The Environmental Prosecutor’s Office and the Navy detected extensive illegal mining operations in Huánuco and Ucayali, where hidden dredges, industrial engines and camps were found installed in sectors such as Pampas Verdes, where the Amazon forest has been replaced by workshops and contaminated pools.
According to a report by “Fourth Estate”During the operations, machinery used to remove the bed of the Pachitea River was destroyed and extract gold with mercury, which has caused serious environmental damage.
The satellite images show how In just three years the green areas have become craters of murky water, while Some communities justify these activities that finance works in the absence of the State.
The Prosecutor’s Office estimates that these illicit economies move more than 12 billion soles a year, a figure that already exceeds drug trafficking.
The Sunday newspaper revealed that among the main operators identified is Nilda Cisneros Barrientos, a person with a criminal record, registered as a supplier to the State and a political activist, who was even recorded attacking police officers during an operation. The authorities maintain that the magnitude of the machinery and logistics reveals organized financing behind these extractive activities.
Prosecutor Frank Almanza warned that the lack of state presence has allowed illegal mining to take root and gain support in some sectors, in addition to alter the course of rivers and modify the water map of the Amazon.
