Venezuelan miners block road to Brazil to protest removal plan

(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Caracas, May 3 (EFE).- Miners in southeastern Venezuela were blockading a road linking the country with Brazil to protest a government plan to forcibly evacuate 5,000 of them from the area, a mine workers' leader said.

President Hugo Chavez's government "plans to remove more than 5,000 small miners from the Las Cristinas sector" of Bolivar state, "and when 24 hours had passed today (Friday) since the beginning of the blockade two army convoys arrived that supposedly are going to try" to remove them, labor leader Abelardo Diaz said from the area.

The president of the Federation of Bolivar Gold and Diamond Miners' Cooperatives and Associations added in telephone statements to Caracas broadcaster Globovision that the blockade eventually will be complemented this weekend by "an initial 24-hour strike" by residents of the town of Santa Elena de Uairen and other nearby municipalities.

Other workers in Santa Elena said they would back the potential strike, Diaz said, adding that Basic Industry and Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz told them on two occasions in recent weeks that the miners must carry out their work elsewhere in the country.

He showed them which other areas, but "there are no schools, hospitals" in those places, Diaz said. "There's nothing."

"The situation is very worrisome, because they plan to remove all the miners from the upper basin of the Caroni River," which would mean the disappearance of almost the entire mining population of Bolivar, he said.

He acknowledged that the minister recently backed off a threat to "remove them with C-4 (plastic explosives), as they are accustomed to doing," apparently referring to army soldiers.

He accused the official, however, of "trying to wear the miners down" and said he did not attend two meetings last week to outline his plan and hear the workers' concerns.

"We're waiting for the arrival of the minister, who supposedly will come tomorrow, Saturday; if he doesn't, we'll immediately shut down the entire town of Santa Elena de Uairen," Diaz warned.

The Las Cristinas development is home to one of South America's largest gold deposits. According to Sanz's office, it is estimated to contain some 323 million tons of provable and probable reserves.

According to press reports from Caracas released this week, the Environment Ministry this month denied Canadian mining firm Crystallex a permit to begin exploiting the mine, alleging "sensitive issues related to indigenous populations, small miners and the environment."

A communique from the Toronto-based company cited by the Caracas daily El Universal said the Venezuelan government "seems to be opposed to all mining in the region."

Crystallex was awarded a concession to exploit the mine in 2002 and was awaiting an environmental permit to begin carrying out operations. EFE

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