RAPAPORT...Venezuela continues its efforts to crack down on illegal diamond and gold mining along the country's eastern and southern borders the nation shares with Guyana and Brazil. The government acknowledged that military personnel patrolling the border with Guyana fired at Guyanese miners, but there was no evidence to support one miner was killed. Venezuela's defense minister Raul Isaias Baduel stated on television news October 9, that military fired on aggressive miners stationed on Venezuela's side of the border with Guyana.
Guyana's government claims one miner was killed during the shooting on October 7. It was alleged that the miner was smuggling fuel from Venezuela (where gasoline is about 12-cents per gallon) to his operations in Guyana.
Venezuela's military killed six miners along the border with Brazil on September 22. President Hugo Chavez said 14 soldiers acted inappropriately in the slayings and would be tried and punished.