Five years have passed since the worst oil spill in the history of Maturin, where on Saturday, February 4, 2012, the fissure of a 20-centimeter pipeline in the Operational Complex of Jusepín de Pdvsa contaminated the Guarapiche River.
The tributary that supplies seven parishes in the capital of Monaco with potable water service was severely affected by the spillage of some 100 thousand barrels of crude oil that fell for 21 hours in the river.
The environmental and political crisis that it generated still generates reactions, especially because there was no responsible or clear investigation to determine the causes and especially the consequences of the spill.
"Still at this point we do not know the results, we have made requests to the Ministry of the Environment about the water quality of Maturin, because we do not know for sure what water quality we are taking, neither PDVSA, nor the ministry have given the face", said Garcia.
At that time, the parliamentarian was part of the commission of Hydrocarbons of the then AN of pro-government majority, where despite requests from him and the allied deputies of former Governor José Gregorio Briceño, any investigation on the subject was shelved.
García believes that the responsibilities over the spill remain in force. "That is a serious environmental crime, it is an ecocide, at any moment they will have to respond to the population," said the legislator.
This Friday, July 6, according to PDVSA workers, they claim that PDVSA's failure and delay again provoked a spill, thus contaminating the Guarapiche river, through social networks explained that everything happened due to "structural failures" within PDVSA and not for some sabotage action of the operators who were on duty that day, as they claim to accuse them.
For them, that the Rio Guarapiche have fallen a thousand barrels of crude, was due to two factors: The first was the delay in responding by the responsible parties and the second DSI lack, first of a vehicle; and after a vacuum.
Environmental disaster in Venezuela:
The oil spill in the Guarapiche River will affect aquatic biodiversity if sanitation work is not carried out immediately. The forestry engineer, with a postgraduate degree in Hydrology, and an environmentalist, professor Edilberto Ferrer Véliz, explains that the environmental damage would be irreversible. He affirms that "What there is in the Guarapiche river are very important mangroves and sensitive to pollution (...) Mangroves are very sensitive ecosystems because they maintain their life in the water. In addition to the damage and pollution of the river and that derives in that there is no supply of the vital liquid in the region, the motricity impacts fall on the flora, fauna and landscape, "said the environmentalist. He said that with chemical damage, low photosynthesis and animals that consume plants from that area (fish, molluscs) atrophy. "The mangroves are oyster and mollusk zoocriaderos. Another problem is that the basins in eastern Venezuela are based on the morichales. With this problem the trophic chains broke, "explained Ferrer Véliz.
The professor of Ecology of the Experimental Pedagogical University Liberator (UPEL), Haydee Daniels, maintains a very similar opinion, because he explained that "it is necessary to collect all the oil, otherwise, the trees will dry, possibly the land becomes infertile and over time fish may initiate a genetic mutation ". Dead fish have already been found on the banks of the river.