaw gold-mining operations in the Tambopata Nature Reserve—but they are massively outnumbered by perhaps 10,000 illegal miners in the area.
The Andes
Colombia: cocaine mega-busts keep coming
Amid moves toward peace in Colombia, the goad of the war—the country's lucrative cocaine trade—clearly remains robust, as record-breaking hauls are reported.
The Andes
Anti-gang ‘mega-raids’ in crisis-hit Venezuela
As Venezuela lurches deeper into political crisis, President Maduro launches a new phase in his controversial "Operation Liberate the People" security program.
The Amazon
Peru: state of emergency over illegal mining
Peru's President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency in the rainforest region of Madre de Dios following reports of mercury poisoning by outlaw gold-mining operations.
The Andes
Afro-Colombian anti-mining protests repressed
Afro-Colombian protesters blocking the Pan-American Highway in southern Cauca region to protest illegal mining on their lands were violently dispersed by the riot police.
Africa
Mining fuels renewed Darfur conflict
Russia is blocking release of an internal UN report that apparently shows how pro-government militias in Darfur are making some $54 million per year in gold mining.
The Andes
Colombia: will paras fill post-FARC power vacuum?
Rights groups see an urgent threat that criminal gangs and paramilitary groups will fill the power vacuum in remote areas of Colombia as the FARC is demobilized.
The Andes
Venezuela: massacre reported at wildcat mine
Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro ordered creation of a "Special Military Zone" in the Orinoco Mineral Arc following reports of a massacre at a mining camp in the region.
The Andes
Colombia: peasants sue over mining contamination
Indigenous and Black communities in Colombia’s Chocó department filed a lawsuit, claiming 37 of their children died after drinking water contaminated by nearby mining operations.
The Amazon
Peru: miner protests paralyze rainforest region
Informal gold-miners paralyzed Peru's southern rainforest region of Madre de Dios for weeks to demand the overturn of executive decrees restricting their activities.
East Asia
China allows first pollution suit under new law
A court in China ruled that a lawsuit against ConocoPhillips China and China National Offshore Oil for a 2011 oil spill can proceed under a new law allowing NGOs to directly sue polluters.