Backgrounder
CAFTA Investor Rights Undermining Democracy and the Environment: Commerce Group Case
The Commerce Group Corporation, a mining firm registered and based in Wisconsin, is the second multinational company to attack El Salvador’s environmental policies under the controversial investor rights of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The company’s environmental permits for its gold mining and milling operations in Northeastern El Salvador were revoked after the company failed its environmental audit; in April 2010, the Salvadoran Supreme Court ruled that the company had been accorded due process during and after the audit.
