Category Archives: Defending Natural Resources

Salvadoran, Canadian & US Organizations Protest Canada’s Support of Mining

David Pérez-Diario Co Latino http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20100723/nacionales/82506/?tpl=69 (Unofficial Translation) The National Roundtable Against Mining, with support from various international organizations, demanded that the Canadian Embassy in El Salvador stop favoring from Pacific Rim and other mining companies, since they only cause pollution and damage the health of the population. Since the left-wing government has said it will […]

One Year Anniversary of the Assassination of Anti-Mining Activist Marcelo Rivera

June 24th was the one year anniversary of the assassination of Salvadoran anti-mining activist, Marcelo Rivera. In San Isidro, Cabañas, the murders of Rivera and fellow community leaders Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos and Ramiro Rivera – crimes which has so far gone unsolved and unpunished – were commemorated by nearly two hundred people with musical […]

El Salvador: Mining the Resistance

by Gabriel Zucker Additional reporting by David Lee Originally Published in the June 2010 volume of Monthly Review            “Ultimately,” said Miguel Rivera, a soft-spoken man in his late 20s, “we are a family that has dedicated ourselves to helping the people with their needs and defending their rights. But in the process of denouncing […]

Declaration: We Must Deter Mineral Mining in Mesoamerica!

On Wednesday, April 14 in San Salvador, representatives of community organizations, indigenous communities and environmentalists from Mexico and Central America participated in an International Forum entitled: Mining Companies in Mesoamerica  “Sustainable Development or a Threat to Sovereignty?.” Out of the agreements reached at the International Forum we make the following declaration:   Companies from Canada […]

Honduran campesinos under the gun

On April 13th, over 5000 police and military were deployed to the valley of Aguán where over 3,500 families have been occupying reclaimed land that was stolen from them by the wealthy Honduran businessmen Miguel Facusse, René Morales and Reynaldo Canales. Observers feared that the army would massacre the landless families if they did not […]

U.S. Embassy Supports Pacific Rim Mining Co? Feb, 2010

On December 30th, 2009, right after the murders of Ramiro Rivera and Dora Alicia Sorto in Cabanas, the U.S. Embassy called a meeting with the members of the National Roundtable Against Mining in El Salvador. Among the points in the meeting, the Embassy representative told the Roundtable that they should not speak about the role […]

A Compelling History of Mining in El Salvador, Jan 2010

Everything has to do with Pacific Rim and the company’s longing to exploit the gold found underground in the department of Cabañas. Almost from the time that the company set up in said zone, conflicts began, whose biggest opponent is the resistance of the communities to sell their land, and prevent the negative environmental impacts […]

CoLatino: Murder of Dora Alicia Sorto Rodriguez, Dec. 26, 2009

New act of violence against environmentalists in Cabañas Saturday, December 26, 2009 Diario Co Latino, San Salvador, El Salvador Ivan Escobar Diario Co Latino staff Less than a week after the murder of the environmentalist Ramiro Rivera in Cabañas, today another murder was reported, this time a woman who was also a member of the […]

mineria es muerte

Mesa Frente a la Mineria Release: Assassinations continue, Dec. 27, 2009

The National Roundtable Against Mineral Mining San Salvador, December 27 2009 The assassinations of those opposing mining projects continue. The environmentalist Dora Alicia Sorto Rodriguez, was assassinated yesterday at 3:30 in the afternoon, in the town of Trinidad in Sensuntepeque (Cabañas). This crime occurred only a week after the murder of Ramiro Rivera Gomez, another […]

Silencing Voices: Murders of Anti-Mining Activists in Chiapas and El Salvador

December 2, 2009 By the Communications team of the National Roundtable against Mineral Mining On November 27 Mariano Abarca Roblero, a leader in the Mexican Network of the Affected by Mining (REMA), was assassinated. During the criminal act, Orlando Velásquez was also gravely injured. Orlando was a friend of the environmentalist that was riddled with […]