Contamination and Impact

Mines

On 27 May 2013 at the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reported it had cleared all the mined areas remaining and was mine-free[1] and subsequently made a formal declaration of completion of its Article 5 obligations at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in December 2013.[2]

Venezuela’s mine contamination was the result of antipersonnel mine emplacement by its armed forces at six naval bases near Río Arauca in the Amazon region along its border with Colombia in 1995–1997. After an attack on 25 February 1995 on the naval post in Cararabo, Apure state, allegedly by non-state armed groups operating across the border from Colombia, Venezuela laid 1,073 mines in 13 minefields around six naval posts in Cararabo, Guafitas, Isla Vapor, Puerto Páez, Río Arauca, and San Fernando de Atabapo. The total mined area was reported to be 180,000m².

The maps and photographs in Venezuela’s Article 5 deadline extension request clearly showed the locations and terrain of the mined areas.[3] The bases are located on a floodplain in dense vegetation and in an isolated part of Venezuela.[4]

Venezuela’s landmine problem[5]

Mine Action Program

The mine action program is under the sole control of the Ministry of Defense with no civilian oversight.[6]

Land Release

Venezuela was extremely slow to release its relatively small mined area. Even though Venezuela became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999, it was not until October 2010 (during clearance covering 20,000m²) that Venezuela cleared its first mine, at Rio Arauca. Similar clearance was conducted in 2011, but Venezuela cited flooding as the reason for not meeting its 2012 targets.[7] By December 2011, Venezuela had released 40,000m² or 22% of the 180,000m² of mined area. In May 2012, Venezuela reported it was unable to complete the clearance at the navy base and four other mined areas covering another 40,000m² due to flooding.[8] Clearance resumed in February 2013 as planned and, by the end of March 2013, Venezuela completed clearance in the four areas begun in 2012 in addition to the three remaining mined areas at Isla Vapor, San Fernando de Atabapo, and Cararabo (where 658 Yugoslavia-made PMA-3 were found in the three areas).

Clearance results 2012–2013

In total, Venezuela reported having cleared 1,073 antipersonnel mines emplaced in 13 mined areas around six naval posts in order to complete its Article 5 obligations. Venezuela’s mine action efforts were reported as entirely funded nationally.[9]

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the five-year extension to its deadline granted by the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in 2008), Venezuela was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2014.

The Ninth Meeting of States Parties that granted Venezuela the five-year extension noted that “with speedy establishment of a demining program and acquisition of mechanical demining assets, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) may find itself in a situation wherein it could complete implementation before October 2014 and that this could benefit the Convention.”[10] Indeed, in December 2010, Venezuela had said that new procurement procedures for demining equipment should allow the total additional time needed to clear all mined areas from its original Article 5 deadline to be reduced from five years to four, and that the clearance of all mined areas should be completed by June 2013.[11]

On 27 May 2013 at the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Venezuela reported it had cleared all the remaining mined areas and was mine-free.[12] The following December, Venezuela made a formal declaration of compliance with its Article 5 obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva.[13]