-
[Nico Ibarguen] The
Peruvian government,
-
is waging a new war.
-
They are fighting
illegal miners
-
sifting the earth for the world's
most precious metal: gold.
-
Illegal mines have
turned forests like this...
-
...to this.
-
A Univision investigative report
reveals that narco traffickers
-
are now in the
gold business.
-
[Quinn Kepes] In Peru,
which is the largest
-
cocaine producer
in the world,
-
gold has now surpassed
-
cocaine as Peru's
largest elicit export.
-
[Ibarguen] Quinn Kepes
wrote a report
-
about illegal gold
mining for Verite,
-
a group that tracks
global supply chains.
-
The Verite's report
-
found slave labor
conditions,
-
human trafficking,
-
and other criminal
activities
-
in Peru's gold
mining industry.
-
[Kepes] The Peruvian
government recently
-
said that 60 percent of
-
all crime could
be linked to
-
drug trafficking
and illegal mining.
-
And they lump
both of those
-
together because both of
-
them generate
a huge amount
-
of crime and violence.
-
[Ibarguen] Peru is the fifth
biggest gold producer in
-
the world worth $10
billion a year.
-
But very little
of that money
-
trickles down to
Alberto Perez who works
-
the dirt in this
illegal gold mine in
-
that protected area of
-
the Amazon called
Madre de Dios.
-
[engine starts up]
-
[foreign language]
-
[interpreter for Perez]
We start working
-
from six in the morning
-
until the following day,
-
we work 24 hours.
-
[Ibarguen] Here, miners have
-
cleared trees to extract
-
the gold out of the mine.
-
[foreign language]
-
[interpreter for Perez] The
sand flows down slowly here
-
and it leaves
the gold behind.
-
[Ibarguen] Alberto
is just one of
-
more than 30,000
prospectors
-
who have marched
through this region of
-
the Amazon with the
hopes of striking it rich.
-
And the miners have left
a devastating mark.
-
Nearly 370 thousand acres
-
of the Peruvian Amazon
has been destroyed.
-
Illegal gold mining's
toxic companion,
-
mercury, has left an
even bigger footprint.
-
[Luis Fernandez] There
is an invisible aspect,
-
which is the contamination
with mercury of
-
the waterways and
-
the ecosystems
of the region.
-
[Ibarguen] Luis Fernandez
is the director of
-
the Carnegie Amazon
Mercury projects.
-
They discovered that
Mercury has seeped
-
into the rivers and
-
worked its way up
the food chain.
-
[Fernandez] What we've found
through testing the hair of
-
more than 1,000
people is that
-
the residents of
Madre de Dios are
-
highly contaminated
with mercury.
-
76 percent of the population
of Madre de Dios has
-
mercury levels above
-
World Health Organization
maximum limits.
-
[Ibarguen] Mercury
is a toxic substance
-
that affects the brain
and nervous systems.
-
But Alberto says
he's not affected.
-
[foreign language]
-
[interpreter for Perez]
I'm 54 years old.
-
I've been working
in the mines for
-
20 years and
I've never felt sick.
-
I'm as lucid as
a 20-year-old man.
-
[Ibarguen] Alberto
says he can earn
-
up to $900 a week,
-
much more than he
would as a taxi driver.
-
Most of the profits in
-
these mines end up in
hands of the gangs,
-
that own the pumps
and machines.
-
[Kepes] In Madres de Dios,
really it's controlled by
-
large familial
base groups,
-
which, you know,
could really
-
be considered criminal
organizations. [gun shots]
-
[foreign language]
-
[interpreter for Tania Quispe]
There's evidence that people
-
engaged in
criminal activities,
-
like narco trafficking
and terrorism,
-
are involved in
illegal gold mining.
-
[Ibarguen] Tania Quispe
-
is the director of Peru's
equivalent of the IRS.
-
[interpreter for Quispe]
We know that 20% of the
-
gold exported in
2013 is illegal gold.
-
[explosions]
-
[Ibarguen] The Peruvian
government is showing
-
its commitment to stop
-
illegal gold
mining with force,
-
but prosecutors have only
-
sent the handful of
illegal miners to prison.
-
Illegally mined gold
is melted with legally
-
mined gold and flows
-
virtually undetected
to Switzerland,
-
Canada, and the
United States.
-
In 2013, the Peruvian,
-
special prosecutor
for money-laundering,
-
ceased $11 million
worth of gold
-
from a mining company
-
with a history of
drug trafficking.
-
[Kepes] A lot of the
narco traffickers
-
use gold to
launder drug money
-
because they can purchase
gold or interests
-
in illegal gold mines
-
or even legitimate
gold mines.
-
[indistinct conversation]
-
[Ibarguen] But that mining company
managed to get the gold out
-
of Peru with the help
of a corrupt judge.
-
[Kepes] You've heard
about narco politicals
-
because we have
the "oro politicals"
-
we have politicians
-
who are funded by gold
-
who use gold mining
to foment corruption.
-
[Ibarguen] Security
video obtained
-
by Univision's
investigative
-
unit shows members of
-
that mining
company collecting
-
$11 million worth
of illegal gold.
-
It eventually made its way
-
to importers in
Miami, Florida.
-
[Kepes] This gold
makes its way
-
into a lot of
our products.
-
So whether that's
jewelry or electronics,
-
cell phones, laptops,
-
gold is in all of those.
-
And so I think that
there's really a need to
-
expand the definition of,
-
of conflict minerals to
-
include these
types of issues in
-
Latin America where gold
-
is really fueling slavery,
-
violence, corruption,
organized crime.
