In charge of the head of the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), G/J Domingo Hernández Lárez, is the process of peaceful, voluntary and organized eviction of the “Bulla Loca” illegal mine, located in La Paragua (Bolivar state), whose collapse – which occurred on Tuesday, February 20 – left 16 dead and 36 injured.
The announcement was made by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, who detailed the deployment of a comprehensive reforestation plan «because they had completely destroyed that area that corresponds to a Venezuelan natural park.»
“The peaceful, voluntary and organized eviction of that area has already begun, where there are a set of irregularities that I am confirming in an investigation that I personally direct,” he pointed out, noting that, among the irregularities detected in a preliminary report, are counted the “corrupt actions of some officials.”
In this regard, the Venezuelan president specified that the people of La Paragua “experienced firsthand how they were exploited, deceived,” as a result of irregular operations by a handful of officials.
“We are going to correct all of this, so we are thoroughly working on a model that we have already applied in other places in Amazonas, in Bolívar to free this entire area from destructive, highly destructive mining and enter into a reforestation process,” he emphasized.
As of Friday, February 23, there were 384 voluntarily evicted miners.
As a result of the collapse of the illegal “Bulla Loca” mine, teams from the National Risk Management System, as well as officials from citizen security organizations, remain deployed in the rescue, search and rescue work of miners.
