Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Colombia is the world's leading source of emeralds, and illegal mining is commonplace. Illegal mining, especially of gold, has grown due to Colombia's aggressive counter narcotics policies, which increase the risks associated with the drug economy. [2]
Brigade Against Illegal Mining (Brigada Contra la Minería Ilegal): tasked with fighting illegal mining enterprises; Intelligence Battalion Against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats (Batallón de Inteligencia Contra el Narcotráfico y Amenazas Transnacionales): tasked with information gathering activities.
Government officials decided to take action against illegal mining and established a task force in 2015 to deal with the issue, a first in Colombian history. The Colombian security forces then began to remove and disassemble illegal mining machinery, and by the conclusion of 2016, all illegal mining apparatuses were no longer present in La Toma ...
Colombia's four main illegal armed groups grew during 2023 as they consolidated territorial control financed by drug trafficking and illicit gold extraction, according to a secret security report ...
This is a list of mining areas in Colombia. [1] The mineral industry of Colombia is large and diverse; the country occupies the first place in mining areas per surface area in the world. In pre-Columbian times, mining of gold, silver, copper, emeralds, salt, coal and other minerals was already widespread.
The Clan del Golfo (English: The Gulf Clan), also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel.
Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the case with artisanal mining, or it can belong to large-scale organized crime, [2] spearheaded by illegal mining syndicates. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] On an international level, approximately 80 percent of small-scale mining operations can be categorized as illegal. [ 5 ]
The group became independent after the murder of its main founder in Venezuela in 2008 and at its height was one of the most important drug trafficking organizations in Colombia. The group funds itself primarily by trafficking cocaine, marijuana and heroin, and illegal gold mining, thus taking advantage of high gold prices in 2010 and 2011. [5] [6]