Illegal Gold Mining in Latin America: Economic Drivers and Environmental Impact

Why Illegal Gold Mining is Overtaking Cocaine as the Drug of Choice in Latin America.

In July, Peru’s then foreign minister Elmer Schialer said the illegal gold economy in Peru was seven times bigger than the cocaine trade.

The Trump administration’s drone strikes against boats allegedly bringing illicit drugs to the US come amid an explosion in the amount of cocaine being produced in Colombia and Peru.

But there is a new – and lethal – factor that is turbo-charging production – especially in Peru: the relationship between coca cultivation and illicit gold mining.

“Criminal organizations have found that illegal gold mining is a safer and more lucrative asset in which they can invest money from drug trafficking, and, in turn, launder the assets more easily,” according to Collyns, author of the forthcoming “Blood Gold: The Shocking True Story of the Amazon Gold Rush.”

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