Communities Organize Disaster Response & Demand More Government Collaboration JIQUILISCO, El Salvador – As thousands of Salvadorans return to their homes and begin to rebuild their lives after last week’s historic rain and floods, many officials and civil society organizations in the region are blaming climate change for the catastrophe and calling upon the government […]
When Power in Community Alliance (PICA) of Bangor, Maine raised $4,133 by selling donated gold for the anti-mining movement they assumed the money would go to lobbying or mobilizing work done by the National Roundtable against Mining in El Salvador (The Mesa, in Spanish). However, when the news came back that the money had been […]
On July 8th, members of the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining in El Salvador held a press conference in front of the Honduran Embassy to denounce the arrest of three environmentalists from the Valle de Siria in Honduras, where Goldcorp operates an open-pit mine. Here is the statement members of the Mesa read at the […]
On June 28th, President Mauricio Funes released a statement condemning the murder of environmental activist Juan Francisco Duran Ayala and reiterating his commitment not to allow any mining projects to start in El Salvador. Since the murder of Juan Francisco, the fourth anti-mining activist to be assassinated, pressure on the Attorney General and President to […]
Since July of 2009 there has been a wave of violence and conflict in the communities opposing mining in the department of Cabañas. To date there have been three anti-mining activists murdered, one who was eight months pregnant at the time. We denounce the continued violence and threats towards anti-mining activists and community leaders in […]
Our allies in the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining (the Mesa) are very concerned about a recent wave of death threats and crimes against members of El Salvador’s anti-mining movement as well as other violent crimes recently committed in Cabañas. Similar crimes in 2009 that went uninvestigated, including robberies, kidnappings, and death threats against members […]
Contributed by Power in Community Alliances (PICA) The plans of U.S. and Canadian mining companies to begin mining gold in El Salvador continues to threaten Salvadoran rural communities. Salvadoran environmental and anti-mining activists have been assassinated and threatened. Through a free-trade provision closely resembling legal extortion, the Pacific Rim Mining Company continues its CAFTA suit demanding that […]
By Manuel Pérez-Rocha Originally posted on http://www.otherwords.org Mining endangers communities everywhere with safety hazards and environmental destruction. Remember the joy shared by millions around the world as we watched as the Chilean miners were rescued one by one? Celebrating their survival made me wish that the global mining industry could find itself in the spotlight […]
Written by the Communications Team of the National Roundtable against Mineral Mining — Translated by USESSC Staff For a second time, Salvadoran environmentalists who are struggling against the Cerro Blanco mining Project have become the victims of humiliation in Guatemala. It happened on Thursday October 28th. Three representatives from the Center of Investigations into Investment […]
The State of Mining in El Salvador · According to Salvadoran Mining Law a company must obtain both an exploration and exploitation permit in order to open a mine in El Salvador. · There are currently 29 active exploration permits and 73 applications. They are for areas in the Northern region of El Salvador, which […]