Organized Crime’s Influence on Gold Mining Is Increasing in Colombia

This article, by Maria Luisa Valencia, was originally published by Insight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America.

A recent report analyzing alluvial gold mining in Colombia suggests that the role of organized crime groups in this industry is larger than previously suspected.

During a November 21 presentation, Candice Welsch, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the Andean and Southern Cone regions, detailed the organization’s findings on alluvial gold mining — gold deposits found on river banks and beds — across Colombia in 2022.

The UNODC highlighted a 4% reduction in the total land exploited but also a worrying 73% increase in illegal gold mining in 2022 — 5,000 hectares more than what was recorded in 2021. This included an 11% jump in some of Colombia’s southern departments, such as Putumayo and Caquetá.

In areas with sustained or stable levels of mining, 72% of that activity was illegal, according to the report. Armed groups are attracted to the high profits to be made from gold on the international market, which has allowed illegal mining to persist and reinforced their territorial control in these regions.

During the presentation, Welsch also highlighted connections between mining and other types of crimes in Colombia.

“We found that this type of mining is linked to various crimes … including money laundering, corruption, and human trafficking carried out by organized crime groups,” she said.

The UNODC report also highlighted links between alluvial gold mining and coca crops, the raw ingredient used to produce cocaine. In 2021, around 44% of the areas with alluvial gold mining also contained coca crops. In these regions, rates of illegal gold mining reached as high as 87%, with the highest seen in the departments of Antioquia, Nariño, and Cauca.

Additionally, more than half of alluvial gold mining in Colombia takes place in specially protected areas (52%) or in spaces where mining is prohibited. Of that land, 88% of it is on Indigenous reserves or territories.

InSight Crime Analysis

With the advance of crime groups, gold mining in Colombia will likely continue evolving into a purely criminal industry where illicit interests, environmental devastation, and inadequate government action converge.

Armed groups like the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC), the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN), and the ex-FARC mafia, or dissident members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) who did not demobilize after peace negotiations with the Colombian government, are all present in the areas with stable levels of mining mentioned in the report, such as Antioquia and Bolívar.

In the south of Bolívar, for example, confrontations between the ex-FARC mafia’s 37th Front, the ELN, and AGC over control of illegal gold mining have provoked a humanitarian crisis, according to an alert published by Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) in October.

The convergence of illegal gold mining and coca cultivation is also worrying. Of the three departments with the highest levels of gold mining, alluvial gold mining is concentrated in just 10 municipalities, 8 of which also reported having coca crops in 2022. Four of those are located in Antioquia – Cáceres, Zaragoza, Nechí, and El Bagre – and the remaining four in Chocó – Nóvita, Istmina, El Cantón de San Pablo, and Río Quito.

The UNODC report estimated that 44% of the areas that recorded alluvial gold mining in 2022 had also registered the presence of coca crops in 2021. To be sure, the UNODC’s annual report monitoring illicit coca crops in Colombia pointed to Chocó as the focal point of this problem, with a 7% increase in coca cultivation in the last year. In this Pacific coast department, the ELN and AGC have fought for years over criminal economies like illegal mining and drug trafficking.

Illegal gold mining also has a devastating impact on the environment, particularly regarding deforestation, water contamination, and diverting the natural flow of rivers, according to the UNODC report and InSight Crime field work.

To compound the problem, government efforts focused on legal regulations and radical interventions have so far proved insufficient. Although Colombia has strengthened the legal tools at its disposal to fight illegal mining, authorities have had limited success using these tools, which often penalize the lowest rungs of the criminal supply chain. This has prevented authorities from targeting the financial backers of this crime, who are often operating within criminal groups or in alliance with them.

This article, by Maria Luisa Valencia, was originally published by Insight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America.