Soldiers raided illegal gold mines in the Amazon jungle and arrested more than 300 people, mostly foreigners, Foreign Minister Reinaldo Figueredo said Saturday. Most of the illegal miners detained in last week's raids were taken to Puerto Ayacucho, a jungle outpost on the Orinoco River about 400 miles south of Caracas, where they were to be tried on charges of damaging the environment, authorities said. Since last year, the federal government has made more than 1,000 arrests in attempting to staunch an invasion of miners crossing the unmarked jungle border between Brazil and Venezuela. The mining process, which uses mercury, has been blamed for poisoning rivers and for the deaths of several Yanomami Indians in Venezuela's isolated, largely roadless Amazonas territory. The government is trying to protect the estimated 14,000 Yanomami living in Venezuela, possibly the most isolated and largest primitive tribe remaining on earth. Defense Minister Hector Jurado Toro said about 800 soldiers were involved in the sweep. The troops dismantled mining operations and detained everyone who did not manage to escape into the jungle, he said.
