Colombia: 90% of Mining in Choco, illegal, environment being devastated

eltiempo.com reported the number of dredges operating in the Department increased by 180% between 2012 and 2013. 90 per cent of mining in Chocó is informal or illegal and driven by armed groups. Mining in Chocó shows many faces, some disappointment and others hope. But there is a single true situation: 90 per cent of the extractive activities in the Department, in the midst of one of the most valuable forests in the world, is illegal. Thus the Office of the Ombudsman and the Regional Autonomous Corporation (Codechoco) claim it. Here nature is destroyed, but, worse, that devastation does not represent progress. Read Article