By Aurora Lane | 2023-07-05

LA PAZ -- Several Chinese companies operate in Bolivian indigenous territories under the guise of local mining cooperatives, but their impact on the environment and the health of the communities has been devastating.

A study by the Center of Indigenous Peoples of La Paz (CPILAP) revealed that several gold mines north of the Bolivian capital are controlled by local cooperatives that lend their names to Chinese companies.

These Chinese companies then take advantage of this arrangement to pay lower taxes and royalties, as they are considered local businesses.

"There are hundreds of people who are also engaged in illegal mining, including foreigners who are entering protected areas. With the entry of these people, mainly Chinese, there have been many complaints of environmental damage and human rights abuses," Gonzalo Oliver, president of CPILAP, told Entorno.

Oliver said even some members of the indigenous communities who have operated dredges and teams of Chinese entrepreneurs have complained about "labor abuses" and the lack of security conditions in the mines.

"It's something that nobody is controlling," he said.

CPILAP found that hundreds of residents of 36 communities have been chronically "poisoned" with mercury used during the extraction of gold carried out by Chinese companies, both legally and illegally, in the upper basin of the Beni River.

The main consequences of mercury pollution in the basin have been multiple premature births, congenital deformities, learning difficulties, tremors and problems in the nervous system, among many other pathologies.

Contaminated fish

For the investigation, hair samples were taken from 302 members of the indigenous Tsimanes, Mosetenes, Uchupiamanas, Lecos, Esse Ejjas, and Tacanas. Water samples were also taken from the Beni River basin and its tributaries Tuichi, Quiquibey, Tequeje, and Madre de Dios.

The studies concluded that 74.5% of the subjects evaluated had dangerously high levels of mercury, exceeding the limit allowed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The average level of mercury in the hair of people in the affected communities is 3.93 parts per million [ppm], which is more than three times the limit set by the [WHO]," the vice president of CPILAP, Lino Illimuri Apana, said in a press conference.

In addition, he added that the highest levels of mercury were found in the indigenous Esse Ejjas, with an average of 6.9 ppm. The Tsimanes had an average of 6.8 ppm, followed by the Mosetenes with 4.0 ppm, the Uchupiamanas with 2.5 ppm, the Tacanas with 2.1 ppm and the Lecos with 1.2 ppm.

"The Esse Ejja and Tsimane peoples are the most severely contaminated with mercury," Illimuri argued. "They are the most affected because their diet relies on fish from the rivers, which are contaminated by gold mining."

Authorities will take legal action to curtail the illegal mining that increased after the COVID-19 pandemic and that is now continuing indiscriminately, led by Chinese entrepreneurs, said Oliver.

Since last year, Amazonian peoples in Bolivia have repeatedly called on the government of Luis Arce to stop or at least regulate the activity of Chinese mining companies and their widespread use of mercury. However, they have not received any response.

Legal and illegal mining

China is taking advantage of a lack of local regulations to extract gold legally and illegally in South America, according to various specialists in the field who spoke at an international meeting organized in Brasilia in mid-June, according to the newspaper Los Tiempos of the Bolivian city of Cochabamba.

The news report said that analysts are convinced that Beijing is financing extractive activities in South America and Africa, where gold is extracted both legally and illegally. The gold is then shipped to China, which is hoarding it in case of potential financial sanctions during conflicts.

As of April 2023, China had almost 50 times more gold reserves than did Bolivia, with 2,068 tons compared to Bolivia's 43 tons.

David Soud, director of investigation and analysis at I.R. Consilium, an organization that works on environmental protection and corruption, said that there is increasing "evidence that Chinese actors, whether criminal companies or organizations, are moving resources from extractive activities, such as gold, to China." Soud noted that these operations "are both legal and illegal".

Soud also remarked to Los Tiempos that this pattern has been observed not only in Bolivia but also in other countries in recent years.

Despite the repeated complaints made through the media, these illegal activities continue unabated, resembling what happens in neighboring countries, said Soud.

Governments in Latin America have been reluctant to take action against illegal mining by Chinese companies, fearing that doing so would anger the Chinese government and jeopardize trade.

This timidity has allowed devastating consequences to the environment and the health of local communities to continue.