THE PARAGUAY.- The collapse of a mina gold mine illegally mined in a remote area of the center of Venezuela has exposed the sense of abandonment felt by small or rural communities that have been left out of the quasi-economic renaissance of the capital, Caracas, and other cities in the country.
The inhabitants of La Paragua, the community closest to Bulla Loca, an open pit mine where there were dozens of men and women working at any given time, repeatedly expressed their frustration with the regime Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the funerals for some of the victims of the tragedy that occurred.
With at least 16 dead, the accident is one of the worst in Venezuela’s loosely regulated mining industry, which rebounded in response to declining oil production. And the slow response of the State felt like an insult to those who for years have gone from mine to mine looking for income that they cannot find in La Paragua.
Yulimar Soto was one of dozens of people gathered outside a restaurant where they believed the state governor, Ángel Marcano, was. The group demanded to speak with the dictator’s ally, Nicolás Maduro, and at one point hit a vehicle parked outside. Intelligence service agents with assault weapons and police responded to the scene.
According to authorities, 16 people were injured in the collapse of the remote Bulla Loca mine, which had only been operating for a few months. Those returning from the mine by boat or national helicopters pointed out that the death toll could be much higher because it was thought that there are still people trapped and the days continue to pass.
The Venezuelan economy has broken down in the last decade as a result of profound mismanagement of state revenues, corruption and international sanctions. But when the Maduro regime eased currency controls and the population adopted the US dollar as an unofficial currency, Caracas began to see restaurants, furniture stores, skyscrapers and entertainment venues open, among others. Top-level star concerts returned in 2022.
But few outside Caracas have benefited.
La Paragua is dusty and poor, with one-story houses and businesses. There are some gold trading businesses where miners can take what they extract.
Venezuelans practically consider gasoline as a birthright since their homeland has the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world. But in La Paragua, on the banks of the river of the same name, people have to buy it from street vendors and the town’s only gas station suffers from a chronic shortage. And the bag of food distributed by the dictatorship does not arrive once a month, like in many neighborhoods in Caracas.
Residents of the area used to work in agriculture, but that ended when financing dried up as a result of the country’s economic crisis and fuel and seeds practically disappeared.
In 2016, the regime established a huge mining development zone stretching across the center of the country to supplement the dwindling revenues of its dominant oil industry, which has seen production decline to near its lowest level in decades as a result of the mismanagement, corruption and, most recently, US sanctions.
Since then, mining operations for gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals have proliferated. Many operate outside the law.
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AP
Despite their brutal conditions and the presence of criminal gangs, ordinary Venezuelans continue to flock to mining centers hoping to get rich quick and escape poverty.
Alicia Ledezma, a representative of the indigenous community where the mine is located, said that all the injured miners had been evacuated, but that up to 20 more people could still be buried.
Every resident of La Paragua seems to know someone who works there. As the funeral processions continued Thursday, people on the street commented on the dead that had just passed. They accompanied their neighbors to the cemetery and waited by the river to see if a friend would arrive by boat after leaving the mine, perhaps forever.
Source: AP
