Brazilians, Venezuelan arrested in Iwokrama illegal mining crackdown

Two Brazilian nationals and a Venezuelan were arrested on Wednesday during an enforcement operation against illegal gold mining inside the Iwokrama Protected Area, the Iwokrama International Centre said.

The joint operation, conducted by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Guyana Police Force and Iwokrama, has been ongoing since November 22 in the Siparuni area. Iwokrama said illegal mining activity, though slightly reduced from 2024, remains a concern, with an increasing number of foreign nationals entering Guyana legally or illegally to engage in gold extraction. Some of the activity is aided by local collaborators, the Centre added.

Iwokrama stressed that mining is prohibited under the Iwokrama Act of 1996 and warned that breaches threaten the protected area’s ecological integrity and could jeopardise its international certification and Guyana’s wider protected areas system.

The centre urged border control services and residents travelling along the 72 km Georgetown–Lethem road corridor to report suspicious activity to its Resource Management Director, Dr. Raquel Thomas, at rthomas@iwokrama.org or via WhatsApp at +592 639 3216.