On April 9th, 2026, the Venezuelan National Assembly unanimously voted to reform its mining law, opening the sector to private and foreign investment. The legislation contains 137 articles that allow foreign and private companies or consortiums to participate in the extraction of strategic minerals such as gold. Concessions can last up to 30 years and be renewed twice for a period of 10 years each time.
According to Deputy Juan Carlos Alvarado, the reform marks the start of economic recovery for Venezuela. The President of the Permanent Commission on Energy and Petroleum, Deputy Orlando Camacho, echoes this confidence, adding that it establishes principles of sustainable development and environmental conservation. Acting President Rodriguez personally pledged to mining executives that Venezuela will provide “legal security, political security, and stability guarantees.”
However, these promises ignore the reality on the ground. A 2022 report from a U.N. Human Rights Council fact-finding mission accused the military and armed groups of involvement in several rights violations, ranging from child labour to murder. More recently, 16 local non-governmental groups published an open letter in late March, warning that the new law could provide a “veneer of legality” to “severe environmental degradation and ongoing human rights violations.” In an interview with the Miami Herald, Jose Garcia, a security expert specialising in Venezuelan military intelligence, stated that removing the gangs would require sustained “mine-by-mine” operations, as each location has its own armed hierarchy.
Two very different pictures are cast within this dialogue. One inviting and encouraging foreign investment, the other warning that a law in Caracas does not necessarily correlate to real change. As of April 10th, no U.S. companies had publicly announced plans to enter the Venezuelan mining sector, illustrating the widespread uncertainty. Whilst Rodriguez promised stability so “investments can be developed fully,” the government provided no details about security plans for Bolivar, a region largely run by Colombia’s National Liberation Army rebels, former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and gang leaders under the aliases “Juancho” and “Fabio.” Promising “stability” without a credible plan to remove armed actors is not a strategy, but an invitation for foreign companies to become complicit.
On one hand, perhaps the injection of foreign interest could lead to a landmark movement to regain control of the mining industry. With this, promises to protect the environment and workers could answer the complaints from the thousands of workers who marched on the day that the Organic Mining Law was finalised, demanding an increase in the minimum wage. However, the attempt to attract foreign capital may simply draw American firms into a sector with minimal oversight that is linked to criminal organisations and does great damage to the environment. Such an endeavour may well benefit aspects of Venezuela by tapping into the world’s largest undeveloped gold endowments. Though, there are valid worries about how foreign mining companies in Bolivar might affect small-scale and informal miners’ livelihoods, including indigenous groups in the region.
This change occurs crucially in the context of Maduro’s capture on January 3rd, 2026, and a visit from U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to Caracas weeks ago with potential investors. The mining reform is part of Venezuela’s new relationship with Washington, but is not the first attempt at change. The Orinoco Mining Arc was a vast territory created in 2016. Spanning almost 45,000 square miles, it was a large-scale industrial-mining project that similarly was designed to attract multinational investment. Unfortunately, it became a framework that facilitated the expansion of illegal mining in southern Venezuela, echoing fears expressed about the new reforms.
The mining law breaks with Venezuela’s history of resource nationalism, but rejecting the past is not enough. If foreign investment flows without security sector reform, independent monitoring, and enforceable human rights conditions, this “new gold rush” will simply reinforce security issues and rights violations in the mining regions. It will deepen conflict instead of resolving it. Economic progress must be measured in the safety of the people, the health of the land, and the dismantling of criminal networks.
