As oil revenue for Venezuela continues to stagnate, the Maduro regime is more reliant than ever on illegal gold exploited from lawless jungles in the south of the country, according to a recent report and leading experts on the topic.

The coveted mineral is being exported through an elaborate global network from the crisis-stricken nation to Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, where its origin is unidentifiable, an investigative project created by five media outlets across five countries has revealed.

The report, "Venezuela, the Smugglers' Paradise," details how the gold is carried from mines in Venezuela run by armed gangs in the country's mineral-rich "mining arc" in the south, under the watch of the Venezuelan National Guard, smuggled across the porous Venezuelan-Colombian border by desperate migrants fleeing the country, then shipped to the United States and Switzerland under false papers. It's then sold to some of the countries' biggest refineries, and could end up in the products of the world's largest companies, such as Apple or IBM.

The United States is working on sanctions to combat the trade as the billions generated from the illegal gold empire have now become so valuable to corrupt Venezuelan elites that regime leader Nicolás Maduro may not be able to survive without it, Douglas Farah, president of IBI Consultants who also researches the topic, told The Epoch Times.

Concealing the Origin

Maduro legalized the exploitation, previously outlawed, of the country's Orinoco region in 2016 to make up for dwindling oil revenue. The move has succeeded in generating new funds for the regime as officials tax those who participate in the illicit business, but so has violence, as different armed groups war for control of increasingly valuable mines and trafficking routes.

The gold is ostensibly sold by small groups to the state, but in reality, most is smuggled out on foot, or in boats, cars, and small planes to fetch better value abroad.