this way the small scale miners are considered illegal by the colombian government they live under fark rule most of the time the guerrilla fighters are invisible but they come here regularly to collect their war tax and. in order to work you have to pay the guerillas. everyone pays the entire region of well moco and southern. this is the infernal trap the small scale miners are caught him subjected to paying extortion money as a result they're accused of supporting the guerrillas. it's an injustice. if we didn't pay the fox they close down the mine they don't get us work and they kick us out of the region. for decades there were just these galleries dug out in the mountain but not far from here our guide wants to show us some new forms of land exploitation much more destructive. in the heart of the jumbo excavators dig up the river bed and eat away at the forest little by little. the machines dig up thousands of tons of earth which they unload into giant sifters where the gold is extracted using large quantities of mercury. after their passage nothing grows here again and the streams a

mountains where the revolutionary armed forces of colombia the fark operate at war with the colombian government for over fifty years no one can penetrate this region without their authorization with the help of divers go betweens we've established contact with the fourth guerrilla fighters they've authorized us to travel through their zone while waiting to receive us. the. local economy is based on coca plant growing these small green leaves are the raw material of cocaine. after years of anti drug enforcement cocoa farming is going through a crisis more and more pickers are leaving the fields to work in the gold mines. we penetrate into the mining zone in the four controlled mountains we get there by mule a two day journey with a good guide. marie c.e.o. is the president of the local small scale miners association. with the for all that used to be cocoa plantations. and the government has eradicated all the coke on the region. each day dozens of mules amble up and down these paths loaded up with cans of cyanide like mercury is used to extract the gold from the or. we're in the heart

mountains where the revolutionary armed forces of colombia the fark operate at war with the colombian government for over fifty years no one can penetrate this region without their authorisation with the.