el diario has a number of different illegal miner stories today in the various sections (especially the city bolivar section) but i thought this was noteworthy (especially #3 at the bottom). it's the environmental minister "alexander hitcher" talking about the caura plan. oh yeah, they also claim to have 8000 homeless miners now.

STATE POLICY

In declarations offered to the official agencies of the news, Alexander Hitcher, minister of the Popular Power for the Atmosphere (Minamb), assured that “the Bolivariano Government is certain to eradicate the illegal mining of the states Amazon, Bolivar and Delta Amacuro”.

It announced that the Caura Plan is a policy of State so that its execution will be of permanent form. “The miners evacuated themselves who exerted illegally in these areas, with military, police and judicial the consultant's office and defense, in Mining company of Defense of the Ministry of the Popular Power for the Basic Industries and Mining (Mibam), Environmental Day-care center of Guardia Nacional Bolivariana (GNB), civil servants of Monitoring and Environmental Control of the Minamb and a public prosecutor of the Public Ministry, with which the respect to the rights of these people is guaranteed”.

The minister explained that this policy contemplates three fundamental actions:

1. - Eradication of the illegal mining: this action considers priority to stop the loss of ecosystem in the country. Action that counts on a mobilization of three thousand 500 cash military in different points that, in a joint work, will come to the deportation of the foreign miners, whereas the Venezuelans are evacuated and can get up themselves to other activities of social vindication that offers the Bolivariano Government. Between these activities of vindication the mining reconversion considers, offering the opportunity to be developed them in other activities like agriculture and, this way, to dignificar its work with the participation of the National Tierras Institute (INTI) and of the National Institute of Desarrollo Rural (INDER).

2. - Conservation and restoration of the degraded ecosystems: it consists of the cleaning and cleaning of the areas affected by the commercial and human activity that the ecosystem has harmed, as well as the water bodies and lagoons of the different river basins that have been affected by dangerous remainders like mercury. This action contemplates to the recovery of grounds and stabilization of slopes with the use of plants like vetiver and the bamboo, to stop the erosion produced by the loss of the vegetal layer, due to the pumps of high pressure used that erode the land causing cárcavas and transport from sediments to the rivers, which represents serious damages of blighting of the Earth. After reclaimed lands, those areas will be reforested.

3. - Disassembling of the Mafias of the illegal mining product commerce: this action will begin with the destruction of illicit runways, employees to remove gold to the outside. It is had predicted to create a national company where the State will have the total control of the mining and ecologically viable activity in the zone; also, the State will assume the control of all the expendios and gasoline concessions combustible and diesel engine, with the aim of protecting the environmental patrimony that has the country as far as biodiversity, hydric reserves and mineral.