![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2216378369-GI.JPG\" "\\"A")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A man works in an artisanal gold mine in the town of El Dorado, Bol\u00edvar State, Venezuela, on May 25, 2025. El Dorado is part of a region dubbed by the government as the Orinoco Mining Arc\u2014an area possessing vast mineral reserves that is plagued by illegal mining and organized crime, and where the trade in gold dust is commonplace.<\/p>\n
PEDRO MATTEY<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
U.S. companies eyeing Venezuela\u2019s vast mineral wealth may find themselves entering one of the world\u2019s most opaque and dangerous supply chains \u2014 a gold economy dominated by armed groups, criminal syndicates and corrupt military-run networks that experts say could expose foreign firms to money laundering, human-rights abuses and environmental destruction.<\/p>\n
The risks come as Washington quietly opens the door to mining investment following the capture of former strongman Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, creating a rare moment of cooperation with Caracas even as much of the country\u2019s mineral-rich south remains under the control of violent groups, from guerrillas to armed gangs.<\/p>\n
The opening follows a series of U.S. licenses allowing negotiations, transactions and preliminary investment agreements involving Venezuelan gold and other minerals, part of a broader effort to stabilize the country\u2019s economy under interim President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez. While intended to attract foreign capital and formalize production, analysts say the measures could draw American firms into a sector where extraction remains largely informal, oversight is limited and armed groups and military-linked networks control significant portions of the supply chain.<\/p>\n
The shift comes amid an unusual thaw between Washington and Caracas following the pre-dawn U.S. operation earlier this year that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who now face drug trafficking charges in federal court in New York.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the raid, Venezuela\u2019s socialist leadership reorganized around Rodr\u00edguez, who has pursued pragmatic cooperation with U.S. officials as part of a broader stabilization effort that includes energy, security and economic engagement.<\/p>\n
Since Maduro\u2019s apprehension, U.S. officials have maintained regular contacts with Rodr\u00edguez\u2019s government, which has sought sanctions relief and foreign investment while pledging to restore order in key sectors, including oil and mining. The emerging cooperation has opened the door for American companies to explore opportunities in Venezuela\u2019s mineral-rich south, even as governance on the ground remains dominated by armed groups and informal networks. The alignment reflects a transactional relationship in which Washington gains access to strategic resources while Caracas seeks revenue and international legitimacy during a fragile transition.<\/p>\n
Any takers?<\/p>\n
Despite the policy shift, U.S. corporate interest has remained limited.<\/p>\n
So far, no U.S. company has publicly announced plans to enter Venezuela\u2019s mining sector, underscoring the uncertainty surrounding the opening. The only disclosed deal involves Singaporean commodities trader Trafigura, which has offices in Houston and which signed an agreement with Venezuela\u2019s state-owned miner Minerven to purchase between 650 and 1,000 kilograms of gold dor\u00e9 \u2014 a semi-refined, impure alloy \u2014 for shipment to U.S. refineries under a separate arrangement with Washington, as first reported by Axios.<\/p>\n
A White House official confirmed the agreement, telling Reuters that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum helped secure what the administration described as a \u201chistoric\u201d transaction aimed at helping restore Venezuela\u2019s mining sector while supplying minerals to American industry. The official did not provide details on pricing or other terms of the deal.<\/p>\n
The agreement has already drawn scrutiny in Washington. In a letter sent April 7 to Trafigura\u2019s chief executive, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, warned that corruption, environmental damage and forced labor are widespread in Venezuela\u2019s mining sector, much of which is linked to criminal organizations<\/a> and groups designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n The senator requested details about the company\u2019s human-rights due diligence, anti-money laundering safeguards and efforts to ensure the gold was not sourced from illicit operations before entering U.S. markets.<\/p>\n Wyden also noted that Minerven had previously been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for operating in a sector used to finance armed groups and sustain the Maduro government, and said key details of the new agreement \u2014 including supply chain verification, counterparties and environmental safeguards \u2014 remain unclear. The letter asks Trafigura to identify the origin of the gold, compliance mechanisms and any U.S. entities involved in refining or distributing the material, highlighting concerns that Venezuelan gold linked to human rights abuses could enter American supply chains.