Mineria Ilegal

A venezuelan indian fishes at an indigenous village near an illegal mine along the banks of the Caura River in Venezuela's southern Bolivar State. Similar to the gold rush in California in the middle of the 19th century, the zone known as the Shield of Guyana that encompasses southern Venezuela, eastern Colombia, northern Brazil and all of Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana has turned into a center for gold mining. Venezuela's army has evicted thousands from makeshift towns in one of the world's most pristine jungles, where wildcat miners tempted by high gold prices rip down trees and blast mercury into mud.