Industrial gold-mining projects remain paralyzed as officials stonewall settlement of two-year compensation claims with 300+ gold miners

VHeadline Venezuela News reports: More than 300 miners have decided to blockade all public highways leading from El Callao to the the rest of southern Bolivar State, in a spontaneous action designed to draw attention to the fact that the Basic Industries & Mining (Mibam) Ministry has reneged on a series of promises to provide funding for local projects and to pay compensation to gold miners who were evicted from their claims.

The protest action began with the closure of a main access bridge near El Callao just before dawn on Tuesday and continues of a second day as miners, backed by angry local residents, condemn as crass irresponsibility the failure of central government in Caracas to pay compensation promised two years but reneged upon several times since.

• Basic Industries & Mining (Mibam) Minister Rodolfo Sanz has refused to enter into discussions with the miners saying that a solution to their plight is entirely in the hands of President Hugo Chavez Frias himself, but all attempts to contact the President and/or any of his closest advisers have been thwarted.

Some of the miners claim they have been unilaterally excluded from compensation payments by officials from the state-owned Venezuelan Guayana Corporation (CVG) gold-mining subsidiary CVG-Minerven despite undertakings given at the time of their eviction from the small-scale and artesanal gold mine workings they had previously operated in the El Callao area. They claim they had been offered both compensation and jobs with industrial-scale mining projects at Las Cristinas, Las Brisas, La Camorra and elsewhere but neither the compensation or the promised jobs have material.

Industrial gold-mining projects at Las Cristinas and Las Brisas del Cuyuni remain paralyzed because of an irrational decision handed down by the Environment Ministry (Mibam) in June this year which has since, apparently, been overruled on the direct instructions of the President although no official announcement has yet been made.

Villagers from Guasipati and Tumeremo claim that they are victims of a complete information lock-down ordered by Mibam Minister Rodolfo Sanz, who claims that there is no money in the kitty to satisfy their immediate demands, much less to pay millions on labor liabilities and technology investments to keep other critical CVG heavy industries operational. Sanz keeps telling union officials that the matter is now completely out of his hands and that the only thing to do is to wait for President Hugo Chavez Frias to get around to making policy decisions public, signing off on funding and announcing the final launch of multi-$ million gold mining projects that there is, otherwise, no valid reason for the government to postpone any longer.

Meanwhile a significant number of National Guard (GN) and the Bolivar State Police officers are monitoring the groups of demonstrators at the barricades who say they are NOT willing to move until they get paid the money they are due these last two years.

Law enforcement authorities say they're hoping the situation will NOT escalate but with government officials unable or unwilling to satisfy the miners' demands, the situation could easily get out of control before the weekend.