HomeNewsThe Unlikely Resistance of a Lone Mining Gang in Venezuela
NEWS

The Unlikely Resistance of a Lone Mining Gang in Venezuela

ILLEGAL MINING / 17 MAY 2021 BY VENEZUELA INVESTIGATIVE UNIT EN

The escalating violence between security forces and a gang in Venezuela's foremost mining region shows how the breakdown of criminal and political alliances can lead to open conflict.

Over the last year and a half, the El Perú Syndicate (Sindicato del Perú) – a gang that extorts illegal miners and operates crude gold processing plants in southern Bolívar state – has been the target of repeated operations by Venezuelan security forces. Several of its members have been arrested or killed, although its two top leaders, known only as alias “Toto” and “Zacarías,” remain at large.

SEE ALSO: Enemies to Allies – How Venezuela Decides Which Criminal Groups Thrive

Despite being vastly outnumbered, the criminal gang has fought back against the authorities. In late March, two of its members intercepted a truck transporting Wuihelm Torrellas Martínez, a politician and former member of Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly. They took Torrellas Martínez hostage and demanded 15 kilograms of gold (worth over $500,000) for his release. While the politician managed to escape, his captors reportedly beheaded his bodyguard, according to Venezuelan media reports.

In April, a video circulated in which a member of the El Perú Syndicate, surrounded by masked gang members armed with assault rifles, made a veiled reference to Torrellas Martínez's kidnapping, saying "a hostage doesn't escape if his captors don't let him go," El Pitazo reported.

In the video, the gang member also demanded that President Nicolás Maduro send a commission within 78 hours to investigate crimes committed by security forces in the El Callao municipality, the group's stronghold. If these conditions were not met, the group said, it would attack security forces in Bolívar and elsewhere in the country.

The national government responded by sending troops to El Callao and issuing a curfew for residents, according to a report by El Pitazo. The increased military presence in the area led to members of the gang moving into other mining areas in Bolívar, like Nacupay.

And yet, last year, the group seemed to be on its knees. In September 2020, after ten of its members were reported killed in a month, El Perú Syndicate addressed another video to Maduro, asking for "dialogue as we find ourselves in a war without meaning to defend our human rights, to defend our work, to defend our people" and claiming to have been fighting armed forces for seven years.

InSight Crime Analysis

The El Perú Syndicate has apparently run afoul of a government plan to control Bolívar's mining region. The flow of hard currency from gold sales is increasingly critical for keeping the regime afloat.

Bolívar state is at the heart of the Orinoco Mining Belt (Arco Minero de Orinoco) – rich in gold, diamonds, bauxite, coltan and other valuable minerals.

Referring to themselves as syndicates, criminal gangs like El Perú came to control much of the illegal mining in the Orinoco region. Meanwhile, local government officials protected their operations and even provided them with weapons, according to reports by former members of security forces in Bolívar state.

SEE ALSO: Gold and Chaos: Gang Lords Rule Venezuela’s Orinoco Mining Arc

But the arrival in 2018 of Bolívar Governor Justo Noguera Pietri – a former National Guard officer sanctioned for money laundering by Panama and the US Treasury Department – upended the fortunes of such groups, particularly the El Perú Syndicate.

Upon Noguera Pietri's arrival, the army and military counterintelligence officials received the order to penetrate the territories controlled by the El Perú Syndicate, according to sources close to the government who spoke to InSight Crime under the condition of anonymity.

The El Perú Syndicate has clearly been weakened since then and its direct appeal to President Maduro smacks of desperation. Still, it has refused to go quietly. The kidnapping of Torrellas, a member of the official party, is evidence of the power it still wields in its local stronghold.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

EX-FARC MAFIA / 13 OCT 2021

The Colombian guerrillas have won a battle against the Venezuelan military in the state of Apure. But they will never…

COSTA RICA / 2 FEB 2023

Countries across Latin America continue to make stubbornly little progress in the fight against corruption.

ELITES AND CRIME / 22 OCT 2021

Business partners of Álex Saab have been indicted by US prosecutors on charges of being part of a multi-million dollar…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…