in French Guiana, soldiers from Operation Harpie are fighting against illegal gold panning

The Prime Minister spent New Year’s Eve in this South American territory, alongside soldiers engaged in Operation Harpy.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne experienced the change of year on a military base in French Guiana, in South America, far from the rumors about a reshuffle. She is alongside soldiers and gendarmes who are fighting against illegal gold mining in the heart of the Amazon, as part of Operation Harpie. 330 soldiers and 250 gendarmes are mobilized against illegal mining and gold trafficking. Their targets are two types of fraudulent sites.

“We come to look for gold from the rivers”specifies Captain Geoffroy. “We come to divert the natural course of the river and we come to look for gold in the silt of the original bed of the river. Conversely, we have the primary site, that is to say finding gold in the mountains. So we come to look for the vein of gold through wells and galleries.”

To dismantle these sites and intercept traffickers in a jungle the size of several departments, the gendarmes and soldiers cover the territory by stationing themselves in particular on the waterways which replace the roads.

Local authorities skeptical

“I have four forward operating bases with valuable field knowledge”explains General Le Bouil. “A canoeist who works on the Maroni is not a canoeist who works on the Oyapock. Everyone controls their environment and knows it. I have the blocking positions, since the strategy is to block the opposing logistics system, distributed on the knots of rivers and crossings which are known in Guyana.”

“Thanks to the military programming law, there will be new equipment soon, notably helicopters and drones.”

Elisabeth Borne, Prime Minister

at franceinfo

To help them in this mission, the Prime Minister promises to strengthen resources. “So we are going to further strengthen our presence. We are really determined to fight against this illegal gold mining, which has disastrous consequences on the environment and on the health of the population.” Particularly because traffickers continue to use mercury to detect gold.

But local authorities are skeptical. For them, it is not only means but above all real international cooperation that must be developed. Most of the illegal gold miners and their equipment come from Brazil or neighboring Suriname, a country which clearly has no desire to tackle the problem.