By Mickey Veliz.
A legal agreement for the expulsion of dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) from areas where illegal mining is taking place in the Amazon will be presented to the National Assembly (NA) on October 12.
In 2016, the ruler Nicolás Maduro regime launched the Mining Arc gold mining project, considered illegal. In the area that comprises 12% of Venezuelan territory, the gold projects influenced by rackets, and foreign guerrilla organizations are generating tragedies, both human and ecological, with no discernible benefit for the nation and avoiding the scrutiny of the opposition-held legislative assembly.
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The president of the Amazonian Parliament in Venezuela, Romel Guzamana, declared to El Pitazo that they have been working on these regulations for several months to free the country from the subversives who have taken over the natural areas for the extraction of gold.
Guzamana pointed out that the Amazonas representatives will carry to the NA the complaints of the inhabitant’s communities with a strong presence of armed groups, where they began consultations for the drafting of the legal text.
“We are presenting this agreement to the parliament, which will make history because it will break the negative effects of the Colombian guerrilla in our country. These terrorists violate the rights of indigenous peoples and control our territories. We cannot continue to allow this,” said Guzamana.
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The lawmaker assured that the subversives held assemblies in communities near the mining areas, establishing agreements with indigenous people in exchange for extracting the gold, accelerating the deforestation of the protected areas, and contaminating the rivers.
“We are sure that President Juan Guaidó will also support this agreement to expel the guerrillas. The next step is to enforce the rights of the indigenous people, and we hope to count on the Venezuelan Armed Forces to achieve this goal,” he said.
Guzamana said they intend to reach out to the United Nations and request an agreement for the defense and protection of indigenous peoples. “It is enough that they steal our wealth and destroy our reserves. The indigenous people are calling for the departure of these terrorists,” he concluded.
