The crude oil spills do not seem to stop in the ‘Golfete de Coro’ and since October 6th, one was sighted in the supply pipeline that crosses this area to supply the Paraguaná Refining Complex.
Irene Revilla // correspondent lapatilla.com
According to Professor Eduardo Klein on October 6th, the pipeline ruptured leaving a trail of oil, and due to changes in the breeze, the crude oil has reached different shores and beaches. This time it was concentrated in ‘Villa Marina’, where service providers reported on November 15th, that the crude oil had reached the sandy beach and some bathers had been stained with crude oil.
Also affected are the “guacuqueros” (fishermen of ‘guacuco’, bivalve mollusk, Polymesoda arctata), who are inhabitants of the Los Taques areas who collect mollusks from the shores and offer them to visitors that come to stay in the spas. This is the main livelihood of many families in this sector, apart from artisanal fishing.
Professor Klein also reported that the crude oil reached Punta Caimán, an environmentally sensitive protected area that is home to migratory birds and is an area where shrimp spawn.
Residents of the Los Taques area learned that bathers have fled the beaches when their children come out covered in oil. They also claim that the ‘guacuqueros’ have suffered losses, a characteristic dish of the area cannot be served because the species necessary for its preparation come out full of oil.
The complainants preferred to remain anonymous, because they could be removed from the area where they provide services. However, they hope that measures will be taken to prevent further oil spills in the ‘Golfete de Coro’ and that all touristic service providers in this area will be heard, who although they have also been affected, have not been taken into account to receive compensation, or aid, as has happened with the fishermen of the towns of ‘Río Seco’ and ‘Punta Cardón’.
At the end of last week, after a group of fishermen from Río Seco kidnapped 10 PDVSA trucks that were traveling along the Falcón-Zulia highway, some of them loaded with fuel for the Andean states of Venezuela, they received payments from 200 to 700 dollars per fisherman in compensation and to free the tanker trucks.
The compensation began to be paid to the bank accounts of the sailors and at the nominal exchange rate of the Central Bank of Venezuela, after the National Guard tried to recover the ‘gandolas’ (semi-trailer tanker trucks), but the people of ‘Río Seco’ prevented this.
It was learned from the fishermen that many have yet to receive payments and given this advance that was given, the “guacuqueros” of ‘Los Taques’ hope to be taken into account.