Category Archives: Defending Natural Resources

Journalists and Priest recieve threats due to their advocacy: July 29, 2009

The situation for political and social leaders in the Department of Cabanas has worsened since Marcelo Rivera’s disappearance and murder in early July. The week of July 27th, 2009, three to four journalists from Radio Victoria, a local radio station that was reporting on Rivera’s disappearance, received intensifying death threats. On July 28th, Father Luis […]

Anti-Mining Activist Marcelo Rivera Tortured and Murdered: July 15, 2009

Last week, the body of Anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera, who had been missing since June 18th, was found at the bottom of a well in the town of San Isidro. The body showed visible signs of torture. While the local Police and Attorney General’s office have called this a case of common delinquency, community members […]

Mining Companies Turn to CAFTA and File Suit Against El Salvador

Pacific Rim Officially Files Suit Against Salvadoran Government Canadian mining company Pacific Rim mining Corp. has officially filed suit against the Salvadoran government in an international trade tribunal. After filing a Notice of Intent of Arbitration (NOI) in December of 2008, the company presented its claim to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes […]

CRIPDES Position Regarding Pacific Rim Notice of Intent: January 2009

CRIPDES Position Regarding Pacific Rim Notice of Intent January 2009 Confronting the threat of the suit from the Mining Corporations (Pacific Rim) under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA), the Association for the Development of El Salvador CRIPDES, states: At the end of 2001 the political parties ARENA, PCN, […]

National Table Against Metal Mining: Press Release, January 2009

January 2009 The communities and citizen organizations of the National Table Against Metal Mining express the following: We are grateful to the prominent Archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Fernando Saenz Lacalle, for the firm position of the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador (CEDES) against the exploration and exploitation of metal mining in the country. We congratulate […]

Pacific Rim Threatens to Sue Under CAFTA: December 2008

By Sebastian Dario Last week the Canadian company Pacific Rim Mining Corp escalated their tactics for putting pressure on the Salvadoran government to administer exploitation permits for open-pit cyanide gold mining in El Salvador by filing a Notice of Intent (NOI) against the Salvadoran government under the Central American-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). […]

Gold Mining Analysis and Resistance Series

 Three years after the first aluminum surveying tags appeared in the hills above San José Las Flores, where, according to the Salvadoran mining code, company representatives have no legal right to be, the organized communities of Chalatenango continue to face the threat posed by international gold mining companies.  They also continue to organize against them. […]

What the Census didn’t Count: Water Rights in El Salvador, June 12 2008

Sister Cities Staff   Potable water access shouldn’t be a problem for the tiny community of Chilama in El Salvador.  Located just outside of the Port City of La Libertad, Chilama is literally surrounded by water.  Chilama is located within two miles of the Pacific Ocean, is tucked into the ChilamaRiver bed, and plays host […]

Public Statement Against Mining from Chalatenango, June 5 2008

PUBLIC STATEMENT AGAINST THE PROJECTS THAT THREATEN HUMAN LIFE AND OUR ENVIRONMENT   The Association of Communities for the Development of Chalatenango, CCR, and the below signed institutions, manifest our rejection and total opposition to the projects of mineral exploitation and all projects that put our lives and our natural resources in danger. The projects […]

International Statement Regarding the Assassination of Hector Antonio Ventura

International Statement Regarding the Assassination of Hector Antonio Ventura, Ex-Political Prisoner in the Suchitoto 13 case, and Political Killings in El Salvador: May 2008 We join the Association for Development of El Salvador, CRIPDES, the Foundation for the Application and Study of Law, FESPAD, and the more than forty member organizations of the Coalition for […]