A report on extractivism in Venezuela presented by the environmental organization SOS Orinoco revealed that 53 people died in 18 mining accidents in the country in 2023.

According to the study, 2023 became the year with the highest number of deaths from such incidents in the last decade. However, the Venezuelan State has not provided official figures regarding the victims or advanced any diagnoses to assess the response and effect of the government’s actions to prevent these accidents.

Across Venezuela, the state with the highest number of mining accidents was Bolívar with 17, while one accident took place in the Río Negro municipality of the state of Amazonas.

Ten of the accidents registered in the state of Bolívar took place in El Callao municipality, which became the most dangerous for mining activity. Three more incidents occurred in the Roscio municipality, two in Gran Sabana and one in the Sifontes municipality.

The lack of government policies is taking lives

Although the Venezuelan State insists on promoting an extractive development model, the number of accidents has increased in the last decade as living and working conditions in mining towns have deeply worsened.

Despite the government’s measure of conducting military operations to pursue illegal miners, the Venezuelan State has yet to propose public policies to regulate mining activities and reduce the anarchy that exists in the most active mining regions in southern Venezuela.

SOS Orinoco has denounced on several occasions the action of armed groups who remain in control of the area, an assertion supported by other investigations that have revealed the existence of clandestine runways in southern Venezuela.

In this regard, different non-governmental organizations have denounced that the atmosphere of illegality surrounding extractivism has occurred under the government’s omission.

Reports have been found of recurring collapses in some sites, as was the case of the La Paraiba mine, located near the Icabarú River, where two landslides took place in less than a month, revealing the authorities’ failure to take adequate corrective measures to avoid more accidents in the area.

Young people lose their lives due to lack of opportunities

According to data collected by SOS Orinoco, the majority of the victims of mining accidents in Venezuela are aged 20 to 35 years old, which means that a significant number of young people are losing their lives in the mines of the Guayana region of southern Venezuela.

In this sense, the director of the Center for Regional Studies at UCAB Guayana, Aiskel Andrade, said that the lack of opportunities and the economic crisis have forced many young people to travel to these areas to find work.

The secretary-general of the Teachers’ Association in the state of Bolívar explained that many schools in the region remain empty after a significant number of young people and adolescents chose to find work in the mines to put food on their tables. One of the victims of the mining accident of 2023 was just 14 years old.

The last major mining accident took place on February 20 at the Bulla Loca mine in the Angostura municipality of Bolívar state. According to official figures, the tragedy left 16 people dead. However, local mayor Yordi Arciniegas stated that 30 people had lost their lives.

In this regard, the governor of Bolívar, Ángel Marcano, acknowledged the existence of mining in the area but attributed the accident to illegal miners, without mentioning the need to implement policies to respond to the high mortality rate in the area.

To date, no clear plan is in place to promote safety and raise awareness about the risks of mining in the state of Bolívar.

Mapping the mining accidents in Venezuela

• Metal Ground Mine: located near Road 10, next to El Muerto Hill, Roscio municipality. Two people were injured on January 21, 2023, after being trapped in a landslide.

• La Villita Mine: located in the Coca-Cola sector, Guasipati, Roscio municipality. On January 25, 2023, a 53-year-old man died in a landslide.

• Unnamed mine: a site located in the Nacupay sector, El Callao municipality. A landslide on April 21, 2023, left three men injured.

• Unnamed mine: a site operated by informal miners in the Nacupay sector, El Callao municipality, where an April 22 partial landslide left two people injured.

• La Increíble Mine: located in El Callao. A man died after being trapped in a landslide. The victim was 32 years old. The accident occurred on April 29, 2023.

• Vincle Mine: located in the Nacupay sector of the El Callao municipality. Poisoning with toxic gasses affected 5 people, 3 of whom died inside the mine while two others were transferred to the Dr. Germán Roscio hospital where they passed away days later. The deceased were 26, 22, 20, 24 and 14 years old. It is the first time that SOS Orinoco registered deaths due to gas inhalation.

• La Talavera Mine: located in the La Tigra sector along the Minerven-Caratal-Sosa Méndez corridor, El Callao municipality. 13 people died on the site when they were walled off by a landslide following heavy rainfall. The accident occurred on May 30, 2023.

• Santa Rita Mine: located in the El Perú sector, El Callao municipality. Three people died and two more were injured after a collapse in the mine on July 6, 2023.

• Sarrapia Mine: located near Caratal, El Callao municipality. Two miners suffered poisoning due to inhalation of toxic gasses inside the mine. They are 39 and 36 years old. The incident took place on August 1, 2023.

• Unnamed mine located in El Callao: a miner suffered poisoning from inhaling toxic gasses while working on the site on August 4, 2023.

• La Libertad Mine: located in San Martín de Turumban, Sifontes municipality. Four men working on the site died inside the mine from presumably inhaling toxic gasses.

• Minerven Warehouse: Caratal sector, El Callao municipality. A fire broke out due to the storage of large quantities of fuel on the site. No casualties were reported in the incident dated October 15, 2023

• Unnamed mine, El Callao: A man died from electric shock while operating an electric hammer on October 16, 2023.

• Unnamed mine: located in the El Porvenir sector, halfway between Guasipati and El Callao, Roscio municipality. One person was found dead inside a cylindrical well. The body was recovered from a depth of 25 meters on October 20, 2023.

• Paraiba Mine: located along the banks of the Icabarú River, near the indigenous community of San José de Wadamapa, Gran Sabana municipality. A landslide of dislodged material trapped a group of workers who were mining gold in the stream in the Paraiba mine on November 12, 2023. The accident left several people wounded who were taken to the Santa Elena de Uairén Hospital.

• Paraiba Mine: A second landslide on the site dedicated to the mining of alluvial gold left 12 people dead and 1 person missing. The accident took place on December 6, 2023.

• Unnamed mine: located in a mining exploitation area in Siapa, Río Negro municipality, Amazonas state. Two people died after a drill collapsed and fell on a group of people who were mining.

• Bulla Loca Mine: close to the town of La Paragua, Angostura municipality. The collapse of a ravine 35 meters high trapped a hundred miners. The accident took place on February 20, 2023, and left 16 people dead.

Translated by José Rafael Medina