Despite repeated and widely publicized government operations against illegal mining in Venezuela’s Amazonas state, the criminal networks and corrupt actors behind the trade have only deepened their presence.
On June 25, Venezuelan soldiers seized seven light aircraft, a helicopter, and nearly 7,000 liters of fuel at a clandestine airstrip in Alto Orinoco municipality, less than 25 kilometers from the Brazilian border, according to Domingo Hernández Lárez, Operational Strategic Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana – FANB).
The raid was the latest of more than 20 interventions InSight Crime has recorded as part of Operation Neblina 2025, a military campaign aimed at curbing illegal mining of strategic and metallic mineral resources, including gold, coltan and cassiterite across Amazonas state.
SEE ALSO: A Toxic Trade: Illegal Mining in the Amazon Tri-Border Regions
Launched in mid-2023, Operation Neblina is part of a broader series of military offensives targeting illegal mining in Amazonas, particularly since soldiers expelled some 13,000 unauthorized miners from Yapacana National Park near the Colombian border.
Since then, the FANB has reported destroying airstrips, dismantling mining camps and machinery, and making arrests. Most actions have taken place in and around Yapacana, though there have also been isolated raids in the southern stretch of Yanomami Indigenous territory, which spans Venezuela and Brazil.
Hernández Lárez, touting the operation’s success on Instagram, wrote that the FANB “will remain permanently deployed as guarantors of ecological balance, biological diversity, genetic resources, national parks and natural monuments, and other special administrative areas in our country.”
InSight Crime Analysis
Although Venezuelan security forces have made some tactical wins against illegal mining in Amazonas, they have failed to dislodge the networks orchestrating the trade. Instead, military pressure has pushed mining operations into new areas.
Near Yapacana National Park, illegal mining activity has shifted to smaller, harder-to-detect sites such as Moyo, Maraya, Mina Cacique, Mina Nueva, and Cárida. These lower-profile operations leave a fainter environmental footprint, complicating satellite detection and international monitoring.
Both the military and armed groups have designated some of these locations as “red zones,” in which they temporarily ban mining to control flows and limit exposure, miners who previously worked in the area told InSight Crime. The shift has caused illegal mining to spread along lesser-patrolled stretches of the Orinoco River while creating new extraction points that evade oversight.
In Cárida, a sector of Atabapo municipality, dredges and heavy machinery are also popping up, according to SOS Orinoco, an organization that monitors environmental destruction in Venezuela’s Amazon.
SEE ALSO: A Golden Opportunity: Maduro and Venezuelan Miners Target Essequibo
Several criminal actors are fueling the mining boom in Amazonas.
On one side is the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) and the Acacio Medina Front, a faction of the ex-FARC mafia. Both groups reportedly operate with the tacit or explicit approval of Venezuelan security forces.
On the other are Brazilian miners, known as “garimpeiros,” who have flooded into Venezuela since Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva resumed office in 2023 and renewed enforcement against illegal mining.
“Brazil pushed them out, but they just moved into Venezuela and saw it as a way to keep doing business,” a member of SOS Orinoco told InSight Crime, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the organization, garimpeiros are operating under direct military supervision in the southern part of Parima-Tapirapecó National Park in Alto Orinoco. In exchange for “operation fees,” they are granted access to clandestine airstrips used to move gold into Boa Vista, the capital of Brazil’s Roraima state.
These bribes effectively serve as tolls that authorize the functioning of mining camps, machinery, and dredges within conservation zones.
Featured Image: Airplanes are destroyed in the southern part of the National Parima-Tapirapecó park. Credit: General Domingo Hernández Lárez’s social media.