ASSESSMENTS
Caracas' Push for Illegal Mining Is Creating Problems for Its Neighbors
Nov 20, 2018 | 09:00 GMT
(JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP/Getty Images)
Highlights
- As Venezuela's oil production declines, the government will rely more on revenue from illicit mining to help keep society and its political coalition intact.
- The reliance on illicit mining will end up encouraging miners — both those directly controlled by the state and those who are not — to expand their activities into neighboring countries.
- The spread of Venezuela-supported illicit mining into northern Brazil will drive its incoming administration to join Colombia to push for heavier political pressure from the United States or other Latin American countries.