Venezuela's critical minerals (coltan, tin, tungsten, rare earths) are drawing increasing attention.
But beyond gold, little is known.
With @AmazonUworld we documented their extraction, abuses, and illicit trade along the Colombian-Venezuelan border👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=temJ...
En Venezuela hay reservas abundantes de minerales críticos. Para el mundo, una oportunidad. Para quienes viven allí, no necesariamente.
Mientras Caracas y Washington vean la Amazonía como zona de saqueo e ignoren a sus habitantes, cualquier estrategia fracasará.
elpais.com/america-colo...
Today in Colombia, it is impossible to talk about the nature of armed conflict without understanding that there are children being forced to participate in every part of it
🧵on our new @crisisgroup.org report & how generalized child recruitment has become
www.crisisgroup.org/brf/latin-am...
Following Maduro’s arrest and U.S. attacks on Venezuela, questions arise about Trump’s interest in critical minerals - or rather, preventing Chinese access.
Our Amazon Underworld study on criminal control of the business:
amazonunderworld.org?policy-paper...
3/ Through these corridors, conflict and violence are rising. Where the Río Negro divides Colombia and Venezuela, the ELN and Segunda Marquetalia fight, affecting thousands of families, a crisis so far ignored by local state authorities.
22.12.2025 17:15 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
2/ Intelligence sources and communities report an increase in drug trafficking, for example, through the Orinoco and Río Negro corridors, supplying international routes to Europe, among others.
22.12.2025 17:15 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
1/ Trump's attacks against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific have a little-discussed consequence: increased drug trafficking through the Amazon, driving local violence and severely affecting vulnerable communities.
amazonunderworld.org/ataques-a-la...
Critical minerals are being extracted in areas under the control of guerrilla groups, involving systematic human rights abuses and accelerating environmental destruction in one of Earth’s most vital ecosystems.
Our Amazon Underworld article for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
For almost a year, we've been chasing the critical minerals (coltan, tin, rare earths, and more) of the Amazon and the dark interests behind their trade. Today, we've launched a series of articles and an investigative report, but there's more to come!
amazonunderworld.org?policy-paper...
Durante casi un año, hemos estado persiguiendo los minerales críticos (coltán, tierras raras, etc.) de la Amazonía y los oscuros intereses detrás de su comercio.
Hoy, con Amazon Underworld, hemos comenzado con una serie de artículos, ¡pero hay más por venir!
amazonunderworld.org/es/specials/...
Indigenous peoples, proven to be the Amazon's most effective nature guardians, are increasingly facing mounting pressures from those after the rainforest's riches.
We're honoured to have Amazon defender Alessandra Munduruku as our guest writer.
amazonunderworld.org/the-crime-th...
About a month ago, Tom Laffay and I visited the Comandos de la Frontera, a group that describes itself as a "21st-century guerrilla organization," controlling the borderlands of Colombia with Peru and Ecuador.
This is our Amazon Underworld story 👇🇨🇴🇪🇨🇵🇪
amazonunderworld.org/the-state-of...
Hace aproximadamente un mes, Tom Laffay y yo visitamos a los Comandos de la Frontera, un grupo que se describe como una "organización guerrillera del siglo XXI," controlando las fronteras de Colombia con Perú y Ecuador.
Esta es nuestra historia 🇨🇴🇵🇪🇪🇨👇
amazonunderworld.org/es/el-estado...
This week, Bogotá hosts the Amazon Dialogues, where Amazon governments convene to discuss main challenges.
With our journalistic partners and @amazonwatch.org, we have publications lined up about the Amazon's most disputed borderlands and why this should be on the political agenda.
Stay tuned!
La expansión de la minería ilegal en los estados Bolívar y Amazonas de Venezuela ha provocado una violencia generalizada contra la población local, especialmente contra las comunidades indígenas, así como daños ambientales que amenazan con destruir esta parte de la Amazonía.
11.08.2025 16:13 — 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Record gold prices have made illegal mining more profitable than ever.
In the Venezuelan Amazon, this means not only organized crime is capitalizing, but state authorities like the army are involved as well.
Our new @crisisgroup.org briefing 🇻🇪⛏️
www.crisisgroup.org/latin-americ...
Los precios récord del oro hacen que la minería ilegal sea más rentable que nunca, y en la Amazonía venezolana esto no solo significa que el crimen organizado aprovecha, sino también las autoridades estatales.
Nuestro nuevo informe de @crisisgroup.org 🇻🇪⛏️
www.crisisgroup.org/es/latin-ame...
The U.S. Secretary of State cares so much for Venezuelans that he helped disappear hundreds of them to a hellhole in El Salvador to face horrifying abuse.
www.state.gov/releases/off...
In Venezuela's far east, where the Orinoco River meets the Atlantic Ocean, FARC dissident groups have seized control far from their Colombian origins.
This is what we discovered @armandoinfo.bsky.social / Amazon Underworld 🇻🇪🐍
amazonunderworld.org/es/disidente...
Over the next days and weeks, we'll introduce more of our team and share more about our project, but first, our brand new feature article about the illegal timber that's pulled out of Bolivian forests into Peru and to world markets - by RAI - from Bolivia!
amazonunderworld.org/selva-en-fug...
11/ It has been very exciting to work with a full team of administrative experts, advocacy and editorial specialists, amazing journalists, researchers, social media people, web developers and designers, but special thanks to co-director Juan Torres for working tirelessly to get this ready!
07.07.2025 14:44 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
10/ and will repackage some of our journalistic content in investigative reports and advocate for change. This, for example, we do with partners such as @amazonwatch.org, IUCN-NL, GI-TOC and @globalwitness.org.
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9/ Now, in our new setup, our journalistic content is only part of our project, as we try to answer a high demand from policymakers to better understand the combined climate, environmental, and security crises in the Amazon ...
07.07.2025 14:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
8/ That said, this means we'll do our best to combine maps and data with chronicled texts, but also will include video and short documentaries in our way of reporting, with help from Cruzo Mundo.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMp-...
7/ We've been focusing—and will continue to do so—on the mapping of the presence of crime/armed groups, but also invest in fieldwork to be able to offer in-field insights, empathetic reporting, exposing global relations with Amazon crime, and attractive storytelling.
07.07.2025 14:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 06/ As we were working with a network of researchers already, we could puzzle together some of the linkages and start to interpret crime on an Amazon level, specifically focusing on border areas where organized crime nests, multiplies, and outsmarts law enforcement strategies.
07.07.2025 14:35 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
5/ Our first phase had many highlights: we travelled to international conferences and events, such as the COP16 on Biodiversity, won awards, such as the Gabriel García Márquez award in Bogotá, and were able to lay the groundwork for what comes next.
07.07.2025 14:34 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 04/ It all started in 2023, when we published a series looking into expanding criminal dynamics in the Amazon. During the research, we noticed that while there was substantial information about specific crimes or groups, there was limited understanding of the cross-border aspects of crime.
07.07.2025 14:31 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
3/ Our new website just went live, we have a new logo, and instead of one-off journalistic series, we will publish frequent feature-length articles, (short) documentaries, op-eds from experts from and on the Amazon, and investigative reports.
But first, a look back...
2/ In Amazon Underworld, we bring together six media outlets and will have frequent publications and media specials.
07.07.2025 14:28 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0