00:00They are explotant.
00:01They keep taking the metal and keep using mercury in the resguard indígena.
00:10Those who brought the mining,
00:13were the brasilians.
00:15They were the ones who started to exploit the mining in the river.
00:20The mining is not an activity of indigenous communities.
00:24It's an activity that has been justified
00:27precisely by the lack of presence of the state,
00:29by the abandonment we have,
00:31because there is no health,
00:32because there is no education.
00:36And behind that, there are a bit of exploiters.
00:38The one who wins is the one who wins the one who wins.
00:41But there is no solution.
00:58Welcome to Iniria Guainia.
01:00We are in the north of Colombia.
01:03We have the border with the brotherhood of Venezuela
01:06and also to the south,
01:10much more to the south than Brazil.
01:13We are surrounded by water and obviously by the sea.
01:16Our roads are the river Iniria,
01:22the Guaviare and Atabapo,
01:25and obviously the Grand,
01:26the river Orinojo.
01:28The importance of this area
01:30is based on the results of some research
01:33made in biodiversity,
01:36all that has to do with flora,
01:38fauna,
01:39aquatic life
01:40and cultural issues.
01:42So, there have been many biologists,
01:44many anthropologists,
01:45researchers
01:46from different universities,
01:47different institutions,
01:48nationales,
01:49internationales,
01:50for 10 years,
01:51more or less.
01:51Also, the territory is
01:54in indigenous resources
01:57or national parks
01:58or national parks.
01:58So,
01:59they always have a territory
02:01in the field of protection
02:02or conservation.
02:03And in the days of rain,
02:05the river goes up.
02:06And when it goes up,
02:07and you see it from the top,
02:09it's like a great humidity.
02:10And that's how it says
02:12the Decreto Humedal
02:13Sitio Ramsar
02:14Estrella Frival Iniria.
02:16The mining is a complex issue
02:19here in Guainia
02:21because it's done
02:23both in the territory
02:25Ramsar
02:26as in what they call
02:27the amortization zone.
02:28So,
02:29water above.
02:30And if it's water above,
02:31it affects water below.
02:33And if it's water below,
02:35it's water below.
02:35What is it?
02:37What is it?
02:38the mining is here,
02:41in the Department of Guainia,
02:42especially here,
02:44in the Indian River,
02:45in the Venao,
02:46it's about to come to the time
02:48of the year 94.
02:50Well,
02:51the mining was the brasileists.
02:53brought the mining
02:53were the brasileists,
02:55the ones who started
02:56to explode the mining
02:58in the river.
02:59But,
03:00we really didn't know
03:01that the mining
03:03was something illegal,
03:06something that
03:07hurt the environment,
03:09the nature.
03:11The minerals
03:12were not created by
03:15us,
03:15indigenous,
03:16but they were created
03:17by people
03:22because they knew
03:23the material
03:24and the metal.
03:26One,
03:26as indigenous people,
03:27I, for example,
03:28as indigenous people,
03:28I didn't know,
03:29I didn't know,
03:30but it was not initiated
03:32by indigenous communities,
03:33neither by the resguard,
03:34nor by the captains,
03:36nor by the cabildos.
03:37It was initiated by the colonists
03:39who mounted the mining
03:40of the miners.
03:49We identified
03:50the environmental problem
03:52in the department
03:52related to
03:54the illicit tract
03:55of minerals,
03:56mainly gold,
03:57through the mining
03:58Aluvion.
04:09In the 2020,
04:11we did a basic
04:14problem in the main
04:16river that had
04:18influence in the minera
04:19for that time.
04:20We did not exceed
04:20the 30 rivers
04:22in the three rivers,
04:23Inírida,
04:24Guainía
04:25and Atabapo.
04:26However,
04:27during the development
04:28of our research,
04:30we saw that
04:31the mining has been
04:32increasing.
04:34Today,
04:35there are no 30
04:37rivers that we have
04:37identified,
04:38but 30,
04:39in each river,
04:41including other rivers
04:42from the department,
04:43like the Negro
04:44and the Isana,
04:45Coyarí,
04:46which we didn't have
04:46reference to
04:48that time
04:49that we started
04:49the project.
04:53The Barsas
04:54is to extract
04:56the mineral
04:57from the deep
04:59river
05:00that contains
05:01flotants
05:02and like
05:03a kind of
05:04cabaños.
05:04There are
05:05about 10
05:07workers,
05:08or 8 workers,
05:09which are
05:10the Guzzos.
