In a statement, the institution explained that, on Wednesday, about “400 troops evicted, dismantled and destroyed more than 500 clandestine structures used for illegal mining” in a sector of the state of Amazonas, on the border of Colombia and Brazil.
“At the time of the boarding, when all the people who were there were ordered to leave the sector peacefully, a group of miners unexpectedly and planned attacked the officers with bladed and weapons,” the FANB said in text.
This action “caused two deaths and three injuries, as well as three military personnel who were also injured,” the letter continued, where no further information was given about those who lost their lives. life, although many NGOs assure that they are two men: one from that region and another from the Amazon state of Bolívar.
The statement, signed by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, said that all the injured “were given the appropriate medical care by the military and public health network.”
Likewise, the Government reported that President Nicolás Maduro “requested the immediate action of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office), to deepen the corresponding investigations.”
Since July 1, FANB has expelled “more than 12,000 people” from the Venezuelan Amazon, identified as illegal miners, “in an impeccable performance, strictly framed by the legal system and, more than all, with deep respect for human rights,” the institution stressed.
Behind the illegal extraction of minerals, added the Defense portfolio, “an untold number of crimes have been created” such as “forced prostitution, human trafficking, smuggling and environmental depredation”, crimes that the Executive held responsible ” Colombian terrorists “who, he insisted, will continue to “fight until their total expulsion” from Venezuela.
This is the first time FANB has reported an act of violence during the evictions in the Amazon, an operation ordered by Maduro that seeks to “cleanse” this region and then start a plan to recover the environment, mainly due to its use of mercury. territory..
