So waiting to arrest people is criminal? The miners were not prevented from leaving, they were aware that they would be arrested, and refused to or were prevented from leaving, by their own bosses.
As so often, the police is deployed, not to protect people, but to protect the property of the wealthy. While the mining might be linked to organized crime, I have to wonder what exactly the crime is here. The entire criminality is based on the premise of individuals and corporations owning the mineral rights. But if you go down the rabbit hole of the provenance of those mineral rights, you will find crime upon crime upon crime. But crimes by the wealthy are usually met with admonishment, a stern warning, a slap on the wrist, a negligible fine, and barely concealed admiration. Crimes by the poor can lead to loss of freedom, loss of livelihood, even, as we see here, loss of life.
A very skinny report - the zama-zamas are creating billions worth of damage to structures from creating sinkholes.
They are the bottom of the illegal miners and considered expendable.
The miners were offered to be rescued numerous times but refused. They chose to not be rescued.
The guvmint did the right action , after years of trying other methods that just don't work.
So waiting to arrest people is criminal? The miners were not prevented from leaving, they were aware that they would be arrested, and refused to or were prevented from leaving, by their own bosses.
As so often, the police is deployed, not to protect people, but to protect the property of the wealthy. While the mining might be linked to organized crime, I have to wonder what exactly the crime is here. The entire criminality is based on the premise of individuals and corporations owning the mineral rights. But if you go down the rabbit hole of the provenance of those mineral rights, you will find crime upon crime upon crime. But crimes by the wealthy are usually met with admonishment, a stern warning, a slap on the wrist, a negligible fine, and barely concealed admiration. Crimes by the poor can lead to loss of freedom, loss of livelihood, even, as we see here, loss of life.