Communities Retake Pacific Rim Properties – March 25, 2007

April 25, 2007

By Sebastian Darío

 

Cabañas – More than one thousand people from the departments of Chalatenango, Cabañas, and Cuscaltán, flooded the properties of the Canadian Pacific Rim Mining company yesterday in protest of mining operations in their communities. From Chalatenango alone truckloads of more than eight hundred people of the Association of Communities for the Development of Chalatenango—CRIPDES-CCR crossed the Lempa river at the 5th of November Hydroelectric dam to meet citizens of Cabañas in Trinidad, Sensuntepeque where the Pacific Rim Mining Company is requesting a mining exploitation license from the Salvadoran Government.

The communities of Chalatenango, including mayors, religious leaders and senators exchanged experiences of resistance to mining companies, and visited the properties in Cabañas where the mining company is carrying out exploration and infrastructure work.  They denounced the propaganda campaign headed up by representatives of the Pacific Rim company, together with the mayor of Sensuntepeque, and local medical officials.

Bernardo Belloso of CRIPDES, the Association of more than 300 communities for the Development of El Salvador said “we want to make clear to the authorities that the people of Chalatenango are ready to accompany the struggles of resistance to mining exploration in these communities, and we will continue struggling until we expel these companies from the lands that have been conquered by our sweat and blood.

CRIPDES reports that the activity was aimed at educating and convincing the population of Northern El Salvador that it is necessary to be “united in order to defend our rights and in this way be able to have an impact on the authorities that should resolve this problem, principally the Government, and our Ministers of the Environment and Economy, as well as local authorities.  Specifically, community leaders in Cabañas denounced the position of the Mayor of Sensuntepeque who they claim has been manipulated by the Pacific Rim Company to convince the population of the supposed benefits of mining.

Isabel Membreño, President of the CCR, spoke saying “this activity demonstrates the strength of our resistance to the mining companies, and we are ready to struggle…if the mining company continues to try and operate here, there is no doubt they will have economic losses, because we will not allow them to operate.”

 

Participants in the activity read a letter from 26 US Congressmen urging the Salvadoran Government to consider banning metallic mineral mining, based on its potentially negative environmental and economic impacts for Northern El Salvador.

Community leaders also spoke with 30 private armed security guards employed by the mining company on the site, warning them that the communities will not rest until the mining company leaves, and peacefully dismantled company no-trespassing signs and fences around the property, as well as one small building on the potential mining site.

 

UPDATE 16/1/20. Rodrigo Chávez Palacios (son of Fidel Chávez Mena) was the vicepresident of Pacific Rim (then Oceana Gold) and in the year 2015 was convicted (and later released) for murdering Franklin Mendoza Ortiz.

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