Los Lobos, a narco-trafficking gang affiliated with Mexico’s notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel, has infiltrated illegal gold mining in Ecuador. Their activities have reached remote areas, including Podocarpus National Park, where they extort miners and dominate almost all stages of the gold supply chain. Each miner is forced to pay an extortion fee of up to $1,000 every month to the gang, leading to violent clashes in instances of non-compliance, with several local officials opposed to illegal mining being attacked or even murdered.
As criminal organisations in the region who have traditionally focused on drug trafficking expand into other criminal activities, the rising value of gold on international markets and the ease of laundering profits from the cocaine trade have made gold mining increasingly attractive to them.
Keywords: Latin America, Ecuador, mining, primary production, gold, serious organised crime, drug trafficking, illegal mining, murder, money laundering, extortion
Source: https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/ecuadors-los-lobos-narcotrafficking-gang-muscles-in-on-illegal-gold-mining/
Loggers in Ecuador have reportedly invaded protected reserves to harvest balsa, particularly the territory of the Indigenous Waorani community, located in Ecuador’s eastern Amazon region. Mafias dedicated to trafficking balsa have been operating at Ecuador’s borders with Peru and Colombia.
Since 2019, the demand for balsa has surged, driven by the global shift towards clean energy and the increasing production of wind turbines. Consequently, illegally harvested balsa from Ecuador’s border regions has found its way to international markets, including wind farms in China and the United States.
The timber is initially transported via river or road to Peru, where it is either mixed with legal shipments or processed through sawmills to conceal its illicit origin, allowing the wood to be legally exported.
Keywords: Latin America, Ecuador, timber, primary production, trade and transport, illegal logging, illegal timber trade
Source: https://insightcrime.org/news/timber-mafias-ecuadors-borders-cash-in-balsa-boom/#:~:text=Seizures%20of%20illegally%20harvested%20balsa,thriving%20demand%20for%20balsa%20wood
The Ecuadorian community of Barranquilla de San Javier, located near the northern border with Colombia, is fighting to retake its land from a palm oil company that has allegedly used questionable permits and expensive lawsuits to maintain a hold on the area. The Afro-descendant community has lived on this land since at least the 1600s and received official recognition and a land title in 2000. Despite these protections, their ancestral lands have been illegally appropriated by Energy & Palma, a company operating under La Fabril Group, which supplies palm oil to global corporations like Pepsico, General Mills, and Nestlé.
Since Energy & Palma began operations in 2006, the community has reported significant environmental damage. The company's plantations have degraded the quality of land crucial for subsistence farming and have polluted local water sources with agrochemicals, causing health issues among residents. These operations have led to the contamination of rivers and drinking water, contributing to illnesses and diminishing the community's food security.
Keywords: Latin America, Ecuador, palm oil, primary production, procurement of permits, Indigenous rights, land grabbing, human rights violations, corporate negligence
Source: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/palm-oil-company-in-ecuador-operates-illegally-on-ancestral-land-community-says/
The high demand for gold, which has not dropped below $1,500 per troy ounce since the onset of the Covid pandemic, has led to an increase in illegal gold mining and gold exports in Ecuador. This activity is facilitated by factors such as high levels of informality and poverty, the presence of mineral deposits in remote areas, and the existence of illegal mining networks in neighbouring Colombia and Peru.
In the absence of state enforcement, the Indigenous A’i Cofán people of Sinangoe, Ecuador, have mobilised against this illegal gold mining. The group patrols a territory of 243 square miles, stretching from the Andean foothills down into the Amazon rainforest. They are on the lookout for alluvial gold miners who invade their land with heavy machinery and tear up the banks of their sacred river, the Aguarico.
Last year, Ecuador’s highest court suspended 52 formal mining concessions on their land, which borders the Cayambe-Coca national park. However, illegal gold mining has grown significantly in Ecuador’s Amazon. As of February 2023, it had devoured 1,660 hectares of forest. In January, Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso, declared the activity to be a threat to national security. At the same time, the formal sector has grown, with the country’s mining exports growing 34% between January and November 2022 to $2.52 billion.
Keywords: Latin America, Ecuador, mining, gold, primary production, illegal mining, Indigenous rights, environmental crime
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/nov/13/illegal-gold-mining-ecuador-amazon-ai-cofan-indigenous-guardians-mobilise