<\/p>\n It is unclear whether Trafigura has responded to the senator\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n Cristina Burelli, founder of the environmental watchdog SOS Orinoco, said the policy shift risks creating a dangerous mismatch between legal authorization and realities on the ground, where mining operations are largely controlled by armed actors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States is trying to apply the same logic used for oil to minerals,\u201d she said, warning that the mining economy is far more fragmented and difficult to monitor. Venezuela\u2019s mineral extraction is spread in different mines all through the southern region, which amount to roughly 200,000 square miles \u2014 about four times the size of the state of Florida \u2014 with an estimated 90% of production smuggled through informal channels, making meaningful due diligence extremely difficult.<\/p>\n Unlike oil, which flows through pipelines and centralized infrastructure, gold production in southern Venezuela is dispersed across hundreds of small sites accessible only by river, dirt tracks or airstrips. The fragmented geography allows armed groups to dominate territory, tax miners and control supply chains long before the gold reaches official channels.<\/p>\n In Venezuela\u2019s southern mining regions, particularly Bol\u00edvar and Amazonas states, extraction is dominated by small-scale miners operating under the control of armed groups, criminal gangs<\/a> and military units. Access to fuel, machinery and transportation routes often requires payments in gold to authorities or armed networks, embedding illicit production in the supply chain.<\/p>\n That structure means foreign investors entering the sector \u2014 even indirectly \u2014 could end up purchasing gold that has passed through illegal hands. Guerrilla groups such as Colombia\u2019s National Liberation Army (ELN), dissident FARC factions and Venezuelan criminal organizations<\/a> operate across mining zones, frequently imposing taxes on miners and controlling pits through violence.<\/p>\n Burelli also warned the policy shift could transform Venezuela into a laundering hub for illicit gold from across the Amazon basin, with miners from Brazil, Colombia, Guyana and Suriname channeling production through Venezuelan networks before reaching global buyers.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will become the easiest route to clean illegal gold,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Financing violent networks<\/p>\n Those concerns are echoed by Bram Ebus, a consultant for the International Crisis Group and co-director of Amazon Underworld, a media alliance that covers and investigates impacts on the Amazon region, who says foreign engagement in Venezuela\u2019s mining sector risks financing armed groups and human-rights abuses.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we think is that the U.S. is going for Venezuela\u2019s minerals without any precaution when it comes to contributing to financing human-rights violations, non-state armed groups, including groups on the U.S. terrorist list like the National Liberation Army, the ELN,\u201d Ebus said. \u201cEnvironmental protections are really low, and we don\u2019t see that the U.S. is requiring this bar to be heightened when it comes to safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n He also warned that illicit minerals could enter international markets through Venezuelan state companies, effectively laundering gold from neighboring countries before it reaches U.S. refiners.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the gold goes through a Venezuelan state company, it can be sold as Venezuelan gold to the United States. Previously \u2018toxic\u2019 gold might become part of the U.S. refining market,\u201d Ebus said.<\/p>\n Ebus added that interest in Venezuela is already dividing potential investors, with smaller risk-taking firms eager to enter while major companies remain cautious.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we see are \u2018cowboy companies\u2019 very much wanting to get involved, while more reputable mining companies are very wary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In many mining districts,<\/a> criminal organizations effectively govern territory, controlling entry, resolving disputes and enforcing authority through violence.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can decide who enters and leaves a mining area. They carry out rudimentary forms of justice, including summary killings,\u201d Ebus said.<\/p>\n He described Venezuelan gold as inherently tied to violence.