• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

crangel@correodelcaroni.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

With an oxygen machine, two men tear sheets Peru Plant at noon Thursday. Under this fifty year Hoppers structure, pillar of the gold industry in the country, a dozen illegal miners rest of improvised day that afternoon.

On the way to the stacking yard, over 50 men dig holes with shovels and picks. Barranco below, men and women organized into gangs penetrate the earth in search of gold.

- Do not take photos in Ciudad Bolivar said I was working on Minerven. What family will say when I see it? Hahaha, says a man in his 40s, with plastic boots, pants and painted brick colored shirt.

John is one of many who came south for months in search of a better future. He left the garage where he worked in Ciudad Bolivar and now works in the city so called "work for yourself".

A peak and some bags are enough for daily sustenance in an industry whose process of hauling, crushing, milling and smelting was invaded, dismantled and replaced by craft tools.

CVG Minerven workers estimate that was a year ago when the destruction began. The state produces gold below 30 percent of installed capacity, as the aluminum industry and steel in Venezuela, only unlike those factories these have been invaded in some cases by armed bands, and demolished under the indifferent gaze of the state.

To the invaders take their craft is fruit of the land that the government does not work and in the southern towns feeds 90 percent of the economy of the region.

- I molí yesterday seizing 10 bags there and see what it gave me: 2 points, you know? Two points are 400 Bowling. Did I got it now? There are grounds to pay a program (Bs 2,250), but you have to look for them, you have to look good. This one takes it out because well ... it's better than nothing. It is better to be doing little catching anything in the house has Edgar, a former seller of juice a few months ago decided to pursue mining Mendez-Sosa is on the floor. Did you see that is just the structure? (Laughs). All these companies are well ...

The paradox
Panorama Peru-Plant in 2009 broke record of production is the same as the Sosa Mendez, Water Well (former Hecla) or the peripheries of Remevin unfenced, no security on your patio mine.

Of the five processing plants that now make Minerven, only two are operating; memory and Minerven account in 2013 confirms that the state produced 1.6 tonnes of gold from 10 after the nationalization, would be able to melt.

The untapped market for CVG Minerven, about 8 tons of gold, has been profitable for thousands of men and women from all parts of the country attracted by the gold rush; a metal which, judging by the figures of the Central Bank of Venezuela, does not stay in the country.

According to the latest official data, the contribution of the mining sector to gross domestic product fell 21 percent in 2013.

The data are a paradox in the current recession. While the commodity boom injected life into the economies around the world in the last decade, Venezuela's gold industry recorded its lowest levels despite having one of the most important reserves.

The nationalization of the industry in Venezuela in 2011 coincides with the 500% increase in gold prices between 2002 and 2012.

Waste
Is that the reason why the gold business has become so lucrative and criminal. Between November and May this year, 35 people have died in the control of illegal mines in the southern state; enter as many or statistics.

On Thursday morning police get finished the last invaders who carried switches, cables, zinc sheets, motors, air conditioners, chairs, and whatever part winches stay on the road.

In the courtyard of Remevin Captain Antonio Vera-today-hundred bags of miners extract material from a broken pipe that under normal conditions, should transport the material (glue) to a pool for reuse.

"Gold is bouncing it by the tail. By 0.001 points should go here (gold), but if this is a backpack bouncing two points mean they are leaving a significant amount bounce, "says a worker who preferred anonymity. "Here's us against the wall."

For Sosa Mendez, only a blue lettering in the past identified the mine overlook in the scrub and badly hung a schedule of the day realize that a year ago ruled for three shifts at the mine.

How CVG Minerven let invade and dismantle state property? Nobody explains clearly, much less the official reports of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mines budgeted year after years of technological adaptation plans in these plants.

Eagle
supporters of Chavez in South buy the idea that anarchy Minerven has been planned by an industry executive, who plans to take the minimum production to precipitate a new entry of TNCs.

"There was a respect for the Armed Forces before. The equity security of the company was an authority, "says an engineer at the mine who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs.

- And why not?
- Security Company, Army National Guard and began negotiating with the miners ... the moral was lost. Now when the Guard is who is going to be stopping? Before you saw the Guard in that corner and everyone ... now you hiding? (Laughs) Half and half. They do not come to make order, they come is to negotiate because they know they earn monthly 5000 bolivars, and here in one day can earn up to 10 thousand.

The miners exploiting the remains of what was once Minerven must also negotiate with the criminal gangs that have plagued the area for a year.

- The problem is that they catch the thugs and take away 600 million bolivars and release it with a gun. One that goes around rebuscándose life, searching for the bread of the children of one, grab a bag (of gold bearing material) and want to send pa 'Vista Hermosa (jail). It is so.

In a recent public statement, the Anti-Imperialist Front and Socialist South Axis Bolívar state, calling on President Nicolas Maduro involving industry; petition has also been supported by union leaders of the former Venrus.

Key process

• 4.3 tons of gold produced CVG Minerven in 2009, a record with the production capacity of the four floors of the old state.

• Decree 8,683 reserved activity exploration, exploitation and marketing of gold to the State, becoming illegal activity developed by informal miners.

• The gold areas are governed by the Law of National Security under Decree 8,683. It is up to the Armed Forces and the receipt by the territory.

Check out our photo report: press here