In Bolivia’s Madidi National Park, the Andes and the Amazon meet. Their landscapes gaze upon each other, converge and embrace with the full force of their diverse and vast vegetation. This natural wonder continues to resist the invasion of gold miners, who are advancing little by little across rivers and through Indigenous communities, destroying one of the most biodiverse reserves in the world. Illegal mining, the intimidation of park rangers and plans to build a highway through the middle of the park are threatening Madidi’s very existence. Ruth Alipaz is an Indigenous leader and a representative from Bolivia’s National Coordinating Committee for the Defense of Indigenous Peasant Territories and Protected Areas (CONTIOCAP). She says that people in Madidi no longer live in peace, and blames illegal mining for destroying their lands. She claims that gold extraction is slowly spreading along the reserve’s Amazonian rivers and that the miners are constructing a road that crosses Madidi’s “strict protection” zone. “It is very strange that the gold miners’ cooperatives are demanding legal security. CONTIOCAP has issued a statement regarding the demands made by the cooperatives, which surround and block the city of La Paz every time they decide to protest to the government. More legal security, for what?” questions Alipaz. She explains that, when the mining cooperatives talk about “legal security,” they are seeking further investment from abroad to gain access to different areas of the country. Alipaz explains that illegal mining is progressing along the Tuichi River, which crosses Madidi’s heartland.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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