The president of Costa Rica, Laura Fernandezruled out that it was the subject of a attempt during a field tour that he carried out this Friday in an area of illegal mining in the town of The Crucitas (north), of which it was evacuated after hearing in the distance a burst.
“I don’t think that was no attempted attack. It seems to me that, and my security teams explained to me, it was a detonation mount inside the coligalleros (illegal miners) that use explosives“for his work, he declared Fernandez at a press conference in the area.
The president explained that the holes that illegal miners make in the ground to extract material are work of explosives like the one heard this Friday.
“What we heard is what is heard here every day: explosions, detonations, bursts of gunfire for scare the police and repel them. What we saw is our daily bread here. Regrettable“said the president.
Fernandez was evacuated this Friday after an explosion was heard during a field trip she was carrying out in the town of The Crucitaswhere he verified the environmental damage caused by illegal gold mining in the area.
“I’m fine, they already checked me because it is the protocol. No one should worry beyond what is necessary. We are all fine“said the president.
The president had already related the events as if a “shift pump” (firework used in festivities) and that the echo in a forest amplified the sound.
For his part, the Minister of Security, Gerald Campos, explained that They are investigating the factsthat the police are carrying out a sweep in the areain order to determine what happened and ruled out that anyone has been wounded.
Also participating in the visit were deputies from various parties and at least one of them was treated for a nervous breakdown.
The Government promotes in Congress a bill to reactivate the gold mining in Las Crucitas, an area near the border with Nicaragua which has been taken over by illegal miners in recent years and where police authorities constantly detain illegal miners and they seize material and equipment used to extract gold in an artisanal way that is harmful to the environment.
The president urged the deputies to pass the bill for a company to exploit the gold in the area and avoid environmental damage derived from illegal mining and the operation of the racketeering on the spot.
In that area of The Crucitas was going to operate an open pit gold mine owned by the Canadian company Infinito Gold, but after an extensive legal battle the company was unable to begin construction and starting in 2010 the site was used by artisanal miners who use polluting techniques with mercury and cyanide.
Videos of the incident
Altered videos of the event have been shared on social networks, but local media outlets captured what happened during the incident.