WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), as well as U.S. Representatives Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Joaquin Castro (TX-20), and Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), sent a letter to Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), requesting a study into illicit mining in the Western Hemisphere, its adverse effects on U.S. national interests, and gaps in programming and statutory authorities to address this threat. The letter requests that the GAO provide members of Congress with additional insight into the threats posed by these illicit mining operations, which are fueling profits for transnational criminal organizations and causing significant environmental degradation.
“Illegal mining across Latin America and the Caribbean poses severe threats to international law, human rights, and the environment, enabling corruption and contributing to migration, which necessitates increased attention and action, particularly by the United States and its partners in the hemisphere,” wrote the lawmakers. “The last decade has seen a boom in illegal mining operations in the Western Hemisphere, which provide transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) with a profitable source of income beyond once traditional revenue streams, such as narcotics trafficking.”
“We request that the GAO initiate an in-depth assessment on the extent of illegal mining in the Western Hemisphere and related effects, current U.S. government efforts to address such challenges, and what more can be done,” continued the lawmakers. “We ask that GAO begin this work as soon as possible and provide our offices with regular updates on the status of the work, including any access issues or other challenges impeding it.”
The lawmakers’ requests of the GAO include:
Click HERE for a PDF of the lawmakers’ letter.
Full text has been provided below:
Dear Mr. Dodaro:
We are writing to request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the increasingly dangerous role that criminal organizations are playing in illegal mining across Latin America and the Caribbean, and the efforts by the United States Government to counter and disrupt this trend. Illegal mining across Latin America and the Caribbean poses severe threats to international law, human rights, and the environment, enabling corruption and contributing to migration, which necessitates increased attention and action, particularly by the United States and its partners in the Hemisphere.
The last decade has seen a boom in illegal mining operations in the Western Hemisphere, which provide transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) with a profitable source of income beyond once traditional revenue streams, such as narcotics trafficking. TCOs are able to exploit existing drug trafficking routes, corrupt officials, lack of effective state presence, weak rule of law, and proven smuggling strategies to traffic illegally mined metals and minerals. In turn, illegal mining provides a significantly profitable new avenue for TCOs to exploit a legal commodity, as illegally mined materials are easily commingled with legal trade, further masking TCO involvement.
Illegal gold is a key and growing source of financing for TCOs throughout the Hemisphere. While Latin America’s criminal organizations used to make most of their profits off of drug trafficking, recent evidence is showing that they can earn more from illegal gold alone, particularly in Colombia, Peru, and the Brazilian Amazon. Criminal groups have also been able to expand territorial control and transnational links while reducing their legal risks thanks to illegal gold mining.
In Ecuador, for example, Los Lobos, which is linked to Mexican Jalisco New Generational Cartel, reportedly controls and operates some 20 gold mines across the country, in alliance with Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
Authoritarian governments have also actively joined the illegal gold market to build power, buy loyalty, perpetuate human rights violations, and evade international sanctions. Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega both use illegal gold mining to retain their dictatorial grasp on power and maintain the loyalty of military leadership.
Illegal mining has significant environmental consequences. Large swaths of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed due to illegal mining, and the pace of destruction of this vital ecosystem is only quickening. The frequent use of mercury to extract gold from sediments results in long-lasting soil, air, and water pollution, which will have a generational impact on public health around the Hemisphere including in the United States. An estimated 70% of mercury found in United States soil and water comes from global sources, and the mercury is heavily contaminating fish species well beyond established limits from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Illegal mining also directly and indirectly drives migration in the Western Hemisphere by causing environmental destruction, which displaces communities reliant on agriculture and fishing, and by fostering violence and insecurity as TCOs and corrupt governments consolidate control over the sector. These conditions exacerbate economic instability and weaken governance, pushing many individuals to leave their homes in search of safety or better opportunities. Indigenous and rural communities are particularly vulnerable to displacement as a result of contaminated water, deforestation, exploitation, or threats. Such instability often crosses borders, pushing individuals to migrate to urban centers or to embark on the dangerous journey to the United States.
United States foreign assistance is starting to recognize this growing threat to U.S. national security interests, and programming is being designed across multiple agencies to directly or indirectly respond to illegal mining. For example, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) both have dedicated programming to combatting illegal mining, either through enhanced law enforcement, civil society advocacy, local and national institutional strengthening, rule of law improvements, and environmental programming. The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs plays an important role in countering mercury trafficking and protecting Amazonian resources from the threats posed by environmental crime like illegal mining. Many U.S. law enforcement efforts also run through the FBI, Treasury, and Customs and Border Protection aimed at apprehending and punish criminal networks trying to profit and engage in money laundering from illegal mining.
However, it does not appear that the U.S. has a clearly articulated strategy for addressing illegal mining and its role as arguably the dominant source of financing for TCOs and other corrupt and criminal actors across the Western Hemisphere. Similarly, there is a lack of clarity over the magnitude of illegal mining in the hemisphere and the full scope of the challenges it poses for U.S. interests and regional security, including its connection with drug trafficking.
This lack of information presents a serious challenge to our ability as members of Congress to conduct oversight of U.S. assistance and policies to combat illegal mining in the Western Hemisphere, including limiting our ability to ascertain whether there exists a coordinated interagency approach capable of addressing the issue. For that reason, we request that the GAO initiate an in-depth assessment on the extent of illegal mining in the Western Hemisphere and related effects, current U.S. government efforts to address such challenges, and what more can be done.
Specifically, we request that the GAO’s review examine and provide insight into, at a minimum, the following items:
We appreciate your attention to this request and your cooperation as we seek more information on this important topic. We ask that GAO begin this work as soon as possible and provide our offices with regular updates on the status of the work, including any access issues or other challenges impeding it.
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