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International community calls for release of El Salvador antimining activists

by  on 2 August 2023 - MONGABAY
 
  • Calls from the international community are growing for the release of five environmental activists fighting water pollution and mining in El Salvador who were arrested in January. 
  • A lack of evidence behind the allegation that they were involved in a civil war-era kidnapping and murder has raised questions from U.S. officials and the U.N. about the legitimacy of the charges. 
  • A group of 17 U.S. members of Congress is the latest to call for their release and a closer look at the steps the government is taking to renew a defunct mining sector.
  • The five “water defenders” say there’s insufficient evidence in the case and that they’re protected from prosecution by a post-war reconciliation law.

The arrest of five environmental activists fighting water pollution and mining in El Salvador is drawing international criticism following questionable developments in court proceedings that suggest the case against them is politically motivated.

The activists were arrested in January in connection to an alleged 1989 kidnapping and murder during the country’s civil war. But a lack of evidence in the case has led to calls for their release and a closer look at the steps the government is taking to renew a defunct mining sector.

“We are concerned these arrests are politically motivated and intended to silence the overwhelming opposition to mining in the country. We also have concerns that these men have been denied their basic right to due process,” 17 U.S. members of Congress said in a letter earlier this month.

Known locally as “water defenders,” the five men helped lead a campaign to ban metals mining in 2017 and protect El Salvador’s primary source of clean water, the Lempa River Basin. The countrywide ban was the first of its kind anywhere in the world and was celebrated as a landmark step for environmental policy.

But in recent years, President Nayib Bukele’s government has taken some steps that suggest it’s reconsidering its position on mining. It created a government agency to regulate the energy and mining industries and joined an intergovernmental forum that helps “advance best practices” for the mining sector. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

 

El Salvador’s Historic Metal Mining Ban Is in Danger

Jacobin

Owen Schalk

Following its failed crypto scheme, authoritarian president Nayib Bukele’s cash-strapped government is making moves to reverse El Salvador’s metal mining ban. Its reintroduction would be a disaster for the nation’s already contaminated water supply. Unlike many Latin American countries that court extractive investments from transnational companies, El Salvador has no metal mining industry. This is unique in the region, the result of years of organizing by social groups, environmental organizations, and the Catholic Church.

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Santa Marta Community Leaders Are Persecuted in El Salvador

Screen Shot 2023 04 07 at 12.06.43 PM minTeleSur

Five social leaders were arrested due to a judicial order that links them to an alleged case that occurred during the civil war. 

On Thursday, Santa Marta's Association for Social Economic Development (ADES) called on citizens to protest in San Salvador City to reject the political persecution of social leaders carried out by the administration of President Nayib Bukele.

On Jan. 11, the Attorney General's Office and the Police executed an arrest warrant against Miguel Gamez, Alejandro Lainez, and Pedro Rivas in the municipality of Victoria.

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Salvadoran environmental defenders detained for decades-old crimes

Screen Shot 2023 04 07 at 12.25.40 PMThe Guardian
Nina Lakhani 

Activists worry the arrests are a move by the cash-strapped government to open the country to now banned metals mining
Five prominent environmental defenders who played a crucial role in securing a historic mining ban in El Salvador have been detained accused of civil war era and gang-related crimes, in what rights groups fear is a ruse to restart mining.

Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Antonio Pacheco and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega were detained on Wednesday in Cabañas in northern El Salvador, accused of killing an alleged army informant more than 33 years ago during the brutal civil war that claimed 75,000 lives.

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250+ Groups Call On El Salvador to Drop Charges Against Water Defenders

Screen Shot 2023 04 07 at 12.06.43 PM minCommon Dreams

Jessica Corbett

Critics warn that the Salvadoran government is "desperate for revenues" and trying to "demobilize potential grassroots opposition" to reversing a historic nationwide ban on environmentally destructive metal mining. More than 250 organizations from 29 countries came together Friday to pressure the Salvadoran government to drop the charges against and release five water defenders who were instrumental in achieving a 2017 legislative ban on metal mining in El Salvador.

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Is El Salvador preparing to reverse its landmark mining ban?

Screen Shot 2023 04 07 at 11.46.55 AM minMongabay

Maxwell Radin

El Salvador banned all mining of metals in 2017, but environmentalists are concerned that the government is preparing to reverse the decision and bring in international investment. The government has created a new agency to oversee extractive industries and begun looking into international agreements that facilitate investment in precious metals. Five “water defenders,” who have spent decades speaking out contamination of water sources by mining projects, were arrested in January after mining officials visited their town of Santa Marta.

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