The authorities of the Mayor’s Office of Muelle de los Bueyes denounced that citizens remain in the urban area of the town carrying out artisanal mining processes illegally, who make “use of highly polluting products with direct effects on streams and aquifers” in the area.
In a statement dated August 8, the municipal mayor, Juan José Jaime Duarte, explained to the general public that the illegal mining activity in Muelle de los Bueyes keeps “the population alarmed by the quantities of small dead fish, since These effects are occurring in the upper parts of the drinking water wells that are used for the supply of human consumption.
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In addition, the municipal government indicated that it has filed the complaint with institutions that have environmental powers according to the laws in the country, before the media and the general population, because they resorted to the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Marena), an institution responsible for ensuring the environment in Nicaragua, but has not provided a response to stop this action.
“We made Marena Regional Bluefields aware as the governing institution of the Environmental Law and no response has been received,” the statement read.
In addition, the mayor of Muelle de los Bueyes urged the citizens who carry out this artisanal mining to “suspend” it because it is affecting the “biodiversity and aquatic species” of the town.
Artisanal miners, known in Nicaragua as “güiriseros”, usually look for gold in abandoned mines or mines that are exploited without techniques that guarantee their safety and that of their environment.
