Up to this September 4th, two active oil spills have been recorded that have been polluting the ‘Golfete de Coro’ in Falcón State for 18 days, and although it has been reported by the fishermen to PDVSA (Venezuela’s government owned corporation), nothing has been done to stop the leak.
By Correspondent lapatilla.com
Fishermen from the area denounced that the situation worsens with the days, since they have not closed the supply of crude oil to the submarine pipeline that goes from Bajo Grande (Zulia) to the Paraguaná Refining Complex (CRP) in Falcón and it runs through the Golfete de Coro, a place that constitutes the main source of income for fishermen from the entire coastal axis of Falcón.
In the last four years, fishermen from the communities located on the shores of Golfete de Coro have repeatedly denounced gas and crude oil leaks coming from the submarine pipelines that feed the CRP. Faced with this situation, PDVSA went on to repair the lines with clips, braces and sandbags, but soon after the pipeline broke again in another place.
“Those lines are more than 60 years old, with more than 20 years without preventive maintenance. It bursts on one side, it is repaired and a few days later there is another leak. It takes longer to repair them than it lasts without a leak. El Golfete has been getting crude oil spills for four years. There are no more fish in the Tiguadare area, the shrimp farming sites have also diminished due to the same situation and the protected mangroves are contaminated,” said a fisherman who preferred not to be identified.
He explained that officials from the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) have come to the fishing communities to tell them that they should not give information to the media about fishing activity or crude spills.
“They have threatened us, but we are seeing how the only livelihood that our fishing communities have lived on for generations is dying. We are already tired of (government) not giving us answers, nobody helps us, they are only unfulfilled promises. Since this spill began, PDVSA was notified and it may be that they do not have the logistics, but they have not done anything and there are already two leaks. Last year the Minister of Fisheries came and promised ‘villas and castles’. Nothing has been done, here we continue to hold on, but this sea can no longer hold any more leaks,” he stated, very moved.
On June 24th, the Minister of Petroleum, Pedro Tellechea, flew over Golfete de Coro to see the magnitude of the damage caused. Since then he has made a commitment to the fishermen to clean up the Golfete and find solutions to the constant leaks. Two months later none of that has materialized.
The marine biologist and professor, Eduardo Klein, who monitors the environmental damage caused in the country, has exposed the problem of Golfete de Coro on several occasions and refers with satellite images to the serious contamination registered by the marine ecosystem in this extensive area.
#31Ago Continúan las DOS fugas de petróleo en el tubo submarino @PDVSA @Tiguadare. Están separadas unos 500m y aparentmente provienen de la misma tubería. Han estado derramando crudo contínuamente desde hace más de 15 días. pic.twitter.com/qUDLcwyrjx
— diodon histrix (@diodon321) September 1, 2023