Sister Cities
Midwest Coalition calls on Commerce Group to Drop Suit Against El Salvador
On January 5th, 2011, Steve Watrous, of the Midwest Coalition Against Lethal Mining (MCALM) was interviewed on the Madison radio station, WORT-FM, about the$100 million dollar Commerce Group suit against the government of El Salvador and the anti-mining movement in El Salvador. The Commerce Group Corporation is a Milwaukee based company which owns a gold mine in the eastern part of El Salvador.
To listen to the interview click here. The interview starts 10 minutes into the broadcast and lasts 20 minutes.
Join MCALM in calling and emailing Commerce Group to tell them to Drop the Suit!
This Thursday, January 13th the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank was scheduled to decide whether to allow Commerce Group to move forward with the multi-million dollar lawsuit.
On November 15, the Salvadoran government presented its preliminary objections to the Commerce Group suit. Unfortunately, the majority ICSID cases pass this first round of hearings, and there is not much hope leading us to think that the Commerce Group case will be any different. The court has asked for an extension and will be issuing the decision this month.
MCALM is asking individuals and organizations across the Americas to call and email Commerce Group and demand the company drop the lawsuit!
On JANUARY 14, 2011, let's send a clear message to the Commerce Group: Withdraw your shameful lawsuit against El Salvador!
On Wednesday, December 29, 2010, four members (Steve Watrous, Al Gedicks, Babette Grunow and Dan Kasun) of the Midwest Coalition Against Lethal Mining (MCALM) met with John Machulak, an attorney with Machulak, Robertson & Sodos, and brother of Commerce Group's Chairman and CEO Edward Machulak to ask him to withdraw the $100 million lawsuit against El Salvador. He refused.
As Dan Kasun observed, "It appeared obvious that the comments by John Machulak throughout the meeting either attempted to minimize culpability or prove willfully ignorant of the obvious environmental and health impact of the Commerce Group's mining operations."
At the conclusion of the meeting, we promised that if they did not withdraw the lawsuit brought against El Salvador under the foreign investor "protections" of the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) that we would continue our campaign of public education and political pressure.
We need you to stand in solidarity with El Salvador's struggle against corporate extortion, neocolonialism, and environmental racism.
Please call the Commerce Group's Milwaukee office phone (414) 462-5310 starting Friday, January 14, 2011 and tell them to drop the lawsuit against the government of El Salvador. If you can't get through please email them at info@commercegroupcorp.com
SAMPLE CALL/E-MAIL SCRIPT:
"Hello. My name is _______________(if you are a Milwaukee or Wisconsin resident, say so up front!) and I have been following Commerce Group's lawsuit against the government of El Salvador. I am asking that Ed Machulak and the Board of Directors respect the right of the government of El Salvador to protect the environment and the health of the people near the San Sebastian mine by immediately withdrawing your lawsuit against the government of El Salvador.
I will be telling my friends and neighbors about the environemntal damage you have already caused in El Salvador, as well as calling on my Congressional Representatives to take action. Thank you for your time."
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