Pemon conflict

The conflict is centered around mining disputes between the Maduro government, the Pemon nation (indigenous people that live in the Gran Sabana region in southeastern Venezuela) and armed irregular groups.[1][3] Venezuelan scholars, the opposition National Assembly and the NGO PROVEA have publicly expressed their concern at the violation of rights of indigenous communities and its environmental impact.[11] During the 2019 shipping of humanitarian aid to Venezuela and after supplies were stockpiled on the Brazilian border, Venezuelan Dragoon 300 armoured fighting vehicles of the Armored Cavalry Squadron entered the Gran Sabana region.A series of turf wars in the Gran Sabana between the armed forces, guerrillas, and organized crime groups, combined with the power struggle between Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó, have created the ongoing conflict.[22] In Venezuela, Pemon live in the Gran Sabana grassland plateau dotted with tabletop mountains where the Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall, plunges from Auyantepui in Canaima National Park.[22] In Brazil, Pemon live among other indigenous people near the borders of Venezuela and Guyana in villages within the Terras Indígenas São Marcos and Raposa Serra do Sol.[4][5][6][7][8] In 2020, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, denounced that workers in the Orinoco Mining Arc have been subjected to serious abuse and violence that have caused at least 149 deaths since 2016.[10] According to anonymous witnesses, the Banda del Topo ("Mole gang") arrived at the mine, allegedly with the aid and complicity of unidentified security forces, and may have dispersed hundreds of miners with an ambush, with dozens falling and dying in the stampede.Since early 2018, the community started to protest against harsh life conditions, the murder of leaders allegedly committed by the Colombian National Liberation Army and the permanent harassment by organized crime groups that seek to control large territories where there is illegal mining and reportedly have direct relationships with state officials.[39] On 8 October 2018, members of the Pemon indigenous community blocked, in the kilometer 67, the access to the road to Santa Elena de Uairén and to Brazil, the only road that connects Puerto Ordaz with the Venezuelan-Brazilian border, to protest against high food costs, lack of medicines to deal with diseases such as malaria, and the harassment of local gangs, as well as high transport prices, lack of fuel and domestic gas and speculation of the medical supplies prices.[39] After President Nicolás Maduro assured in a press conference on 12 December 2018 that there were armed groups that infiltrated in some indigenous communities in the area bordering with Brazil, that the illegal mining in the south of the country is in the hands of "ecocidal mafias", blaming the political opposition for the violence in the zone, and denounced that the "indigenous people" who join them "destroy their community", Pemon people responded by publishing a video statement from Pemon chieftain Ricardo Delgado on social media:[40] El delito comenzó cuando no presentó su partida de nacimiento al postularse a la presidencia.[44] Following the crackdown, indigenous groups captured thirty-six soldiers, held them in the jungle and set fire to a military outpost of the Santa Elena de Uairén airport.[45] The Venezuelan National Guard repressed demonstrations near Brazil, while colectivos attacked protesters in San Antonio del Táchira and Ureña,[16] leaving at least four dead and about 20 injured.Locals assured that the soldiers wore uniforms of the Venezuelan Armed Forces and that they carried crates with microwave equipment, satellite antennas, signal inhibitors, and other devices.[54] In the dawn of 22 December, a group of around twelve regular soldiers and 30 indigenous reservists, led by an Army deserter officer, captured the facilities of the 513 Mariano Montilla Jungle Infantry Battalion, located in the Luepa sector, in the Gran Sabana municipality.[56][57] The Organization of American States Secretary General, Luis Almagro, condemned Franco's death, naming it as "another crime of the dictatorship" and gave his condolences to his relatives and friends.