Oil fouls Venezuela beaches after spill

CARACAS, Venezuela — An oil spill in Venezuela has coated a stretch of the crisis-wracked nation’s Caribbean coastline, treasured for its white sand beaches, clusters of small islands and wildlife.

Fishermen and locals living around Morrocoy National Park began reporting oil washing ashore last week and it has coated roughly 9 miles of beaches. The area popular with tourists is 180 miles from the capital, Caracas.

Venezuelan authorities acknowledged the spill, saying they are containing and cleaning it up, but so far they haven’t said what caused it.

The area is near El Palito refinery operated by the struggling state-owned PDVSA oil company, but Environmental Minister Oswaldo Barbera tweeted late Tuesday that a flyover confirmed that the spill did not come from the refinery. He didn’t identify the source, however.

Park rangers and volunteers had already collected several bags of oil from the beach, he said.