" The ones high up in the govt. couldn't give two s**ts whether any gold ever comes out of the ground, 'cause it ain't theirs, and they've got personal self-preservation at stake. They know that if Chavez loses an election, they're all likely to end up in jail under the next regime."

It seems likely that SOMEBODY hi up in the govt has been allowing (as well as just not-disallowing) the illegal miners to plunder the gold. Seems also likely they've been getting their own share of it if we think a bit on just where all that wealth the Chavez family now has. We've talked before about how this could be hard to quit for the ones doing it. And if one of the ones doing it were to have been Chavez, himself, then...hey! its no surprise if it were to be dragged out as long as possible. But now VZ actually rewrote their mining/environmental laws. And now the Chinese are willing to come on board. And now VZ really needs the income.

To me it seems a perfect storm thing, again.