The lifeless body of the French soldier who disappeared Sunday during a night operation to combat illegal gold panning on the Oyapock River in French Guiana was found Wednesday, according to concordant sources.
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I have the sadness and pain to announce that we have found the body of Warrant Officer Guy Barcarel who unfortunately died, "said the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, to the deputies of the Defence Committee, who paid tribute to him with a minute of silence.
Adverse weather
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I want on behalf of the government to have a special thought for his memory, for his family and to send (my) condolences to all Guyanese and Guyanese, "he added, recalling that the non-commissioned officer was also "Amerindian customary chief". "The body has been found, that's the main thing, we will be able to give him a funeral," Laurent Yawalou, mayor of Camopi, in eastern Guyana, where the soldier was from, told AFP.
According to a source close to the case, the body of the boatman, a member of the Armed Forces of Guyana (FAG), was found at 13:45 p.m., French time, by a FAG patrol in the Oyapock River, near Camopi. The facts occurred on Sunday around 21:00 local (02:00 Paris time). "Acting in support of the gendarmerie, the non-commissioned officer, canoeist in the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (REI), customary chief for the Teko Amerindians of Camopi and member of the Customary Grand Council, was looking for an illegal logistical canoe at the time of the accident," said earlier in the morning the Ministry of the Armed Forces in a statement.
According to the first elements of the investigation, "the boat hit a tree while operating at night in adverse weather. In shock, the boatman fell." A mobile gendarme was also wounded.
500 illegal gold panning sites
In 2021, according to a parliamentary report, the gendarmerie of Guyana estimated at about 8600 the number of illegal gold miners, mainly Brazilian "garimpeiros" (prospectors), "in an irregular situation on the territory" of France. Some 500 illegal gold panning sites are still active, according to the Observatory of Mining Activity (OAM), including 150 located in the heart of the Amazon National Park, created in 2007 to protect the Amazon rainforest and its biodiversity.
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The parliamentary report also highlighted the high cost of the phenomenon for the Guyanese economy: "According to the Federation of Mining Operators of Guyana, illegal gold panning would divert from Guyana's GDP about 750 million euros" each year, a loss caused by the illegal extraction of "10 to 12 tons of gold" per year.
On 25 March, a French gendarme, GIGN Major Arnaud Blanc, was killed while participating with nine comrades in an operation against illegal gold panning. A man suspected of belonging to a group of clandestine gold mine robbers involved in the death of the gendarme was later arrested.
