Conservationists and parks officials are pitted against local politicians in Venezuela in a fight for control of two national parks in the Andes. Caught in the middle are six condors, among the last in the country.
In a 1993 attempt to reintroduce condors to their native habitat, the National Parks Institute and the Condor Foundation in Venezuela, assisted by the San Diego Zoo, released five male and five female condors in Paramo de la Culata National Park, whose sheer cliffs offer ideal nesting spots for these high-flying raptors. Since May, the bodies of four of the condors were discovered; the last appeared on August 27. Necropsies revealed the birds were shot. A recently released report by the National Senate Environmental Land Use Commission puts the blame for the birds' deaths on Avelino Villarreal, mayor of the city of Mucuchies.
According to Jorge Padron, author of the commission report, Villarreal "promoted the death of the condors" among his constituents. His motive, says Padron, was to discredit the reintroduction project, which has become a symbol of successful conservation in Paramo de la Culata and nearby Sierra Nevada national parks. The town of Mucuchies lies in a valley between the steep slopes of the two protected areas.
Commercial activities in the park are restricted and controlled by the parks department, a fact that apparently displeases Villarreal, who is fighting for jurisdiction over development in the area. According to parks forester Elide Zurbaran, public threats have been made against parks personnel because, "Villarreal considers us an obstacle to his [development] proposals."
Mary Lou Goodwin of the Venezuela Audubon Society thinks the mayor's motives are clear. "He wants the government to eliminate the national parks and to give the land to the farmers to build up his constituency," she explains. "But the soils in the parks are very fragile paramo, no good for farming. The parks also protect many rivers that provide drinking water."
The controversy has turned "vicious," reports Goodwin, with local politicians backing Villarreal's attacks against the parks department. The Audubon Society believes the entire condor program is at risk.
Padron emphasizes that the attack on the condors is "just one demonstration of what is happening throughout Venezuela, where mining, logging, oil drilling and tourism development are being permitted in protected areas."
Repeated calls to Villarreal were answered with explanations that the mayor was "unavailable." Rosa Sanchez, director of the mayor's office, declined to comment.
Contacts: Venezuela Audubon Society, Apdo. 80450, Caracas 1080-A, 582/92-2812 (tel), 582/91-0716 (fax), crodner@dino.coniciu.ve (e- mail); Jorge Padron, 582/483-9576; Avelino Villarreal, 58/748- 1136.
This article is provided from the Rainforest Alliance's Tropical Conservation Newsbureau, based in San Jose,Costa Rica. For more information, contact Diane Jukofsky or Chris Wille, Rainforest Alliance, Apdo. 138-2150, Moravia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Phone: 506-240-9383; Fax: 506-240-2543; Email: infotrop@sol.racsa.co.cr
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