On February 2nd, more than 140 international social organizations sent a letter to the Attorney General of El Salvador, and President Mauricio Funes denouncing the lack of justice in the cases of murdered environmentalists in the department of Cabañas and demanded measures to assure an impartial and thorough investigation. Among the organizations that signed the letter are environmental groups, labor unions, Salvadorans living outside of El Salvador, human rights groups and solidarity organizations from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe and Australia.

The organizations demand thorough investigation and swift justice for the material and intellectual authors of the crimes. The letter also demands the acceptance by the prosecution of a grievance filed by the legal team of the National Round Table against Metallic Mining in the murder cases of Gustavo Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera Gómez and Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos. “To date, the prosecuting attorney of the crimes, Rodolfo Delgado, has been incapable of advocating for the rights of the victims of these crimes,” says Emily Carpenter, National Director of US-El Salvador Sister Cities. “Therefore we feel it is necessary that a voice in defense of the rights of the victims be present in these cases.” 

Included in the organizations that signed the letter are various associations of Salvadorans living outsider of El Salvador, including FMLN Base Committees from the US and Canada and non-partisan associations.  “We look at these incidences of violence with much indignation and hope that Mr. Barahona will consider the voices of his compatriots living abroad, demanding a real change and an end to the impunity,” said Ana Gladys Méndez of the Committee of Salvadoran Women from Ottawa-Gatineau Canada.

Also, the letter and its signatories highlight the importance of investigating the mining company Pacific Rim's criminal and civil responsibility in these deeds. Currently, Pacific Rim is suing the Salvadoran government for hundreds of millions of dollars for supposedly violating investor rights under the Free Trade Agreement with the United States by not granting permission to extract minerals.

 “Mining companies are accustomed to bringing social conflict to communities.  We have examples of very similar violence in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru,” said Alexis Stoumbelis, Executive Director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), one of the organizations that signed the letter.  “It is of utmost importance that the State institutions investigate the role of Pacific Rim in generating any type of violence or social conflict,” she continued.

The letter that was sent to the Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH), to the Minister of Public Security, the Director of the National Civil Police (PCN), the Minister of the Environment, and the attorney general of the republic as well as the president, repeated the worry of other international institutions and personalities due to the lack of justice in the cases of violence in Cabañas. In November of the past year, U.S. congressman, James McGovern, expressed his worry about the impunity in the case of Gustavo Marcelo Rivera to President Funes in a bilateral meeting.

“We consider it very positive that the president committed to not permit metallic mining extraction and to investigate and bring security to the people of Cabañas.  However, the international community is very concerned by this situation of violence and our organizations and various congressional representatives are keeping an eye on the way the Salvadoran institutions end the impunity that has existed up until now,” said Carpenter of Sister Cities.

Press Conference in San Salvador