Venezuela to Set Special Plan to Decontaminate Lake Maracaibo

On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced a special plan to decontaminate Lake Maracaibo, which has been affected by the cumulative effect of oil spills, the confluence of solid waste and the proliferation of a bacterium called verdigris.

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"I have prepared a special care, decontamination and recovery plan for Lake Maracaibo. Public Service Minister Nestor Reverolwill be in charge of its implementation," he said at an event to mark the bicentennial of the Naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo.

This plan was prepared with the support of scientists, technicians and the ministers of environment, oil, fishing and aquaculture, and electric power.

Maduro asked Zulia Governor Manuel Rosales and the Maracaibo Mayor Rafael Ramirez for "all the support" for the development of this plan, for which Venezuela will seek financing amid the U.S. Sanctions and blockade.

The Bolivarian leader also announced the construction of a 33-hectare park that will be able to provide services to 1.4 million people in the eastern and western parts of Maracaibo, the capital city of the Zulia state.

This facility, which will be called Ana Maria Campos in honor of a heroine in the war of independence, will have five lagoons, 14 sports fields, walkways, a special space for pets and an area for children with disabilities.

"We are going to reforest the areas to the west and east of Maracaibo to have the protection of the trees... It will be a monumental park," Maduro said and promised to hand over the first eight hectares of the park in December.