Claire Priest

Huge inroads made during the pandemic, and coca is now grown at low altitudes. It's everywhere.

The Amazon’s Largest Isolated Tribe Is Dying (Published 2023) Illegal mines have fueled a humanitarian crisis for the Yanomami Indigenous group. Brazil’s new president is trying to fight back.

During Peru research, I learned that illegal gold mining in river beds is an existential threat to indigenous communities throughout the entire Amazon Basin. Seed money is given by narcotraffickers who launder the gold and have upper hand over state officials. Scary. www.nytimes.com/2023/03/25/w...

Hundreds of Miners Were Trapped for Months—Until an Extraordinary Two-Man Rescue Mission The volunteers risked their lives to venture thousands of feet underground and retrieve their neighbors. What they found was horrific.

The soaring price of gold ($2700 an ounce) has led to a global illegal gold rush with massive human and environmental impacts. Here: a mind-boggling rescue of 200+ illegal gold miners who the S. African government put under siege to evict them from an inactive mine. www.wsj.com/world/asia/t...