Venezuela: Assailants storm military facility, steal weapons
December 23, 2019
A military facility and a police station in Bolivar state were attacked by a group that was reportedly led by a deserting soldier. Venezuela's government called the incident a "terrorist attack," blaming the opposition.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Pena
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A military facility in southern Venezuela was raided on Sunday by unknown assailants, who were assisted by members of the Pemon indigenous group, local media reported. One soldier was killed in the assault.
The incident took place in Gran Sabana National Park, located in the large southern state of Bolivar. The park is home to the tallest waterfall in the world and has long been one of the country's most important tourist destinations.
According to local media outlet El Pitazo, the operation was led by a deserting soldier. The group reportedly ambushed a military detachment and a police station, taking more than 100 rifles and fleeing.
It was not entirely clear how many people participated in the raid, but some assailants were captured by authorities, while others fled through the jungle with the help of members of the Pemon tribe, El Pitazo reported.
The Venezuelan government confirmed that the assault had taken place. "Early today, a military unit was attacked in the south of the country by extremist opposition factions, with a large number of weapons stolen," defense minister General Vladimir Padrino wrote on Twitter.
"It was in this terrorist attack that an army officer was killed," he added. Padrino said six people had been arrested near the border with Brazil and were being interrogated.
Venezuela blamed the opposition for the attack, but also implicated neighboring Colombia and Brazil, as well as Peru, in what it saw as a wider plot against the government.
Though they provided no evidence, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the assailants were "mercenaries" based in Peru, while Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said they had been trained at "paramilitary camps in Colombia" and had received assistance from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Venezuela's illegal gold mines
Although working in the mines of eastern Venezuela is dangerous, diggers from all over the country head underground daily, pushed by the rise in gold prices and the severe economic crisis affecting the country.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Mafia war in Venezuelan gold mines
There is a bloody mafia war raging for control of the unlicensed gold mines in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar. Miners get killed regularly, their bodies mutilated or riddled with bullets. They have flocked to this region as President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist government has struggled with a three-year recession, spiraling inflation and food shortages.
Dangerous life in the mines of El Callao
A worker descends into an underground mine on the bank of a river in El Callao. It is believed, that 90 percent of the gold produced in the South American nation comes from illegal mines. In a country where a crushing economic crisis has fueled an epidemic of violent crime, such mines are "primarily in mafia hands," says Venezuelan Mining Chamber head Luis Rojas.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
"I'll probably do this till I die"
A narrow mine shaft is filled with water and the smell of gases. The handmade wood supports to prevent a collapse look precarious at best. But Ender Moreno is unfazed. At 18 years old, he has already been doing this job for eight years. "I'm not afraid," he says as he climbs through the pitch black, his headlamp lighting the way through the hazardous maze 30 meters (100 feet) underground.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Assault rifle shootouts common
Ender knows three young men who were killed in his neighborhood. "They were miners, but they started running around with gangsters." A while ago, his boss at the mine was killed because he refused to let mobsters take over the business. Two months before that, 28 workers were massacred at a nearby mine, in what authorities called a turf war between rival gangs.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Polluting mining
A miner shows a gold-mercury amalgam he found prospecting. At the nearby Nacupay gold mine, workers dig the earth from the bed of a contaminated river as others pour mercury into pans of extracted sediment. The open-pit mine is known as one of the most violent and polluting in the region.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Desperate situation
Ender looks for gold in an open pit. After returning back to the surface, he contemplates his future during a short break. "My mom says this is no kind of life. But I can't stop because I need the money to help her," the teenage miner says. Workers make somewhere between 260,000 and one million bolivars a month ($95 to $360 or €88 to €334) - which, they point out, is far higher than minimum wage.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Workers sleep on-site in malaria-ridden camps
Venezuela was the first nation worldwide to eradicate malaria in its most populated areas, even preceding the United States in 1961. However, the situation now has changed for the worse, as the country has reported an increase in the incidence of malaria cases every year since 2008. The state of Bolivar accounts for the majority of these cases.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
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A lawless region
Bolivar state has become an epicenter of lawlessness in Venezuela, due to widespread illegal gold mining and organized crime.
The area is also home to several of Venezuela's indigenous tribes, including the Pemon tribes, which has had an antagonistic relationship with the government in recent years.
A deadly confrontation took place between members of the tribe and the army in February, when self-proclaimed interim president and opposition leader Juan Guaido attempted to force humanitarian aid into the country.
Venezuela's indigenous communities make up roughly 2% of the country's population and were once an important constituency of the late president Hugo Chavez.
But in recent years, they have been acutely affected by Venezuela's humanitarian crisis and poverty, which have led many of them to engage in the illegal mining sector.
