Paradise lost: Oil leaks poison Venezuelan lake
The dark waters of Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo have long been tinted black by oil spills.
But now worsening pollution has spangled the lake with green algae, while growing plastic contamination and sewage from rusting pipes are pushing nitrogen and phosphorus levels up.
The environmental destruction is harming locals' livelihoods. Fisherman Herberto Molero, 50, says it's smothering wildlife.
"Before you saw more fish, now you see more oil, more duckweed, more diesel spills. When you pass by the beaches you can see the diesel spills, plastic fuel tanks - everything is thrown into the lake."
Jose Sandoval founded an environmental group that has rescued three ospreys this year. They were poisoned by eating contaminated fish.
"In short, we are killing the lake, we are killing the lake in my opinion, because of bad politics. It is not possible that livestock waste ends in the lake."
Since Venezuela's multi-year recession and hyperinflation started, the northwestern Zulia state has lacked many basic services. Cuts to power and water supplies are frequent.
Disintegrating infrastructure and neglect mean spilled oil, agricultural fertilizers and fecal matter from humans are speeding the spread of the invasive algae.
