28 miners missing in Venezuela, possibly murdered

Venezuela is opening an investigation into the disappearance of 28 miners in the southeastern jungle state of Bolívar, officials said Monday. Relatives of the missing wildcat miners have said that they were murdered Friday in a dispute over a gold claim. They have said that a gang seeking to control the claim dismembered the miners, who were operating there illegally, and disposed of the bodies. “We will conduct an objective, independent and impartial investigation,” Tarek William Saab, Venezuela’s ombudsman, said Monday, echoing a promise by the public prosecutor’s office. State Gov. Francisco Rangel, a staunch ally of the ruling socialist administration, denied that any massacre took place, saying local police investigated reports of a shootout, but found no bodies at the mine.
"Once again, irresponsible politicians are trying to sow chaos in Bolivar state with FALSE information about murdered miners," he wrote on Twitter, accusing opposition politicians of trying to discredit the government's campaign to root out illegal mining. Families and people who said they witnessed the attack accused law enforcement agents of participating in the killings. Protesters on Monday continued to block the main road connecting the region to the border with Brazil. Other opposition politicians said the killings followed a decade-long pattern of killings in the region, and compared the case to the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in the hands of police in 2014.
"The area, located in the jungle and of difficult access, has been taken over by local gangs which continue profiting significantly from illegal mining and a weak state presence," Moya-Ocampos wrote in a note to investors.