Venezuela signs gold mining agreements with Turkey amid environmental concerns
Tue June 11 2024
Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has formalised agreements on Saturday with Turkey to exploit gold resources in the environmentally sensitive Orinoco Mining Arc amid warnings from scientists over potential ecological disaster.
The deals were signed as part of a broader effort to strengthen Venezuela’s mining and petrochemical sectors, despite long-standing accusations of “ecocide” in the region due to unregulated mining activities. The agreements aim to advance the extraction of gold in an area already devastated by illegal mining operations, which have resulted in significant deforestation and river pollution.
Maduro expressed optimism over the new venture, envisioning it as a step towards environmentally sustainable economic development. “We are going to develop these gold fields and wish for the utmost success so that what we are signing today may serve as an example for ecological development,” Maduro stated at the signing.
Critics, however, are wary. Years of exploitation have left the Orinoco Mining Arc, a territory rich in minerals, severely impaired. Environmentalists have continuously highlighted the irreversible damage done by previous mining endeavours, which have dramatically altered the landscape and disrupted local ecosystems.
These new agreements also symbolise the deepening ties between Turkey and Venezuela in what observers term as “an alliance of convenience” between two dissimilar but authoritarian administrations—one maintaining troubled yet viable relations with the West, and the other facing near total international isolation.
Meanwhile, Turkish journalist Bahadır Öztürk expressed deep concerns about the involvement of domestic oligarch Yüksel Yıldırım in the gold and oil agreements between Venezuela and Turkey. Yıldırım’s photo was shared by Maduro during the signing ceremony and later quote-tweeted by Öztürk, who highlighted how Yıldırım expanded his empire through the privatisation of Eti Krom, inspired by the rise of oligarchs in Russia during the 1990s.
Öztürk has repeatedly reported on the murky dealings of Eti Krom and other Yıldırım-owned companies, criticising these ventures as emblematic of how the country’s resources are being carved up, and vowing to continue shedding light on these transactions despite facing legal challenges.
Source: https://medyanews.net/