Havana/The municipal court of Yateras, in Guantanamo, condemned five citizens to sentences between one year and six months, and two years and seven months, for “soil pollution.” According to the local press, which described the trial of “exemplary”, the defendants illegally extracted gold from the margins of the Toa River.
Mining was made in the town of Piedra la Vela, “intricate forest area belonging to the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, World Heritage”, explained We will overcome. According to the medium, “in the oral and public view, the documentary, testimony and expert evidence that demonstrated the guilt of the defendants” were presented, who were imposed by the penalties “in line with the seriousness of the transgression.”
They were also confiscated by the instruments used for mining and accessory sanctions such as the prohibition of leaving the country were imposed. As usually, the press avoided mentioning the date of the trial or in which the crime was discovered.
“In the processing of the processes and in the oral trial the fulfillment of the established procedural guarantees and the respect for due process was observed,” he added We will overcomewhich explained that the defense can still present appeal resources to try to reduce penalties.
Illegal mining is an activity that authorities pursue strongly
Illegal mining is an activity that authorities pursue strongly. Last March, in Villa Clara, the police dismantled a Mining Camp At kilometer 7 of the weed road, an area on the outskirts of the provincial head. During the operation two people were arrested. Then, the authorities admitted to ignore the “magnitude of the operation.”
Then it was not pointed out where the miners worked, although it is possible that it is the gold mines of Placetas, where the state mining productions operates. In that place, not only the rocks are processed from the Villaclareño municipality, but also those of a Jarahueca site, in Sancti Spíritus.
A few days before, others eight people were arrested in the tunas for the same crime. Those arrested “were occupied several electrical equipment and other accessories, which allowed them to carry out the illegal exploitation and trafficking of gold dust they extracted from the mine”, during an operation carried out in Jobabo, south of the province, then referred to a note from the Ministry of Interior.
Among the seized equipment were “power plants and current generators, water pumping turbines, (a) electric demolish hammer that is used to crush, chop, dig and cut concrete, and a trocer, a type of artisanal mill to crush stones and (which) at the end of the process the gold dust is obtained”.
In May, in the neighboring province of Camagüey, the local press reported of the judgments made to more than 30 people for nine cases of illegal mining. The defendants were sanctioned with penalties between six months and two years of deprivation of liberty and/or fines of 200 to 500 installments.
Among the seized equipment were “electric plants and current generators, water pumping turbines”
The cases occurred in the municipalities of Guáimaro and Camagüey. As the authorities explained then, the San Jacinto mine, in the first population, “was taken as a target to commit the misdeeds.” The geominera company of the province suffered “economic consequences” derived from the “environmental impact” caused by illegal extractions.
The authorities have been engaged in the attempt to contain the illegal mining phenomenon. Mines Law indicates that “the subsoil is the property of the State, unique authorized to the extraction of minerals for research purposes and exploitation.” However, there are many golden “hunters” who are mostly dedicated to exploiting some small deposits that remain outside the main routes and where the state companies themselves do not get profitable to intervene.
Last year, the official blind press of Ávila revealed that between February and October they were Judged more than 60 people for this type of crime in the province. The figure, however, was low compared to that of 2021, when the sanctioned were 300.
