Puerto Ordaz was once Venezuela’s industrial hub, a modernist dream of broad boulevards and ranks of factories and gateway to a belt of rich oilfields that funded government largesse for decades. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A vendor sells coffee in front of a gold buying store in Puerto Ordaz. Gold fever has fuelled a proliferation of armed gangs, drawn in a Colombian guerrilla group, the ELN, fostered corruption in the national security forces, and insecurity in Puerto Ordaz. In the region, many who are not directly digging for gold are dependent on the gold economy to survive. In recent decades, as Venezuela swam in the easy profits from oil, the gold mines seemed more like historic curiosity than going concern.

Source: The Guardian June 08, 2019 10:52 UTC