The illegal mining in Peru advances unchecked in the regions of Huánuco and Ucayali, transforming thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest into devastated areas.
Recent operations have revealed the magnitude of the problem: industrial dredges, makeshift camps, and massive mercury contamination.
According to the program Cuarto Poder, the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office and the Peruvian Navy documented how this illicit activity irreversibly alters the natural landscape of the Peruvian Amazon.
In areas like Pampas Verdes, the forest was replaced by gold extraction workshops and precarious housing.
The uncontrolled expansion evidences the lack of state presence in these territories.
Illegal mining in Peru: mercury contaminates rivers and destroys biodiversity
The illegal mining in Peru uses mercury to separate gold, severely contaminating the waters of the rivers and the soils of the region.
This substance harms both humans and the local fauna and flora.
Satellite images released show how in just three years extensive areas of jungle have been transformed into craters of contaminated water and mining fields.
What was once a green paradise is now land ravaged by dredges and heavy machinery that removes the riverbeds.
The environmental impact includes:
- Destruction of thousands of hectares of the Amazon
- Contamination of rivers with mercury and sediments
- Alteration of the natural course of waters
- Irreparable loss of biodiversity
- Transformation of the regional water map
According to the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, this activity generates more than 12 billion soles annually, even surpassing the profits of drug trafficking in some areas.
Authorities identified key figures such as Nilda Cisneros Barrientos, involved in the logistics and financing of these illegal operations.
Communities, trapped between economy and devastation
In communities like Tahuantinsuyo, a social bond was even created with the illegal miners due to the absence of effective government.
They finance projects like roads and schools, which generates the tacit support of the local population.
This social support allows the mafias to take control of vast territories in Peru and operate with total impunity in illegal mining.
Thus, the population considers these activities as a source of vital income for their subsistence, despite the environmental damage.
Despite joint operations by the Navy and the Prosecutor’s Office managing to destroy machinery and capture those involved, the response of the Peruvian State remains insufficient.
In areas like Pampas Verdes and Tahuantinsuyo, mining camps have even replaced villages, and illegal mining advances unchecked.
The miners, supported by the community, confront the authorities with violence, complicating interventions.
The lack of state control in the affected areas thus allows this environmental catastrophe to continue expanding.
Without decisive action, illegal mining in Peru will continue to devastate natural resources and severely affect the communities in the Amazon that depend on them.
