Salvadoran Anti-Mining Activists Risk Their Lives by Taking On ‘Free Trade’

[Derechos]

For residents of El Salvador’s northern department of Cabañas, 2009 was a year fraught with political high drama that reached a tragic climax in December with the assassination of two anti-mining activists. A public commemoration of their work, which marked the start of 2010, was as much a statement of solidarity as one of mourning.

https://nacla.org/node/6389

[Judi Lynn]

1. If only President Funes will stick to his word on mining in El Salvador.

Without a doubt he would be aware that the same mining company which hires assassins to bump off the courageous activist would be more than happy to go after him, as well, without hesitation.

At some time in our world, ENOUGH people will have to take a stand against these monsters to protect the human race. It's such a shame when what is at stake is THEIR LIVES, and what the mining companies can risk is amassing more wealth, but NEVER their own lives.

Pure evil, nothing other.

The victims will be missed even by people who never knew them, but who respect them. Hope where every one has fallen 10,000 more will rise, in time.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Stop private firms exploiting poor states

Stop private firms exploiting poor states
A Cafta provision means a mining corporation can sue El Salvador for its gold. Obama can stop this from happening again
Kevin Gallagher guardian.co.uk,
Friday 5 February 2010 11.00 GMT

As a senator, Barack Obama voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta), because it did "little to address enforcement of basic environmental standards in the Central American countries." A conflict over gold mining in El Salvador reveals that Cafta and similar deals may enable private firms to circumvent environmental laws and then parachute away with large sums of government money. This has to change.

The Vancouver-based Pacific Rim company says it has discovered gold deposits in El Salvador and wants to extract them. Gold extraction can require enormous amounts of water and toxic chemicals. Interestingly, the conservative government of Antonio Saca did not accept Pacific Rim's environmental impact statement and thus effectively denied the company the authority to extract gold.

In March last year, the left-leaning Mauricio Funes was elected president of El Salvador. Influenced by a broad civil society coalition and an external review of Pacific Rim's environmental impact statement conducted by an independent US hydro-geologist and geochemist, Funes backed the denial of permits as well.

The next month, Pacific Rim filed a claim under a provision in Cafta that allows foreign companies to bypass the domestic legal systems. The so-called "investor-state" dispute system in Cafta grants foreign investors the right to take El Salvador to an arbitral panel at the World Bank and sue the government for damages. Pacific Rim claims that El Salvador is obliged to let the firm start extracting gold.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/05/el-salvador-gold-pacific-rim-mining