Launched TUESDAY March 19, 2019 on www.zReportage.com Story #697: DESPERATION in CARACAS Since the start of the crisis in Venezuela, which coincides with Maduro's arrival in power in 2014, the country has sunk very fast while being one of the most stable in South America. With a currency that is worthless, salaries that are no longer paid, a rate of inflation that skyrockets, a real humanitarian crisis is underway in Venezuela. The most affected inhabitants are, as usual, the poorest. Some then decided to turn to Rio Guaire, the only river in the valley, to try to make a few dollars. By draining the bottom, gold diggers put rings, gold bracelets, earrings and other precious metals back. Thanks to this, they make a few tens of dollars each time, much more than a salary of civil servant.
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February 11, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Ignacio, 27, is looking for gold every day to provide for his family. He lives with his wife aged 21, and their 3 children of 4, 2 and 1 year in a government building -Mision Vivienda-. He lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, in Venezuela the disabled do not receive any help from the state, and must work to live. He manages to find an average of one gram of gold a day, and his biggest catch was a ring of 7 grams of gold.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Gold diggers can spend whole days in the fresh water. Pollution causes skin problems for some people.
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February 8, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - A gold ring found in the waters of Rio Guaire. Larry, the owner, has enough money to leave the country and wants to move to Spain. Unfortunately, Spain with not issue him a residence permit.
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February 6, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Life on the banks of the river is hard, and is read on all faces. Caracas is now one of the most dangerous cities in the world, as the number of killings has sky rocketed with the rise of poverty, and living outdoors carries a lot of risks.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 11, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Since the start of the crisis in Venezuela, which coincides with Maduro's arrival in power in 2014, the country has sunk very fast while being one of the most stable in South America. With a currency that is worthless, salaries that are no longer paid, a rate of inflation that skyrockets, a real humanitarian crisis is underway in Venezuela. The most affected inhabitants are, as usual, the poorest. Some then decided to turn to Rio Guaire, the only river in the valley, to try to make a few dollars. By draining the bottom, gold diggers put rings, gold bracelets, earrings and other precious metals back. Thanks to this, they make a few tens of dollars each time, much more than a salary of civil servant.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Oliver Espana, 16, has been a gold digger for about two years since losing his father. He earns about 40,000 bolivars a day the equivalent of $16.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 6, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Two young gold diggers at the end of their working day. The future remains very uncertain for the men who work in the river. Even if the government is changed, it would take years for the living conditions of the most precarious people to improve.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - 3 young gold prospectors descend into the river to go prospecting. They go there only mornings at the beginning of the week. It is a dangerous territory and prized by competition, clashes with other gold seekers are not uncommon..The arm of the river on the edge of the Petare district has become a real open-air dump.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - A young sewer prospector for gold.
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February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Oliver Paredes, 18, looks in the palms of his hands after scouring the ground for precious metal. Good days can bring up to 20 dollars. The bottom of this arm of the Rio Guaire near the crowded slum Petare is completely saturated with waste of all kinds.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - The lean booty of three men, any and all metal is recovered. Here is a brass faucet fitting, a watch strap, a fork and bullet cartridge cases. The searchers are looking for gold jewelry that has fallen in the toilet or down a drain.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - In the back shop of a hair salon, a gold buyer tests a little gem. For that he rubs the object on a touchstone, The touchstone is a piece of flat black jasper, hard and rough, on which the metal is rubbed. In addition, acids are used to verify the titration
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February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - In the city many jewels whose stalls are empty offer to buy gold and precious metals at the price of the black market. It is an illegal business because it is highly regulated and supervised by the government, despite the risks of many shops that are well-established and brave the risk.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - The empty counters of a jewelery store in downtown Caracas. Many stores buy the gold from researchers without declaring it to the state, a completely illegal approach.
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February 4, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - Many gold seekers live in popular neighborhoods like here in Petare, one of the most dangerous barrios in South America. Many families live in difficult conditions, everyone has to fend for themselves as best they can to make a few dollars.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 6, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - End of the day for young gold diggers, they meet to discuss and pass the time.
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February 6, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - A group of young gold diggers living by the river in very difficult conditions. Just behind them is the great expressway of the capital a 2 times 3 ways with in the middle of the river and its men and women who try to survive by draining the soil of their hands.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
February 6, 2019 - Caracas, Venezuela - The Rio Guaire is a small river in Venezuela, and the only one in the Caracas Valley. Since the late nineteenth century, it serves as sewer to the entire capital, it is the main voice of sewage disposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has been in a very worrying ecological state.
© Adrien Vautier/Le Pictorium Agency via ZUMA Press
