Despite the destruction of the camps by hundreds of police, dozens of miners operating culminate expected to continue in the area.
Sitting on his black suitcase, Patricia Quispe nursing her son as he watched the walls and ceilings camps plastic melted by fire. Her husband had been arrested earlier by the police, who evacuated an area of 15 square kilometers where about 10,000 people, most of them engaged in illegal mining in the largest area of artisanal gold mining in Peru living. "I do not know what I'll eat later," the 24 year old woman told The Associated Press with a high chair for babies, a cart and a gutted mattress.
The soldiers came on helicopters and buses to combat illegal mining, considered a crime since 2012 and from that date until March this year washed assets of more than 4.299 million dollars, according to figures from official investigators.Amid the destroyed forest and indiscriminate amounts of mercury scattered sand, police found 154 engines used in the extraction of gold hidden underground by miners with the intent that they were discovered. The machines were dynamited.
The plot showed enormous craters full of brown water where miners extracted gold. Joining them officers found 16.000 meters and 11.000 meters of hoses used to carry or remove water pipes. Despite the destruction, dozens of miners operating culminate expected to continue in the area. "This threat has been determined globally and illegal mining is one that pollutes and plunders the environment," said Cesar Sierra, general coordinator of the Office of Affairs Interdiction of Illegal Mining High Commissioner.
Peru is the largest gold producer in Latin America and the seventh worldwide. According to official figures, at least 5% of the 141 tonnes of gold produced in the country in 2014 came from the unauthorized mining. Agents also burned 108 wooden camps operated as restaurants, hotels, shops and gold buyers brothels. One of them, called "The Kittens', became the temporary headquarters of the operation with which Peru flag was hoisted.
A tour inside the camps seemed that their inhabitants had little time to escape. In a shop looked on a wooden table a bowl of salad vegetables with a spoon, while another had chickens tied to the leg of a bed. "Here related crimes such as trafficking in persons are committed. I call it slavery. There are girls who are lured areas of Cusco and who knows if they come alive in these forests," Sierra, civil engineer and excoronel army said.
According to Huarayo organization, focused on the problems of childhood, there are 300 children under 18 years trafficked in this area of southeastern Peru. "It's a conservative figure, could be more," its director, sociologist Oscar Guadalupe said. Another 15 operations against illegal mining, with an average value of $ 375.000 each, have been made since 2014 in about 1,864 square kilometers that make up around Tambopata National Reserve, where 500 square kilometers have been plundered and has existed indiscriminate use of mercury, according to authorities.
Lenin Valencia, a researcher at the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA), said mining activities in the area of La Pampa continue because the price of gold, currently at $ 1.084 an ounce, is still profitable and attracts many people to develop these illegal activities around the Tambopata. The expert said the use of force is necessary when operating wrongdoing occur, "but not enough".
"The state in general has many shortcomings; there slowly in the judiciary to process in the chain of gold mining ending bought in markets in the United States or Switzerland," he said. Recently, investigative journalism portal Ojo-Publico.com found documents identifying Peru prosecution of two Swiss refineries as recipients suspected of coming from illegal gold mining until 2013.
Valencia said the state should promote other key activities in Madre de Dios as ecotourism and conservation. Other critics of the large police deployments believe that a more effective measure would be the fulfillment of a rule restricting the use of fuel in the region, but due to the corruption of local officials is not met. "The fuel continues to enter, especially at night. No effective policing, why an operation is the only thing left," a state official who requested anonymity anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press said .
Sitting on his black suitcase, Patricia Quispe nursing her son as he watched the walls and ceilings camps plastic melted by fire. Her husband had been arrested earlier by the police, who evacuated an area of 15 square kilometers where about 10,000 people, most of them engaged in illegal mining in the largest area of artisanal gold mining in Peru living. "I do not know what I'll eat later," the 24 year old woman told The Associated Press with a high chair for babies, a cart and a gutted mattress.
The soldiers came on helicopters and buses to combat illegal mining, considered a crime since 2012 and from that date until March this year washed assets of more than 4.299 million dollars, according to figures from official investigators.Amid the destroyed forest and indiscriminate amounts of mercury scattered sand, police found 154 engines used in the extraction of gold hidden underground by miners with the intent that they were discovered. The machines were dynamited.
The plot showed enormous craters full of brown water where miners extracted gold. Joining them officers found 16.000 meters and 11.000 meters of hoses used to carry or remove water pipes. Despite the destruction, dozens of miners operating culminate expected to continue in the area. "This threat has been determined globally and illegal mining is one that pollutes and plunders the environment," said Cesar Sierra, general coordinator of the Office of Affairs Interdiction of Illegal Mining High Commissioner.
Peru is the largest gold producer in Latin America and the seventh worldwide. According to official figures, at least 5% of the 141 tonnes of gold produced in the country in 2014 came from the unauthorized mining. Agents also burned 108 wooden camps operated as restaurants, hotels, shops and gold buyers brothels. One of them, called "The Kittens', became the temporary headquarters of the operation with which Peru flag was hoisted.
A tour inside the camps seemed that their inhabitants had little time to escape. In a shop looked on a wooden table a bowl of salad vegetables with a spoon, while another had chickens tied to the leg of a bed. "Here related crimes such as trafficking in persons are committed. I call it slavery. There are girls who are lured areas of Cusco and who knows if they come alive in these forests," Sierra, civil engineer and excoronel army said.
According to Huarayo organization, focused on the problems of childhood, there are 300 children under 18 years trafficked in this area of southeastern Peru. "It's a conservative figure, could be more," its director, sociologist Oscar Guadalupe said. Another 15 operations against illegal mining, with an average value of $ 375.000 each, have been made since 2014 in about 1,864 square kilometers that make up around Tambopata National Reserve, where 500 square kilometers have been plundered and has existed indiscriminate use of mercury, according to authorities.
Lenin Valencia, a researcher at the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA), said mining activities in the area of La Pampa continue because the price of gold, currently at $ 1.084 an ounce, is still profitable and attracts many people to develop these illegal activities around the Tambopata. The expert said the use of force is necessary when operating wrongdoing occur, "but not enough".
"The state in general has many shortcomings; there slowly in the judiciary to process in the chain of gold mining ending bought in markets in the United States or Switzerland," he said. Recently, investigative journalism portal Ojo-Publico.com found documents identifying Peru prosecution of two Swiss refineries as recipients suspected of coming from illegal gold mining until 2013.
Valencia said the state should promote other key activities in Madre de Dios as ecotourism and conservation. Other critics of the large police deployments believe that a more effective measure would be the fulfillment of a rule restricting the use of fuel in the region, but due to the corruption of local officials is not met. "The fuel continues to enter, especially at night. No effective policing, why an operation is the only thing left," a state official who requested anonymity anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press said .
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