Bill proposed to the Congress aims to establish an auction of emeralds before their export and that can not be sold 'raw'.

The production, marketing and export of emeralds in Colombia has been linked to a history of terror and violence as a condition to "seize" wealth. For those who have studied the subject, the references in the sixties to bandit Efraín González, to 'Ganzo' Ariza and Isauro Murcia, or later to Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, 'El Mexicano', Gilberto Molina and Víctor Carranza.

"There is a permanent reference to these stories, which, however bloody they may be, are repeated to the satiety with pride. At the same time an insurmountable law of silence is applied on other aspects and episodes of the region in which the answers are evasive or very limited. The region is Boyacá and corresponds to a study of a year ago of Fedesmeraldas.

The dramatic situation is explained in large part by the fact that for many decades the Colombian emerald industry has been dominated by the informality that has eventually become criminality and the imposition of "the law of the strongest" with a very low state presence and A very precarious regulatory regulation that has been permeated by corruption and crime. In addition, this informality has allowed emeralds to be used for money laundering from drug trafficking that has reproduced violence and poverty.

One of the fundamental characteristics of the business is that, until very recently, there has been no vertical integration that allows a single economic agent to control production at the mine, size, sale and export. The supply chain in the emerald is basically made up of four links: producers (exploiters), barequeros, merchants and exporters, all operating independently, which causes duplication of processes and tasks, inefficiency and appearance of actors whose sole objective is to win Money without any commitment to the State or the region.

The arrival of new national and foreign investors in recent years has not only brought resources but order and formality to the business, but much remains to be done. Other companies are waiting for the progress of the pioneers to make decisions in the same direction.

Some companies, such as MiningTexas Colombia, Esmeraldas Santa Rosa and Gemfields seek to transform the face of the emerald industry in Colombia, through the modernization of productive and administrative processes, culture of legality and compliance with standards and stable labor guarantee And formal to the inhabitants of the west of the region.

But that process could collapse, because in the Congress of the Republic has begun the particular procedure of a bill, presented by the representative of the Putumayo, Argenis Velásquez, classified with the number 216 of 2016.

The objective of the project is not debatable theoretically: "Exponential increase of royalties in the emerald sector and other precious and semi-precious stones through the public auction mechanism, improving tax collection and solving social problems in the chain of production of Emeralds and other precious and semiprecious stones whose deposits are found in the Colombian subsoil. "The objective of the project is not debatable theoretically: "Exponential increase of royalties in the emerald sector and other precious and semi-precious stones through the public auction mechanism, improving tax collection and solving social problems in the chain of production of Emeralds and other precious and semiprecious stones whose deposits are found in the Colombian subsoil. "

However, Article 3 establishes the auction mechanism: "In order to provide employment, transparency, traceability and proper taxation in the marketing of emeralds and other precious stones, any production of raw material from the holding Of a mining title in force, before being transformed or exported, will have to be marketed through the public auction mechanism within the national territory under the supervision and regulation of the Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Counting on the accompaniment of the national guilds of emeralds and other precious stones ".

For the president of the Colombian Mining Association, Santiago Ángel: "You can not restrict the export of raw emeralds extracted in the country and violate the rights of those who are legally engaged in this activity, with the excuse of 'ensuring exponential increase Of royalties'. The increase of the royalties comes from the hand of the legality and the fulfillment of the functions of the authorities ".

In addition, "based on the assumption that the valuation of the emeralds for the payment of royalties depends on whether it is carved or raw at the time of export, is wrong, as the assessment of royalty is made in" mouth of mine. " The project states that '(...) in order to increase exponentially the royalties for the export of emeralds, they will have to be carved in the national territory prior to export.'

" Several purposes proposed in the project do not have to do with the intervention mechanism that they want to establish and on the contrary the formalization and integration would favor the improvement of the conditions for a collaboration between the small miners and the big companies, formalization of the Activity, in order to generate the conditions and benefits of a formal job, such as social security, industrial security, among others and the promotion of the value chain of emeralds in mining regions.

For those who know the subject, including the authorities, poverty and underdevelopment in the emerald-producing area have been the result of lack of formality, disorganization, mining illegality and feudal exploitation of workers without complying with minimum standards labor. This chaotic situation has deprived the Colombian government and the region of royalties and taxes that should have been received.

The allegations are permanent: the reputation of the Colombian emeralds has been affected by the activity of the so-called "emeralds," who have been dedicated to paying workers to steal from legal mines and export them to the foreign market. Many of them are related to illegal organizations.

According to industry spokesmen, the illegal model is promoted by some actors who benefit from this operation and is not exclusive to emeralds but other mining activities, as they manage to control part of the market, to launder money from drug trafficking, to export illegally and Trafficking weapons. Stopping the process of legalization, formalization and modernization, evading taxes and royalties is the condition for their survival. Leaders of these groups argue that they represent the "poor" miners and pretend to convince the people of the region that the business of legal mining companies harms small miners, which is proven by figures that are not true.