Environmentalists in Venezuela's western Zulia state on Thursday condemned the discovery of several dead, oil-covered marine creatures in Lake Maracaibo, a highly polluted lake caused by incessant oil spills caused by the socialist regime.
Lake Maracaibo is the largest lake in Venezuela. Oldest The world's largest lightning habitat, Catatumbo Unique This atmospheric phenomenon occurs above the mouth of the Catatumbo River into Lake Maracaibo, causing near-constant thunderstorms on the lake.
Continual oil and chemical spills caused by the socialist regime, often failed to report or condemn by left-wing activists and environmental groups, have severely polluted the lake. 70 percent Approximately 5,200 square miles of land is contaminated with petroleum, chemicals and other substances that are highly toxic, foul-smelling and possibly carcinogenic. Bacteria Locally Beldine (“green”).
Venezuela's Union Radio Reported Local residents discovered the oil-covered bodies of dolphins, sea turtles and manatees near Vereda del Lago Park in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state, on Thursday.
“We've never seen anything like this: the smell of decay permeating the city, the desolate landscape of Lake Maracaibo, the oil spill, the carcasses of animals…unbelievable biodiversity,” said environmental biologist Adelso Pineda. “We're talking about a species that is critically endangered: the manatee.”
The severe pollution of Lake Maracaibo has had a major impact on local fishermen who rely on fishing to support themselves and their families. Union Radio reported that efforts to clean up Lake Maracaibo have been “paralyzed” for two months.
“We can't go out because the oil has damaged our nets and there is no one to compensate us. It's a problem for everyone and also because the oil companies are not collecting the oil like they did before,” local fisherman Edinson Araujo told Union Radio.
Araujo further added Claimed To the local outlet Karaoke Digital Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA said it was “not concerned” about the situation and would not attempt to address the oil spill in the lake, saying “they're not cleaning it up.” [oil]Just like before.”
The Maduro government has not publicly commented on the discovery of dead and oiled animals at the time of writing. Instead, an official from the Institute for Management and Conservation of the Lake Maracaibo Basin (ICLAM) said: Real thing Under the Maduro government's Ministry of “Ecosocialism” Announced Officials said Thursday they held an “environmental monitoring day” at the lake to take samples for “physicochemical analysis to measure the amount of nutrients in the water.”
The Maduro regime's oil spill is not only affecting Lake Maracaibo, but other parts of the country, where the country's oil refineries, abandoned for more than two decades under the mismanagement of the socialist government, continue to cause severe environmental damage.
In late August, an oil spill three times the size of Paris, France, Detected Venezuelan environmentalists and residents have been accusing Iran of “rehabilitating” the facility in the waters of the northwestern state of Carabobo, home to the El Palito oil refinery, after the rogue Islamic regime shut down the refinery in 2022. Refine Some of the oil is exported overseas.
Venezuelan environmental researcher Eduardo Klein on Wednesday charged that the August spill remained out of control and was on track to reach Morrocoy National Park. Dilapidated Another major oil spill will occur in 2020.
Klein charged in early September that satellite imagery showed at least eight oil spills on the eastern and central shores of Lake Maracaibo as of Aug. 25.
The Venezuelan Observatory of Political Ecology (OEP), a non-governmental organization, Condemned In January, Venezuela said it had recorded 86 oil spills in 2023, 40 of which occurred in Zulia.
Christian K. Caruso is a Venezuelan author documenting life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter. here.
