Map of the Tepuy Yapacana, Amazonas state, showing the mining sites that were evicted by the Venezuelan Army. Photo: X/@hernandezlarez.
Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) dismantled eight mines and over 350 makeshift buildings in Tepuy Yapacana mountain, Amazonas state.
The strategic operational commander of the FANB (CEOFANB), Domingo Hernández Lárez, reported that the destruction of the mines was carried out during a raid on the top of Tepuy Yapacana.
Through social media, Hernández Lárez wrote that the FANB troops also evacuated more than 950 illegal miners from the protected Amazon jungle. These miners were engaged in ecocidal destruction with logistic support from the Colombian Guainía department.
The commander explained that these illegal miners used Indigenous, local, and foreign labor to impose a culture of extermination and undermining the rule of law.
Hernández Lárez also added that hundreds of devices and machinery were destroyed during the operation, including percussion drills, explosives, high-pressure hoses, and electric power generators.
En incursión sobre la cima del Cerro Yapacana, antiguo tepui ancestral de la selva venezolana, #FANB desmantela y destruye ocho (08) minas y más de 350 edificaciones improvisadas, y evacua a más de 950 mineros ilegales, quienes patrocinados desde el departamento de Guainía en… pic.twitter.com/kcLC89CyaG
— GJ. Domingo Hernández Lárez (@dhernandezlarez) August 26, 2023
Additionally, air compressors for breathing air in caves (compressed air), blasting machines, electric saws, stone-crushing machines, and dozens of logistic materials for the depredation of nature were also seized.
The members of the FANB located seven gallery tunnels with scaffolding and devices for drilling the ancestral terrain.
“FANB will not allow the flagrant violation of the Venezuelan territorial legal order under any circumstances,” wrote Hernández Lárez on social media.
Nearly 2,000 Illegal Miners Evicted from Venezuela’s Amazonas State
More than 9,000 illegal miners evacuated
Since July 1, 2009, the FANB has evacuated more than 9,000 illegal miners from Venezuela’s Amazonian region.
These procedures are carried out with respect for human rights and the environment, according to Venezuela’s fifth Historic Objective.
Más de 9.000 mineros ilegales han sido evacuados del Parque Nacional Yapacana, por encontrarse en áreas de seguridad y resguardo del Estado venezolano. La protección del medio ambiente es un deber y un derecho ciudadano.#IntegrarEsVencer pic.twitter.com/j61hT2Gb8M
— GJ. Domingo Hernández Lárez (@dhernandezlarez) August 25, 2023
The evacuation of these illegal miners comes from President Nicolás Maduro’s instructions to clean up the Amazon.
This aims to preserve life on the planet, ecosystems, and the environment, which is a citizen’s duty and right.
President Maduro ordered military deployment in the Bolivar, Amazonas, Sucre, Apure, Zulia, Falcon, and Tachira states, among others.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
