While Emmanuel Macron goes to Guyana on March 25 to 26, in Haut-Maroni, in the southwest of the department, the situation remains worrying in the face of illegal gold panning. It has disastrous health consequences. Several thousand inhabitants, particularly from indigenous communities, are exposed to mercury pollution.
From our correspondent in Cayenne,
After half an hour by canoe, the Lipo-Lipo cove, one of the most exploited in Guyana, unfolds. The water is cloudy, almost opaque. This cove is near the Amerindian villages bordering the Maroni River, on the border with the Suriname.
“ There, you really see the water, it’s not the same as outside, it’s definitely a little dirty », Explains Linia Opoya, president of the Association of mercury victims of Haut-Maroni. Are the gold miners far away? “ They are very far away because little by little, if there is no gold, they will continue until the end “, she says.
This pollution is linked to mercury releases. This toxic product used to recover gold contaminates the entire Maroni food chain, particularly the fish consumed by Native Americans. Their exposure to mercury is three to four times higher than European health recommendations. This causes many health problems, especially for the neurological development of children.
“ I see children who have difficulty speaking. There are children who cannot walk, who are truly handicapped. “, describes Linia Opoya.
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“We have the impression that the State is doing nothing”
Faced with this alarming observation, six associations and two residents of Haut-Maroni approached the administrative court of Cayenne in January to have the “ culpable deficiency » of the State in this matter. Michel Aloïké, traditional chief of Taluen, is one of them.
“ Illegal gold panning has been around for thirty years. We have the impression that the State does nothinghe laments. I have the impression that from year to year, there are more sites being created. They say that there is a decrease, we say no, because we see every day. »
The associations ask the State to repair the damage, to “ put in place new governance on the river to allow the population to be involved in the fight against gold panning, but also in health, agriculture and local economy programs, to get out of this scandalous situation which has been going on for far too long », insists Marine Calmet, president of Wild Legal.
Emmanuel Macron will not go to the Haut-Maroni region but to Camopi, a village in eastern Guyana, where the fight against gold panning has had more effects. Less than twenty sites have been identified there in 2023.
RFI web documentaryGuyana: for all the gold of Maripasoula