<\/p>\n \u201cGold in Venezuela is never \u2018bloodless,\u201d he said. \u201dNon-state armed groups commit the most brutal human rights violations \u2014 sexual violence, disappearances, torture, killings and child involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n Security risks, criminal control<\/p>\n Security expert Jos\u00e9 Garc\u00eda, a specialist in Venezuelan military intelligence, said the situation on the ground remains highly volatile and dominated by criminal groups, raising additional risks for foreign companies considering entry into the sector.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda said mining areas in Bol\u00edvar state remain under the control of organizations such as gangs such as Tren de Aragua and Tren de Guayana and ELN guerrillas, which operate across different mines and control workers, transport routes and processing centers. The territory, he warned, functions as a patchwork of criminal enclaves rather than a unified mining zone.<\/p>\n He said dismantling those structures would require sustained \u201cmine-by-mine\u201d operations, not limited security interventions, because each site is run by its own armed hierarchy.<\/p>\n According to Garc\u00eda, U.S. companies could initially enter the market by purchasing unprocessed ore for cyanidation and refining \u2014 a step that could place them directly into supply chains dominated by criminal groups. Cyanidation is a process used to extract gold from low-grade ore by dissolving it in a dilute cyanide solution.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda said he has identified at least 79 companies operating across the mining process, including material supply, extraction, cyanidation and gold processing.<\/p>\n That layered structure, he said, creates multiple points where illicit gold can be blended into legal streams before export.<\/p>\n Garc\u00eda also warned that the United States may be underestimating the territorial complexity of the mining zones. While negotiations and legal frameworks are being developed in Caracas, the actual mines remain controlled by armed groups with their own governance systems.<\/p>\n He described the opening of the sector as a \u201chigh risk, high reward\u201d scenario in which early entrants may accept exposure to criminal networks in exchange for access to valuable deposits. Some companies, he said, are already exploring positioning themselves before stronger regulatory frameworks are in place.<\/p>\n Working conditions in the mines further illustrate the risks. Garc\u00eda said miners operate in extremely precarious environments marked by tunnel collapses, landslides and improvised extraction techniques. Workers often enter deep shafts using rudimentary equipment, while enforcement of rules is carried out through violence.<\/p>\n He also described a broader social ecosystem shaped by human trafficking, prostitution, tuberculosis and debt systems that trap workers in near-slavery conditions. Violence is used to enforce discipline, and those accused of theft or rule violations may be executed or disappeared.<\/p>\n The result, Garc\u00eda said, is an environment where supply chains are inseparable from criminal governance, making it difficult for foreign buyers to ensure minerals are not linked to abuses.<\/p>\n Oscar Murillo, general coordinator of Venezuelan human-rights organization PROVEA, said the risks facing foreign companies must also be understood in the context of the Orinoco Mining Arc<\/a>, a vast territory created by the Venezuelan regime through a decree in 2016 that spans almost 45,000 square miles \u2014 about the size of the state of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Murillo said the initiative was originally presented as a large-scale industrial mining project designed to attract multinational investment, but it never materialized. Instead, the decree became a framework that allowed illegal mining to expand across southern Venezuela.<\/p>\n Without legal guarantees and amid Venezuela\u2019s institutional crisis, major companies stayed away. Into that vacuum stepped irregular armed groups, criminal organizations and military units that began controlling extraction sites and local populations.<\/p>\n Murillo said the Mining Arc later became a financial lifeline for the Venezuelan regime as oil revenues collapsed, with gold extraction expanding rapidly under opaque arrangements involving state players and armed groups. The growth came alongside environmental destruction, displacement of indigenous communities and widespread violence.<\/p>\n He described mining zones marked by murders, disappearances and forced labor, with miners often required to surrender large portions of their production to armed groups controlling the sites. Institutional oversight largely collapsed, turning parts of southern Venezuela into areas where the rule of law effectively disappeared.<\/p>\n Together, Murillo said, these dynamics created a mining economy dominated by armed group \u2014 a structure that remains largely intact as foreign investment begins to explore entry into the sector.