Brazilians, Venezuelan arrested for illegal mining at Iwokrama

Two Brazilian nationals and a Venezuelan were on Wednesday arrested for illegal gold mining within the Iwokrama Protected Forests.

According to a statement from the Iwokrama International Centre, the arrests were made following an enforcement operation by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Guyana Police Force and its rangers in the Siparuni area.

Those arrested are Rondiney Barbosa Periera (Brazilian), Edwardo De Souza Braz (Brazilian) and Cristhian Jose Cedero (Venezuelan).

“For the past year the challenge with illegal mining has continued, though somewhat reduced compared to 2024, we are now seeing an increasing trend of foreign nationals entering the country both illegally and legally to engage in this illegal act,” the Centre noted.

“It is understood that ‘some’ Brazilians are entering the country under the pretext of vacation or looking for supposed legal business opportunities but with the intention of illegally harvesting Guyana’s gold. Very often these illegal activities of foreigners are aided and abetted by our own Guyanese citizens,” the Centre added.

In this regard, Iwokrama is calling on border control services and community partners to remain very vigilant of persons travelling through parts of Guyana with boats, dredges and mining equipment loaded up in pick-up trucks or other types of vehicles without permits for mining in Guyana.

The Centre is reminding that gold mining activities are strictly prohibited in the Iwokrama Forest. “Furthermore, such illegal activities pose an imminent threat to our national ecological integrity, disrupts local livelihoods and traditional practices and undermines Guyana’s forestry and protected areas management systems. Such violations will not be tolerated,” it noted.

The statement further explained that illegal mining activity can affect Iwokrama’s International Certification and also by extension impacts the entire Protected Areas System and Guyana’s progressive green agenda.