Colombia is riding high on the new set of international investments in its gold bullion resources with a number of Canadian junior miners entering the field. In fact gold is generating more revenue for the country than its signature cash crop of coffee.
However the country is also suffering from a growing group of illegal miners as the attractive price of gold brings in guerrilla groups such as the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia or FARC, and the National Liberation Army or ELN into gold mining.
The quick money has seen them becoming involved in small illegal mining activities across the country. Even when they do not mine they manage to get a cut from places where gold mining is bringing in money. The mining towns have been known to pay protection money to the Guerrillas as well.
President Juan Manuel Santos warned that the FARC and the ELN were involved in illegal gold mining in September last year. The government has been trying to crack down on the illicit crops and illegal mining in the town of Anori with rather dismal results.
The FARC blasted a bridge with dynamite and forced thousands of villagers from their homes under fear of retribution. The National Police have managed to shut down 56 illegal gold mines since last September but new ones keep popping up.