<\/p>\n The expansion came at the expense of local communities and the environment. Forests were cleared, rivers contaminated and Indigenous territories encroached upon, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mining Arc acted as a financial lifeline,\u201d Murillo said, adding that the revenue was accompanied by systematic human rights violations, displacement of Indigenous communities and the collapse of public services.<\/p>\n Murillo also highlighted the broader environmental consequences, noting that the affected region lies within the Venezuelan Amazon and includes key watersheds that feed into the Amazon basin.<\/p>\n Systematic human rights violations<\/p>\n Murillo said mining zones are characterized by murders, massacres, disappearances and forced labor, with miners often required to hand over large portions of their production to armed groups.<\/p>\n He said workers frequently operate in shafts 60 to 70 meters deep under unsafe conditions, while landslides and tunnel collapses regularly cause deaths. Armed groups impose rules, enforce discipline and punish violations with violence.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no official inspection ensuring safe environmental and hygiene conditions,\u201d Murillo said, adding that miners are often forced to surrender up to 70% of their gold to criminal groups controlling the sites.<\/p>\n The collapse of institutional oversight has compounded the risks. Murillo said Venezuela once had established mining institutions, including state company Minerv\u00e9n, but those structures have largely broken down.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no investigations into crimes or disappearances,\u201d he said, describing mining areas as territories where the rule of law has effectively disappeared.<\/p>\n Strategic opportunity, legal risk<\/p>\n Environmental groups say the risks extend beyond criminal financing to broader ecological destruction if foreign investment accelerates extraction.<\/p>\n Fundaci\u00f3n AguaClara, a Venezuelan environmental nonprofit with more than two decades of work in the country\u2019s southern ecosystems, has warned that opening the sector could trigger a deeper expansion of mining across fragile regions of the Venezuelan Amazon.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not just about changing partners. Opening the door to the United States signals a much broader mining advance, including into critical minerals such as thorium,\u201d the organization said, noting that the radioactive element has been identified in southern Venezuela.<\/p>\n The group also warned that labeling minerals as \u201cstrategic\u201d could increase militarization and leave existing extraction dynamics intact. \u201cThe pranes, the criminal syndicates, the guerrilla groups \u2014 protected by corrupt national military officials \u2014 all of them will continue to operate. Unless the extractive model changes, it will remain gold of violent origin,\u201d the foundation said.<\/p>\n AguaClara also emphasized the human and environmental toll, particularly for Indigenous communities. \u201cThe people living in these communities are not being taken into account. Their habitats are being destroyed, pushing them toward conditions close to extermination,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n Together, experts paint a picture of a sector where formal investment risks intersecting with criminal governance, armed violence and illicit supply chains.<\/p>\n For U.S. companies, the opportunity to access gold and critical minerals comes with the possibility of inadvertently financing armed groups, laundering illicit production or becoming entangled in networks that dominate Venezuela\u2019s mining frontier.<\/p>\n \u201cThe danger is that companies think they are entering a regulated market,\u201d Burelli said. \u201cIn reality, they may be stepping into a criminal economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Miami Herald<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2216378638.jpg\" "\\"GettyImages-2216378638.jpg\\"")
A man works at an artisanal gold mine in the town of El Dorado, Bolivar state, Venezuela, om May 25, 2025. El Dorado is part of a region christened by the government as the Arco Minero del Orinoco, which has large mineral reserves and is criss-crossed by illegal mining and organised crime, and where trade with gold dust is common currency. (Photo by Pedro MATTEY \/ AFP) (Photo by PEDRO MATTEY\/AFP via Getty Images) PEDRO MATTEY AFP via Getty Images Not like oil<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2216181330.jpg\" "\\"GettyImages-2216181330.jpg\\"")
A man pays at a store with grams of gold, which is the main means of payment in the mining town of El Dorado, Bolivar state, Venezuela on May 24, 2025. El Dorado is part of a region christened by the government as the Arco Minero del Orinoco, which has large mineral reserves and is criss-crossed by illegal mining and organised crime, and where trade with gold dust is common currency. (Photo by Pedro MATTEY \/ AFP) (Photo by PEDRO MATTEY\/AFP via Getty Images) PEDRO MATTEY AFP via Getty Images A decade of violence<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Adelgado2.jpg\")