Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela turns green while tourism and commerce fade
With cries for help, the inhabitants of “Santa Rosa de Agua” on the shores of Lake Maracaibo express their suffering. In that village on stilts just off the shore they report that tourist and commercial activity has fallen 80% due to the continuous oil spills and the appearance of verdin, a sure sign of eutrophication in still waters.
Correspondent lapatilla.com
Aldrin Ortega has lived in Santa Rosa de Agua for 53 years. He told la patilla.com that they are witnessing the worst ecocide against Lake Maracaibo.
Mr. Ortega denounced that the continuous oil spills are killing the lake’s environment, as well as sources of work such as fishing, tourism and commercial activity of the restaurants in the area.
“The mixture of oil with verdin (duck weed) is suffocating the aquatic species of the lake and killing the tourist activity from which most of the inhabitants of the area live. The verdin is not yet that bad, but combined with high levels of pollution it mixes with oil waste and causes an awful smell as it decomposes. This causes the diseases that the neighbors suffer from, I would dare to say more than 50% of the population is presenting gastrointestinal problems,” he pointed out.
Roberto García is a fisherman and reported that since June he has lost more than ten fishing nets as a result of oil spills.
“When we go fishing in “Puntica de Piedra” in Lake Maracaibo, we come back full of oil, we lose our work tools. Who is going to replace them? Maduro I think not. We beg you to do something to clean up the lake,” said García to la patilla.com with concern that he might lose his job.
The Municipal Chamber of Maracaibo held an open meeting with those affected and criticized the disappearance of the Institute for the Conservation of Lake Maracaibo (ICLAM), which should ensure the sanitation and care of the Zulian estuary, but so far they have not even spoken out about what has happened to the lake.
José Bermúdez, president of the chamber, rejected the declaration of the Vice Minister of Ecosocialism and Habitat, who said that a minority sector is raising alarms in relation to the appearance of verdin in Lake Maracaibo.
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Trade and tourism in Santa Rosa de Agua falls by more than 80% due to the verdin in Lake Maracaibo
“Alarm? The commercial and tourist activity is paralyzed as a result of the mixture of solid waste, oil spills, lemna and cyanobacteria, which causes a fetid odor that has generated various diseases, visible in the communities of the Coquivacoa Parish,” he said.
Councilor Daniel Ponne said that once again the regime is indolent with the Zulian people. Around four municipalities are affected by this situation.
Ponme emphasized that they only talk about the Bicentennial of the Lake Maracaibo ‘s Naval Battle, which is about to take place, and ignore this environmental chaos.
“ICLAM should be committed to resolving the dramatic situation of Lake Maracaibo and it has not even made a statement. PDVSA (Venezuela’s state oil company) does not deal with the correction of oil leaks that are killing our lake,” he said.
The plenary session of the Municipal Chamber approved an agreement that will be sent to the national authorities, where they ask on behalf of the citizens to urgently address this serious problem that exists in Lake Maracaibo and its shores.