Before the country’s economic collapse in 2014, Venezuela produced 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. In 2005 then-President Hugo Chavez set up PetroCaribe, a program designed to provide states with development loans.

There is a dearth of information in the public domain about what gold mining entails, what challenges it poses, what opportunities it presents, and what it may mean for communities and the country as a whole. The purpose of this Report is to help fill that gap.

Last week, the World Bank Inspection Panel refused to consider a complaint from Haitian communities about the Bank’s support for development of the mining sector in Haiti.

In accordance with paragraph 17 of the Resolution establishing the Inspection Panel, I hereby inform you that on January 7, 2015, the Inspection Panel (the "Panel") received a Request for Inspection of the Haiti Mining Dialogue Technical Assistance (P144931) supported by the World Bank through a Extractive Industries Technical Advisory Facility (EI-TAF) trust fund. The Request for Inspection is included as Attachment 1 to this Memorandum.

This Request represents the joint concerns of Complainants, who have experienced harm and fear future harm as a result of the World Bank’s involvement in the mining sector in Haiti.