Salvadoran & International Organizations Step Up Resistance to Mining Company

Phase One of the Commerce Group vs. the Government of El Salvador Hearings Complete

On Monday, November 15th the Milwaukee based mining company Commerce Group and San Sebastian Mines Inc squared off against the government of El Salvador in the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a part of the World Bank.  The hearing was the first of what may be many more hearings, in the company´s $100 million case against the government of El Salvador.  In 2006 the Salvadoran government revoked the company’s mining permits, following evidence that its operations were dumping highly toxic poisons into local water.  In retaliation, Commerce Group filed a demand before the ICSID requesting not only payment for its investments but also for tens of millions of dollars in alleged “lost profits.”  The suit is being filed under the foreign investor “protections” of the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). 

During this first hearing the arbitrators in the tribunal evaluated the preliminary objections of the company and the government of El Salvador.  El Salvador decided to base its rebuttal on statute 10.18.2 of CAFTA.  According to CAFTA, a company can not sue through the investment dispute settlement process if they have a case in local courts.  Commerce Group had appealed the revocation of their permits in Salvadoran court and the Supreme Court did not issue their decision until seven months after Commerce Group filed their ICSID case.  The Salvadoran government argued that  Commerce Group violated statute 10.18.02. by failing to submit and follow though with the necessary waivers.

Some interesting things brought up during the hearing were:  the fact that the U.S. government decided not to submit a non-disputing party argument, even though the legal teams implied they had been considering it. The Salvadoran government´s team asserted that this is not a sign that they are siding with one side or the other.  Also, the Commerce Group lawyers referred to the Pacific Rim case at various points during the proceedings. 

At the end of the day-long hearing, the tribunal announced that it would emit their written decision by January 13th, 2011

For news coverage of the hearings in the press see:

The National Roundtable Against Mineral Mining’s Press Release about the Hearing

Otra empresa minera demanda a El Salvador

Minera Commerce Group interpuso arbitraje ante Ciadi

CIADI prevé resolver sobre arbitraje de minería en enero

 

74 Organizations in the U.S, Canada and El Salvador Oppose Commerce Group  

In response to Commerce Group’s suit against the government of El Salvador, the Midwest Coalition Against Lethal Mining (MCALM) circulated a statement demanding that Commerce Group drop the suit, cleanup past mining pollution, compensate the victims of mine pollution, and respect El Salvador´s right to self-determination.  The statement was endorsed by 74 local, national and international organizations including School of the Americas Watch, the Maryknoll Center for Global Concerns, and Mining Watch Canada.  

In the MCALM press release, Al Gedicks, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and author of Resource Rebels said, “If anything, it is Commerce Group who should be paying for the toxic legacy they have left behind.”  Student activist Babette Grunow added, “This lawsuit is a cynical attempt by an unsuccessful company to exploit international trade agreements to make money that they have been unable to make by legitimate means.”

To see the complete statement with signatures click here.

For the MCALM Press Release see here.

Affected Communities Pressure the Attorney General about Contamination from the San Sebastian Mine 

Communities affected by the contamination of the San Sebastian River protested on Thursday, November 11th in front of the Attorney General´s office demanding that Commerce Group be tried under Salvadoran environmental law.

On September 25, 2007 the Center for Investigations of Investment and Commerce (CEICOM) along with members of the affected communities presented a complaint to the Attorney General’s office asking for investigation into the environmental damage by the Commerce Group mine and prosecution of Commerce Group for violations of Article 255 of the Penal Code.[1] 

In 2008 the Attorney General’s Office investigated the presence of cadmium, lead and mercury in the region and found insignificant levels of cadmium and lead and no presence of mercury.  However, there were no investigations done into the presences of neither cyanide nor the other metals identified in a water quality studies done in 2006 showing elevated levels of heavy metals. 

According the CEICOM press release from the event “preliminary results from a new study, reveal high levels kidney failure, cancer, and Gillian Barre, the last of which has been classified by scientists as a rare disease that is found in one out of every 100 thousand people.  In San Sebastian, with a population of 3,500 there are 6 registered cases of this disease.”[2] 

A delegation of participants at the activity was received   by members of the Attorney General’s office, but not the AG himself, to whom they were able to reiterate their case.  The group hopes there will some action take on the case but are not optimistic considering the way it has been handled so far. 

 

Sister Cities Staff Visit Commerce Group Mine

Sister Cities staff, accompanied by members of CEICOM and the YSUCA radio station, visited Santa Rosa de Lima and San Sebastian to hear from people in the communities affected by the Commerce Group mine and see the mine  on Wednesday, November 17, 2010.

In Santa Rosa de Lima they visited with Father Lorenzo Cruz from the Santa Rosa de Lima Parrish.  In response to the lack of drinking water because of contamination from the mining projects in the surrounding region, the parish has started a project giving families rain-water collection tanks.  Families are able to collect enough uncontaminated water to last them through the dry season.  

Accompanied by Father Cruz, the group visited the community of San Sebastian where they talked with people organizing against the mine, who said things have gone from “bad to worse.”   According to community members the contamination to the river from the mine has increased over time.  This year the contamination is worse than prior years because of the increased rain over the last 6 months.  They said that the river looks as red during the visit as they would expect it to look three or four months into the dry season when the contamination is usually most striking. 

The community members related numerous ways Commerce Group had lied to and disappointed the community. For example, several years back the company promised to help them build a community center and the community organized to help with the construction.  However, when it the building was finally finished the company decided to use it as their own laboratory instead of donating it to the villagers.

One man in the group had worked for two and a half years for the mining company that operated the San Sebastian mine prior to Commerce Group. He said that the “mining companies haven’t brought anything good, no clinic, no school, no good roads. All they have brought is suffering.” He explained that many of his coworkers at the mine had died from the damage the work did to their lungs.  He went on to call the wages paid by the mining companies, death salaries” because they were too measly to live on. He recounted how they used only have enough money to eat a hard-boiled egg with tortillas for lunch, while working extracting one of the most valuable metals in the world.  Community members wished aloud that there were economic alternatives to mining in the area, but said that their goal is to educate the younger generation so that the mining companies like Commerce Group can not exploit the youth like they did the older generations. 

 

To see the photo gallery of pictures from the trip click here.

 

 


[1] Complaint filed to the Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador.  2007.

[2] “Press Release” CEICOM. November 11, 2011.

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