Almost 300 people in trucks and buses illegally entered the Corcovado National Park in the Osa Peninsula, through “Los Patos” sector, with the purpose of extracting gold.

Men and women of different age groups are part of the group that have already began installing tents and temporary houses inside the National Park and some outside near the Termo river mouth.
Eduardo Carrillo, director of the International Institute of Conservation and Management of Wildlife of the National University (ICOMVIS-UNA) stated “These people came in large cattle trucks and buses. The problem goes beyond the environmental damage they cause extracting gold, they also settle here and hunt to feed themselves. The pressure over the ecosystems is impressive”.

To protect the park the authorities only had nine park rangers available and police bus and three police cars, which is obviously insufficient.

The group barged in the park without any acts violence, they come from the regions of El Tigre and Rio Claro, among others. Some are asking to be heard by the Government as they claim they were expropriated from their properties with the creation of the National Park back in 1975.

Police Forces are present and monitoring the area as a preventive measure.

According to Carillo, this is not new, he estimates there are already close to 400 gold miners in the area. “We have been reporting this since 2010, but the government hasn’t done anything. We have investigations that show that there are already some animals (like the wild boar) in danger of extinction”.

To do their job the gold miners dig tunnels of even 40 meters in length (131 feet), they destroy the hillsides, which causes erosion.

Recently the the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) ordered Costa Rican authorities to take measures to protect the Corcovado National Park.

Corcovado is considered one of the best National Parks in the world.