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Why is Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro still in power? The country’s oil industry has collapsed, his people are starving and his government is increasingly isolated. But Maduro has one cash cow left: Gold. (THREAD) #SmugglersParadise
America’s demand for the precious metal is helping fuel Venezuela’s illegal gold mining trade. Venezuela’s ‘blood gold’ is being smuggled, and Miami, the center of the anti-Maduro movement, sits at the very heart of the scheme. #SmugglersParadise miamiherald.com/news/nation-wo…
American consumers are unwitting players in a vicious game. Organized crime groups and members of Maduro’s National Guard have taken over villages and turned them into gold mining hells, exploiting workers and killing residents with impunity. #SmugglersParadise 
“The military arrived to do business, not to protect the citizens. Every week there is a murder,” one businessman said. #SmugglersParadise hrld.us/2Yc47Lp
It’s not just the military. Venezuelan crime syndicates and Colombian armed groups also have their hands in the illegal gold trade. For those trying to escape Maduro’s rule, the groups have one thing in common: They make the journey out of Venezuela dangerous. #SmugglersParadise
Many refugees end up having to smuggle gold, bribing their way through National Guard and guerrilla checkpoints to get the metal to the Colombian border. #SmugglersParadise
Trying to evade those tolls can be deadly. ‘If they want to collect, you pay or die,’ said a former Venezuelan soldier who now smuggles gold. #SmugglersParadise hrld.us/2Yd57ii
South America’s indigenous people also aren’t spared. Illegal gold mining is destroying the rainforest, and toxic mercury — used to bind gold flakes — is poisoning the region’s water supply. #SmugglersParadise
A 2017 study found that communities living along Colombia’s Atabapo, Guainía and Inírida rivers, near the Venezuelan mines, had about 60 times the maximum safe level of mercury recommended by the World Health Organization. #SmugglersParadise hrld.us/2SvvEX2
It’s hard to fully grasp the scope of Venezuela’s gold trade. Less than 50 miles away from Venezuela, the shiny Caribbean beaches of Curaçao and Aruba have become much more than tourist destinations. #SmugglersParadise
The private and commercial planes flying over sunburned tourists have been dropping off thousands of pounds of Venezuelan gold, according to airport operators, customs officials and government sources. #SmugglersParadise hrld.us/30QLfDy
After hopscotching across the Caribbean, Venezuelan gold is landing in world-class refineries thousands of miles away. The refineries are inadvertently laundering ‘blood gold’ while obscuring the devastation surrounding its origins. #SmugglersParadise hrld.us/2YaGWRN
The @MiamiHerald and @elnuevoherald partnered with @InfoAmazonia, @RunRunesWeb, @CorreodelCaroni and @decorrespondent on this series, which was aided by the Human Rights Foundation and the Dutch Fund for Journalism Projects. #SmugglersParadise
@elnuevoherald @InfoAmazonia @RunRunesWeb @CorreodelCaroni @decorrespondent For more investigative journalism like this series, please consider subscribing. #ReadLocal hrld.us/2YdMI54
