Violence Towards Environmentalists

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 the country, and support the struggle for justice in the violence toward social leaders. The lack of investigations into the intellectual authors by the Attorney General’s Office and the Civilian National Police Force is truly worrisome. This negligence has created an environment of impunity in the region that continues to destabilize communities.

The Current Situation

On January 11, 2011 the community radio station Radio Victoria received a written death threat.The authors of the letter claim to be an “extermination group” and offer large sums of money to the radio if they “stop making trouble,” by criticizing proposed mining projects and the local government. If they don’t, the group says they will murder the radio’s three “loudest mouths,” Elvis Zavala, Pablo Ayala, and Manuel Navarrete.
On January 23, 2011 Mesa member Hector Berríos received threatening phone calls from an unidentified personwho claimed to have been hired to kill Hector or a member of his family.
Two young people in Cabañas connected to the June 2009 murder of Marcelo River were killed.Darwin Serrano, who was involved in the murder but was released from prison because he was a minor, was attacked and killed on December 20. The second victim, Gerardo Abrego León testified in the trial that resulted in prison sentences for the material authors of Marcelo Rivera’s murder. Abrego was killed on January 2. Read more here.
This month, employees of CEICOM, a part of the Mesa, have been victims of two robberies in which a vehicle and important organizational documents were stolen. In 2010, while traveling to regional anti-mining conferences, CEICOM employees were kidnapped, robbed and left tied up in Guatemala.

The negligence of El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office has created a climate of impunity that empowers this systematic intimidation campaign against the social movement to continue. We demand that the Attorney General properly investigate these crimes and to call on the government to provide sufficient protection for members of the anti-mining movement.

For Past Articles and Updates See:

URGENT ACTION: New Threats and Violence in Cabanas

Is Gold Corp Responsible?

Salvadoran Anti-Mining Activists Attacked in Guatemala

Tribunal Convicts Material Perpetrators of Marcelo Rivera’s Assassination

The Mesa Reacts to the Arrests of Suspected Murderers of Anti-Mining Activists

One Year Anniversary of the Assassination of Anti-Mining Activist Marcelo Rivera

140 Organizations Sign Letter Calling for Justice in Cabanas, Feb 2010

CoLatino: Murder of Dora Alicia Sorto Rodriguez, Dec. 26, 2009

Mesa Frente a la Mineria Release: Assassinations continue, Dec. 27, 2009

Mesa Frente a la Mineria Release: Assassinations in Cabanas, Dec. 22, 2009

Silencing Voices: Murders of Anti-Mining Activists in Chiapas and El Salvador