By “Venezuela’s actions in the Amazon amount to State-sponsored ecocide.”
Caracas / Brasilia — Embajadores del Orinoco, a Venezuelan civil society platform defending the Amazon and Indigenous peoples, has released the report “The Case for Suspension of Venezuela from the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO)”, urging ACTO member states to suspend Venezuela for systematic violations of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty and crimes against nature and humanity in the Venezuelan Amazon.
“Venezuela is not the only Amazon country hit by illegal mining, but it is the only one where illegal mining is promoted by the State.”
The 90-page document compiles evidence from leading international organizations — including the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, Human Rights Watch, Transparency International, and Freedom House — showing that the Venezuelan State has institutionalized environmental destruction, enabled organized crime, and violated human rights in one of Earth’s most vital ecosystems.
A State Policy of Environmental Destruction
According to the report, Venezuela’s government institutionalized illegal mining through the Orinoco Mining Arc (Arco Minero del Orinoco –AMO)—a vast 111,843 km² zone opened to gold, coltan, and diamond extraction in 2016.
What was presented as a development plan has instead become one of Latin America’s worst environmental catastrophes.
Key findings include:
- Over 520,000 hectares of forest lost since 2000, with deforestation accelerating 170% between 2016 and 2021.
- Mercury contamination in at least 30 rivers, threatening biodiversity and communities that depend on them.
- Massive biodiversity collapse in protected areas such as Canaima, Caura, and Yapacana National Parks.
- Human rights atrocities—forced labor, sexual slavery, killings, and displacement—committed by armed groups and state actors controlling mining zones.
“This is not mere negligence; it is a deliberate policy of plunder and devastation,” said Embajadores del Orinoco. “The Venezuelan Amazon is bleeding, and its destruction fuels corruption, human trafficking, and organized crime across borders.”
Ecocide and Treaty Violations
The report demonstrates that Venezuela has breached multiple provisions of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, notably Articles I, V, VII, VIII, and XIV, which require members to protect the environment, promote public health, and safeguard Indigenous cultures.
Venezuela also remains the only ACTO member that has not ratified the Minamata Convention on Mercury or the Escazú Agreement, both crucial for regional environmental governance and protection of environmental defenders.
The government’s environmental record is compounded by pervasive corruption: Venezuela ranks 178 of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2024.
Despite this, the Maduro administration continues to seek international climate and biodiversity funds through programs such as the “Gran Misión Madre Tierra”—which the report describes as greenwashing designed to access financing while continuing environmental destruction.
Humanitarian and Health Catastrophe
Illegal mining has unleashed a public-health crisis: mercury poisoning, malaria, and malnutrition are rampant in Indigenous territories.
UN and NGO investigations document hundreds of preventable deaths, including at least 260 Yanomami between 2023 and 2024.
Entire communities have fled ancestral lands, seeking refuge in Brazil, Guyana, and the Caribbean.
Corruption and Organized Crime
The report links illegal mining to transnational organized crime involving Venezuelan military forces, Colombian guerrilla factions, and criminal “sistemas.”
These networks control gold production, human trafficking, extortion, and money laundering—transforming the Amazon into a hub of criminal finance and state complicity.
“Profits from illegal mining prop up the Maduro regime and entrench global corruption,” warns the report. “Supporting Venezuela within ACTO risks making donors accessories to environmental crimes.”
A Call for Regional Accountability
Embajadores del Orinoco stresses that ACTO’s credibility and moral authority depend on action.
The organization urges the ACTO Secretary General and all member states—Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname—to:
- Suspend Venezuela’s membership for persistent treaty violations and environmental crimes.
- Disclose all funds and projects channelled to Venezuela under ACTO frameworks.
- Create a regional transparency and accountability mechanism to prevent misuse of international resources.
“Failure to act will deepen the Amazon’s destruction, erode regional trust, and undermine the principles ACTO was founded to uphold,” concludes the report.
“It is time for the international community to stand on the right side of history.”
