As part of the investigative actions defined to expose the perpetrators and those most responsible for the criminal conduct that deteriorates natural resources, the Attorney General’s Office identified the main articulators of the large-scale illicit extraction of gold in the Atabapo River, in Guainía.
(Read: Authorities seized two stuffed coyotes at the Bogotá airport).
This is the former councilor of Inírida Juan Esteban Barrera Veloza; his mother, Carmen Julia Veloza Pesquera; and Juan Camilo Aguado Hernández. These people would be owners and financiers of approximately 10 dredges used in the illegal mining fronts located above the water source.
A prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate for Crimes against Environmental Resources and the Environment charged them with the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime, illicit exploitation of a mining site, damage to natural resources and ecocide, environmental contamination due to the exploitation of a mining site and invasion of area of special ecological importance.
The material evidence indicates that Mrs. Veloza Pesquera, apparently, was in charge of guiding the logistics for obtaining and transporting the dredges, and of contacting the so-called ‘divers’, young people who submerge and guide the dredges to facilitate the extraction of gold.
(Read also: ‘Prisoners of violence’: social and economic effects of crime in the region).
Illegal mining
THE TIME
On the other hand, Barrera Veloza would have taken advantage of the position of councilor, held between 2020 and 2023, to obtain information about the operations and controls of the authorities in the region. Finally, Aguado Hernández would be involved in the acquisition of supplies and spare parts for the machines, and in the mineral exploitation work.
