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Gold from the sewers of Caracas
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Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202475.jpg
Since the start of the crisis in Venezuela, which coincides with Maduro's arrival in power in 2014, the country has sunk very fast while being one of the most stable in South America. With a currency that is worthless, salaries that are no longer paid, a rate of inflation that skyrockets, a real humanitarian crisis is underway in Venezuela. The most affected inhabitants are, as usual, the poorest. Some then decided to turn to Rio Guaire, the only river in the valley, to try to make a few dollars. By draining the bottom, gold diggers put rings, gold bracelets, earrings and other precious metals back. Thanks to this, they make a few tens of dollars each time, much more than a salary of civil servant.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202476.jpg
The Rio Guaire is a small river in Venezuela, and the only one in the Caracas Valley. Since the late nineteenth century, it serves as sewer to the entire capital, it is the main voice of sewage disposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has been in a very worrying ecological state.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202477.jpg
Josue left, 19, crosses every day except weekends the express way to fetch gold in the river. He works to feed his family composed of his mother and his little brother. He has just been released from a 7-month prison term, wrongly accused by the cable theft police. On the right Enzo, 40, in the search for gold for 5 years now. He would like to have a real job, but he earns a lot more thanks to the river.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202478.jpg
Alexander, aka Barlovento, 49, has been looking for gold for almost 8 years., He presents himself as the leader of the sector because of his seniority.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Ignacio, 27, is looking for gold every day to provide for his family. He lives with his wife aged 21, and their 3 children of 4, 2 and 1 year in a government building -Mision Vivienda-. He lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, in Venezuela the disabled do not receive any help from the state, and must work to live. He manages to find an average of one gram of gold a day, and his biggest catch was a ring of 7 grams of gold.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202480.jpg
A golden alliance found in the waters of Rio Guaire. Larry his owner has enough economy to leave the country. He wants to go live in Spain, unfortunately the country does not issue him a residence permit.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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The buildings of the -Mission Vivienda- house many Venezuelans in precarious situation, are government buildings HLM style, tenants pay rent directly to the state that grants the apartments. An operation that began 8 years ago, before the inhabitants were happy because they had access to housing and food distribution against their votes, but now many people choose to switch to the opposition because the situation is too hard, and the government no longer maintains the buildings and no longer distributes food rations.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202482.jpg
In the waters of Rio Cuaire many rubbish floats, this can be dangerous for gold seekers because in Venezuela the slightest injury can become serious.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202483.jpg
A group of young gold diggers living by the river in very difficult conditions. Just behind them is the great expressway of the capital a 2 times 3 ways with in the middle of the river and its men and women who try to survive by draining the soil of their hands.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Life on the banks of the river is hard, it reads on all faces. Caracas is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, the number of killings explodes with the rise of poverty, and living outdoors carries a lot of risks.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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With water up to the waist, gold diggers must dive to the head to drain the bottom with their hands.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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A gold digger exposes his booty of the day. This approach began to appear about 3 years ago, the crisis touching the country, the poorest people have to fend for themselves to survive.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Many teenagers work in Venezuela, very young they are obliged to support the family, precious metals researchers are many under 20 years old and have been working for several years in the river.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Oliver Espana, 16, has been a gold digger for about two years since losing his father. He earns about 40,000 bolivars a day the equivalent of $ 16.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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3 young gold prospectors descend into the river to go prospecting. They go there only mornings at the beginning of the week. It is a dangerous territory and prized by competition, clashes with other gold seekers are not uncommon.
The arm of the river on the edge of the Petare district has become a real open-air dump.
The arm of the river on the edge of the Petare district has become a real open-air dump.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Oliver Paredes, 18, looks in the palm of his hands after scouring the ground for every precious metal. Good days can be up to 20 dollars. The bottom of this arm of the Rio Guaire near the popular area of Petare is completely saturated with waste of any kind, a real dump.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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The cap and the bag of a researcher of gold.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Gold diggers can spend whole days in the fresh water. Pollution causes skin problems for some people.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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The lean booty of the trio, all metal is recovered, here the faucet, a watch strap, a fork and pistol cases. All are looking for lost gold jewelry or fallen in the toilet.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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In Caracas many men look for gold and precious metals in wastewater. There are not really any precise numbers but they should be several hundreds or thousands across the capital.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202495.jpg
The bottom of the river is completely saturated with waste of all kinds. Gold diggers pull out several kilograms of trash every day of research. They must be very careful not to get hurt because lack of hygiene and lack of medicine can be fatal to an arm or leg. Many people are amputated minor infections due to lack of medical means.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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A gold digger pulling his hands from the bottom to try to find every bit of precious metal.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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A young gold miner under the age of 15 uses a plastic bag braided as a sieve, the lack of tools does not play in their favor to find any piece of precious metal.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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A young researcher of gold.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Many gold seekers live in popular neighborhoods like here in Petare, one of the most dangerous barrios in South America. Many families live in difficult conditions, everyone has to fend for themselves as best they can to make a few dollars.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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Inside the housing of a sewer gold finder. The extreme poverty in which a large part of the population lives is plunging the country into an unprecedented crisis. Most young people want to see Maduro leave the presidency but not much hope for their future.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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End of the day for young gold diggers, they meet to discuss and pass the time.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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In the city many jewels whose stalls are empty offer to buy gold and precious metals at the price of the black market. It is an illegal business because it is highly regulated and supervised by the government, despite the risks of many shops that are well-established and brave the risk.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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The empty counters of a jewelery store in downtown Caracas. Many stores buy the gold from researchers without declaring it to the state, a completely illegal approach.
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
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In the back shop of a hair salon, a gold buyer tests a little gem. For that he rubs the object on a touchstone, The touchstone is a piece of flat black jasper, hard and rough, on which the metal is rubbed. In addition, acids are used to verify the titration (% of fine metal content).
Gold from the sewers of Caracas
Adrien Vautier / Le Pictorium
LePictorium_0202505.jpg
Two young gold diggers at the end of their working day. The future remains very uncertain for all those men who work in the river, even if the government changed, the living conditions of the most precarious people would take years to improve.