05:11The Guzzos
05:12that they have
05:13are those
05:13who consume
05:15the river
05:17with their
05:18clothes,
05:18with a
05:19manguer,
05:20which is called
05:21chupeta,
05:21to control the water
05:23in the
05:25deep
05:25river,
05:26and they start
05:27to work and
05:28extract the metal
05:28with their hands
05:29and with a
05:30manguer
05:31of 6 inches.
05:32Once
05:33the material
05:34from the deep
05:35river,
05:37to the
05:38water,
05:38the
05:38water,
05:38the
05:40water,
05:42and then
05:43the water
05:43with the
05:44mercury liquid
05:49to encode
05:51the
05:52gold.
05:52Once
05:53the gold
05:53is
05:54burnt,
05:55then
05:55the
05:57metal
05:59can
06:00give
06:01the color
06:01that is
06:02yellow.
06:04of
06:05the
06:05water
06:06to
06:06the
06:07river
06:08of
06:09the
06:09water
06:09has
06:11been
06:15affected.
06:17We
06:18found
06:18high levels
06:19of mercury
06:19in plants,
06:20in
06:21sedimentos
06:22that
06:22are
06:22in
06:23that
06:23the
06:26mercury
06:27we could also corroborate that the mercury levels in hair samples,
06:33which were the only ones we took, were also elevated.
06:36In this area it became popular because there was no way to find the resources,
06:45more than all, to take the family forward as a benefit.
06:53Really, we started to dedicate the mining,
06:57to seek support the community and especially the family.
07:09It is the result of a state that does not solve the needs of each community,
07:17although, obviously, they make the efforts, but it is not enough,
07:23and therefore, let's say,
07:24that the communities opt for some economic activity.
07:29Because the mining is not easy.
07:31It is difficult.
07:32It is a luck.
07:33You take your life, you take your health,
07:36you don't eat well, you don't sleep well.
07:39There are other things, but the people do it because they need to bring food to their home.
07:44They have children, they have abandoned their children, their family,
07:47they can do mining.
07:49And they say,
07:50where are the other alternatives for these people who do mining?
08:00But we, as administration, have been looking for a formalization of the mining,
08:09because we consider that it is one of the most efficient ways of having a balance between the production
08:21and the conservation of the environment.
08:24All the communities, for example,
08:26that are very focused on the issue of mining,
08:30they do not coincide when a government
08:33is trying to make a project,
08:36because it takes about a year or two years to be able to take the production.
08:42A man of 18 years old,
08:44Buzo,
08:45from one of the mines mines,
08:46said that I receive $250,000 a day.
08:50If the corporation or the government
08:53or the government
08:54will give me a offer a job
08:55where I gain more than $250,000 a day,
08:57it is magnificent.
08:59I go to the mine and leave the mining at the side.
09:01But that is impossible.
09:03Competition against that monster of economic activity
09:06is...
09:07I think none of the entities could achieve it.
09:10Also, we are working with our mission of the Autoridad Ambiental,
09:13we are working with the military forces,
09:15mainly with the Armada and the Ejército,
09:17to make operations of control against the mining and illegal.
09:21So, we are working with these rivers
09:23with the operational operations
09:25as operators,
09:27they do the destruction of the drugs,
09:31or sometimes they bring them to Inírida
09:33to rehabilitate them.
09:34But it has been a challenge
09:37because in the moment
09:39there are three drugs
09:41and the other day
09:42there are two times more drugs
09:44than there were in the beginning.
09:45We consider that Inírida
09:47has many natural resources,
09:50many mineral resources
09:52that, unfortunately,
09:55they have not been exploited
09:57in a way
09:59rational
10:02or
10:03environmentally responsible.
10:08It's very easy to say
10:09because I don't agree with the minerals,
10:11I don't,
10:12but when you see what there is behind that,
10:14why do they do it?
10:17And behind that,
10:18what there are a little bit of exploiters
10:19is also,
10:20the one who wins the most,
10:21the one who wins the most,
10:22but there is no solution.
10:24And the solution
10:24is not to exploit these machines,
10:26contaminate more the river,
10:28let's say,
10:28let's say,
10:29let's say,
10:29let's say,
10:29let's say,
10:29let's say,
10:32let's say,
10:33let's say,
10:33let's say,
10:34let's say,
10:34let's say
10:35that's not the solution,
10:38it's to give to people alternatives
10:39as they make a goal.
10:40So,
10:40let's say,
10:40let's say,
10:40I cannot let so much in theld
10:41and I don't have a need to kill me so much in the mining, but there is no one.
10:46So we close the doors here and there.
10:49It's very easy to close the doors, but who is opening them?
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