Antonio do Brinco, also Albina 2, is a ''

garimpeiros Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a blanket term for a type of subsistence mining involving a miner who may or may not be officially employed by a mining company but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually ...

'' (illegal gold prospectors) village in the Tapanahony resort of the

Sipaliwini District Sipaliwini is the largest Districts of Suriname, district of Suriname, located in the south. Sipaliwini is the only district that does not have a regional capital, as it is directly administered by the national government in Paramaribo. Sipaliwini ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

. The village is located on the Lawa River, and is next to Peruano, and opposite

Maripasoula Maripasoula (), previously named Upper Maroni, is a commune of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. With a land area of , Maripasoula is the largest commune of France. The commune is slightly lar ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. The village is named after Antonio with the earring ( Portuguese: brinco) who constructed the first commercial building. The village has grown rapidly in the early 21st century, and contains a string of supermarkets, restaurants, bars and brothels, who cater to both the gold prospectors and neighbouring French Guiana, because of lower prices. Many shops offer customers free transportation from Maripasoula with their boats and canoes. The health situation in the village is dire. The river has been polluted with mercury. There are no medical facilities in the village despite a high prevalence of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, and during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, it was listed as a hot spot with many infections. As it was founded illegally, it is not listed as an official settlement and therefore has no school, no electricity other than private Diesel generators, no clean water supply, and no police station. There are plans to open a clinic operated by Medische Zending in the village.

References

Bibliography

* * Populated places in Sipaliwini District Squatting in Suriname {{Suriname-geo-stub