Illegal miners infest Venezuela's Amazon
From the air, the thick green canopy that covers the Venezuelan Amazon is pocked with ever more frequent small holes.
On the ground, at 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) in the shade, crews of Brazilian, Colombian and Venezuelan miners tear through one of the areas of greatest biodiversity on the planet in their hunt for gold, diamonds and coltan.
Those riches are then smuggled out of the country, local authorities say, with the aid of left-wing Colombian guerrillas who take a share of profits. Some locals accuse money-hungry members of Venezuela's military of also helping out.
A tripling of the value of gold over the last decade has led the illegal business of unlicensed mining to flourish, knocking efforts by Venezuela's government to check deforestation.
http://news.yahoo.com/illegal-miners-infest-venezuela-39-amazon-100414208.html