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Leaked embassy cables reveal…Illegal Brazilian miners flourished under Minister Gajraj’s watch
An illegal business trade to register Brazilian miners flourished under former Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj, a leaked US Embassy cable says.
The cable, one of hundreds issued by the Georgetown Embassy and released by whistle-blower website, WikiLeaks, also spoke of the worry Government had in 2006 over a significant presence of undocumented workers in the gold mining areas of the hinterlands.
These undocumented persons included mostly Brazilians.
Ronald Gajraj
According to the cable, the then Commissioner of Geology and Mines and Commission (GGMC), Robeson Benn, told the Economic Officer at the embassy that several immigration brokers claiming connections to arrange work permits, started to appear under the watch of Gajraj.
While not directly accusing Gajraj of being involved, the cable issued in March 2006, also said that the Minister had removed the GGMC responsibility of vetting the work permit applications.
Gail Teixiera, who replaced Gajraj, later restored the power back to GGMC, the cable revealed.
Regarding the undocumented miners, in late February 2006, Government through GGMC launched an offensive sending its mine officers and Immigration officials to inspect interior mining locations to identify and regularize undocumented workers.
It is believed in the 2005-2006 period, a number of undocumented Brazilians worked in the mining industry after relocating to Guyana because they were expelled from the Bolivar state in Venezuela.
Government has long been downplaying the negative impact of illegal miners in the interior, even claiming that the Brazilians brought new technologies.
Government has not released any official figures on the number of illegal and undocumented miners operating in the interior.
The miles of open borders of Guyana have been proving a major challenge for the enforcement officials monitoring these. Guyana has always been a heavy draw for undocumented workers.
The local law requires that no less than fifty percent of workers on a mining operation be Guyanese.
According to the cable, the Guyana Government was grappling with solutions on how to handle undocumented foreign workers (Brazilians) at mining sites.
Following allegations that he helped to sanction a killing squad targeting mainly criminals, Gajraj was replaced as a minister and posted to a diplomatic position to India.
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