Juan Forero
Appearances
Apple News Today
What we know about the figure skaters lost in the plane crash
There were no outstanding issues with the justice system in Colombia and there was no outstanding issues with the justice system in the U.S.,
Apple News Today
What we know about the figure skaters lost in the plane crash
He said what others said, which was basically that he'd lost his clothes, they'd taken away his stuff, he was in a cold detention center, that kind of thing.
Apple News Today
What we know about the figure skaters lost in the plane crash
This is something that is causing tensions with some of these governments around the region and leading to dust-ups.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
This episode was updated to include comment from the Gulf Clan. That's all for today, Thursday, January 2nd. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. If you like our show, follow us wherever you get your podcasts. We're out every weekday afternoon. Thanks for listening and Happy New Year. We'll see you tomorrow.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Thursday, January 2nd. Coming up on the show, the battle for gold raging within Colombia's mountains. The mine at the center of this conflict has been operated by the Zijin Mining Group since 2020.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
The company bought the mine for about $1 billion. But since taking over the mine, Zijin says they've lost a significant portion of it. Two of the mine's three sections have been taken over by rival miners looking to steal the company's gold. And leading the invasion of Zijin's mine is Colombia's most powerful drug trafficking group.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
In recent years, the price of gold has reached record levels, to around $2,600 per ounce, giving rise to a gold rush in Colombia. The Gulf clan has sought to capitalize on that gold rush by partnering with hundreds of miners in Buritica. Together, the miners and the Gulf clan have been breaking into Zijin's mines to take the company's gold.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
How do the miners actually break into the mine?
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Burritica sits nestled within the mountains. And in those mountains is a resource that people have been fighting over since the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. Shining, glimmering, valuable gold. Nowadays, it's not the Spanish who are looking for gold. Instead, it's a multinational giant out of China, the Zijin Mining Group. Zijin's mine in Buritica is the richest gold mine in Colombia.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
A lawyer for the Gulf Clan said the group is not involved in the illegal mining at the Zijin mine. On his trip to Buritica, Juan met Eric Dubier, a miner who's worked the illicit tunnels that burrow into Zijin's mine. And he told Juan he does it to provide a better future for his wife and four-year-old son. Eric says the Gulf Clan provides minors like him with basic comforts, like a kitchen.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
— And the pay is good. In a month, miners like Eric can extract $5,000 or more in gold, about as much as a business executive could make in Colombia. But it's dangerous work. — And Eric says that the biggest risk is running into Zijin's security forces. Combat between them and the Gulf Klan happens pretty much every day. What happens when Zijin's security forces meet, you know, Gulf Klan miners?
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Last summer, our colleague Juan Ferrero left his home base in Bogota, Colombia, to visit a small town in the Andes Mountains.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Like, what does that look like?
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
In 2023, two guards were killed and several others were wounded as a result of the fighting. A security official with the company said that it's losing its war against the Gulf clan. Zijin can't push them out of their tunnels without help. How has this been allowed to happen? Where is the Colombian government in all of this? This is happening in Colombia.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
The conflict between Xi Jinping and the Colombian government is next. Zijin executives say their underground war against the Gulf clan worsened after 2022, when a new party took control of Colombia's government. Past governments by and large welcomed foreign mining companies like Zijin, and they took a harsh stance against groups like the Gulf Clan.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
But the new administration, led by President Gustavo Petro, has taken a different approach. Since coming to power, the Petro administration's method of dealing with criminal and drug trafficking groups has been to avoid direct conflict.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
When Juan visited, he found a mine under siege.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Zijin has urged the Colombian government to take action against the Gulf clan by cutting off supplies to illegal miners and closing off routes used by criminals stealing Zijin gold. But Zijin's CEO told Juan that he hasn't seen much will from the Petro administration to help the company. And so last July, Zijin sued the Colombian government.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Colombia's defense ministry says that Zijin bought the mine knowing that illegal extraction of gold was taking place. The ministry also said Colombia doesn't have the capacity to flush out the clandestine miners, and that the government wants to avoid violent confrontations that might endanger civilians.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Other officials have suggested that Zijin give up some of its mine holdings to trespassers in a bid for peace. Colombia's government says that the fight for Zijin's mines is a symptom of a bigger problem, that many Colombians have to resort to illegal work to get by.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
To address that issue, the government says it needs to transform the economy of places like Buritica so that citizens have a choice of better jobs. One way to do that is to open up a path for illegal miners to legalize their operations. On his trip to Buritica, Juan visited one mine that could potentially go down this path, La Centena. A handful of illegal miners run a small operation there.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
This mine is a lot different than Zijin's. It's full of narrow corridors that burrow about 200 yards into the mountainside. The ground is flooded with muddy water. But at the end of the tunnel, above their heads, the ceiling glimmers. One miner, Andres Rave, points to a vein of gold, running his fingers over the minerals.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
They get to work extracting the gold. Among the people working this mine is Eric Dubier, the miner you heard from earlier, who's worked in the illicit tunnels that break into Zijin's mine.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Eric says working these smaller mines is also dangerous. The miners try to make them as safe as they can, using wood beams to support the ceiling above them. But here, if an accident happens, they don't get any protection or insurance. They're on their own.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
Eric and the other miners want the government to recognize and legitimize their mining, so they're no longer operating illegally. President Petro has signaled that he wants to give out more licenses and help to miners, but has not made any big changes. La Santana has also caught up in the Zijin conflict.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
On the other side of the sandbags is a rival group of miners who are invading Zijin's tunnels to steal the company's gold. In 2023, the miners stole tons of it, worth about $200 million, according to the company's estimates. And they're stealing it with the help of a powerful militia group, meaning the conflict often turns violent.
The Journal.
The Underground Battle for Colombia's Richest Gold Mine
The Chinese company says they have the rights to this land as well, but miners like Eric dispute that claim. So far, the Petro government has continued to stay out of the fight.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
first started out in Panama and then came back by boat. These are all people, by the way, who are taking the sea route, which is several hundred yards away from the coast and heading back into Colombia and then skipping from one town to another until they get to a bigger town where they can catch a bus to go anywhere else in South America.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
There were a lot of people who, you know, were just disappointed they had made this investment. in time and money. These are people who hadn't gotten to Mexico last week. They got to Mexico months ago.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
So we're talking some of them had been in Mexico for six, seven, eight, nine months, and they had been waiting to try to get into the United States and apply for political asylum, which you could do through an app that the Biden administration had created. Donald Trump did away with that app.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
And so people realized that though they had filled out the application to try to get to the United States and get a hearing to apply for political asylum, they knew they couldn't do that anymore. And so they opted to just head south.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
It is new. What we used to see in the past was as many as 1,500 people, sometimes even more, heading north and eventually to the southwest border. And in this case, what we're starting to see, and this is pretty new, is people heading back the other way. We're not talking about huge numbers. We're talking about 150, 200 people leaving by boat from Panama and getting into Colombia.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
That's 150, 200 people a day, sometimes more, sometimes less.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
The country that's feeling it the most is Panama, because Panama is a small country, only has 4.5 million people. And they've already had to deal with many hundreds of thousands of people heading north. And now they're starting to deal with people heading south. And so there's a whole logistical challenge there. The big beneficiaries are smuggling groups who benefited, of course, from migrants.
WSJ What’s News
The Long Journey Home for Migrants Turned Away From the U.S.
the people heading north. These outfits are there ready to move them and offer them services and all this stuff to get them back home. And they try to charge as much as they can. So a lot of these migrants are running out of money on the way or they're getting back home without a cent in their pocket.