Gold mining in Colombia’s southern Valle del Cauca department is connected with the drug trade and is causing an increase in violence and unrest in the region, according to the governor.
Illegal mining is taking place close to the Pacific coast and in the municipality of Suarez, Governor Guillermo Alberto Gonzalez told RCN Radio.
“Murders have taken place in Suarez, where there have been massacres, miners were killed there from the coffee region, the environment in these areas is of uncertainty, danger, and public disorder,” said the official.
Gonzales attributed the situation to the rising price of gold in the international markets. “The demand for gold causes miners to put their lives at risk using inappropriate technology.”
There is concern about “the combination of laundering drug money with mining … But we are careful not to put miners into the same category as drug traffickers,” the governor said.