Jul
Defending Natural Resources
Salvadoran, Canadian & US Organizations Protest Canada’s Support of Mining
David Pérez-Diario Co Latino
http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20100723/nacionales/82506/?tpl=69
(Unofficial Translation)
The National Roundtable Against Mining, with support from various international organizations, demanded that the Canadian Embassy in El Salvador stop favoring from Pacific Rim and other mining companies, since they only cause pollution and damage the health of the population.
Since the left-wing government has said it will not permit any mining project, the organizations call for the immediate withdrawal of these companies.
The representatives of different social organizations gathered in front of the embassy to ask the Congress of Canada to pass Bill C-300, which would penalize Canadian mining companies that violate human rights anywhere in the world.
Among the other demands were the immediate suspension of the negotiations of the Free Trade Act between Canada and El Salvador and the CA-4, because they consider that this law favors mining companies and violence to the sovereignty of the nation.
In the United States and Canada there is a network of organizations fighting in solidarity with the anti-mining struggle, which had protests in several countries in Latin America.
This July 22 was declared International Day Against Open Pit Mining by community organizations in Canada and the Salvadoran community in Canada, which denounce the fact the mining companies for polluting the environment, causing deadly diseases, generating social conflicts, causing economic losses and corrupting governments in many Latin American countries and other regions of the world.
At the end of the event, the environmentalists were not received by the Canadian Ambassador, Claire A. Paulin. They were only allowed to deliver the letter through a security guard.
For the environmentalists this was an example of the Canadian governments indifference and resistance to listening to these just and necessary demands: that mines contaminate rivers, watersheds and all life that inhabits them, such as the plants that absorb the cyanide and other heavy metals and they become a danger to local residents, and that gold mining means the destruction of forests and the productive layer of soil.
