Exploiting Venezuela’s Uncertain Future: Resource Conflicts and the Environment Bram Ebus

In the five years since the signing of the Orinoco Mining Arc decree, the blatant human signing of the Orinoco Mining rights violations and environmental degradation Arc decree, the blatant human caused by gold mining have been broadly rights violations and documented. [...] 7 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Independence of the Justice System and Access to Justice in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, including for Violations of Economic and Social Rights, and the Situation of Human Rights in the Arco Minero del Orinoco Region”, July 2020. [...] UNESCO World Heritage site.11 The National Assembly called attention to the serious contamination, deforestation, and tropical diseases related to the expansion of mining projects and underscored the constitutional obligation of the state to safeguard the environment, protected areas, biological diversity, and genetic resources.12 Despite these and other efforts, Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal strip. [...] mining areas and direct stakes in the sector, including through the state military mining company, CAMIMPEG.21 In Bolívar state, the military-run state company, Corporación Venezolana de Minería (CVM), collects “taxes” to be paid in gold in order to use a local airport.22 Despite many rumors, the stakes of government and political elites in illegal mining are difficult to confirm. [...] Meanwhile, the heavy investment of the Maduro government in illegal gold mining and other illicit activities constitutes a critical challenge in the search for a peaceful solution to the Venezuelan crisis.