On April 10th, theCourt of SpecializedSentencingofSanSalvadorbeganthe trialagainst 10peopleaccused of involvement infive murders, including two environmentalists that occurred in 2009 in the small community of Trinidad, in the municipality of Sensuntepeque (Department of Cabañas).
The defendants, according to prosecutors, are supposedly close totwo familiesin the conflict.
Most ofthe violent deathsoccurred inDecember 2009.Within days of each other,RamiroRivera,FelicitaArguetaandDora AliciaSortowere killed indifferent parts of theTrinidad community.RiveraandSortowereidentifiedat the timeas activistsagainst activemining projectsin the area.Months earlier in the same area,tworelatives of a manlinked tomining: Horacio Menjivarand his wife, Esperanza Velasco were also killed.
The chiefprosecutor of theOrganized CrimeUnit(UNICCO), Rodolfo Delgadosaid yesterday that following hisinvestigation, prosecutors ruled the crimeswere not related tothe activity ofthe mining company.
According toDelgado, "these families had previous quarrelswith each other."Activityfor andagainst miningexacerbated thesealleged attacks,hesaid.
Delgadodeclined to specifywhat the prior arguments were about, orif they hadballistic teststhat connected thecases.The prosecutor stated this was due to the fact thatthe trialwas still ongoing. He added, however, that two witnesses gave statements indicating there was allegedly a history of problems betweenthe families.
The killing ofMarceloRivera,another environmentalist, occurredin June2009 in anothertownin Cabañas, and wasdisconnectedby the chiefprosecutorto the case currentlybeing processed in theCourt of SpecializedSentencing.In September 2010, three people were sentenced to40 years in prisonfor the murder ofRivera.
Frustration around the Latest Ruling in the Cases of Violence towards Environmental Leaders
Wednesday April 11, six members of the 18th Street gang were sentenced to between 30 and 145 years in jail for a wave of murders committed in 2009 in the town of Trinidad, Cabañas that included the assassination of environmentalists Ramiro Rivera and Dora Sorto, and Sorto’s unborn child. Five of the suspects in the case were freed, while one suspect had fled the authorities.
The Salvadoran Attorney General’s Office has always maintained that the crimes were the result of family feuds in the region, and that the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim was not directly involved in the conflicts. In La Prensa Gráfica, Rodolfo Delgado, head of the Unit Against Organized Crime, said that the families involved in the murders “already had existing feuds.” The newspaper also reported he that he went on to say “the activity in favor of and against mining exacerbated these supposed aggressions.”
However, the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining (the Mesa in Spanish) and the Environmental Committee of Cabañas (CAC) have criticized this hypothesis a number of times over the years.
Community leaders in both organizations argue that Cabañas has historically been the department with the second lowest rate of violence in El Salvador and that there was never this level of violent conflict in the communities before Pacific Rim arrived. They also criticize the Attorney General for never seriously investigating the intellectual authors behind the crimes. They argue that mining companies use the strategy of creating community divisions and conflict throughout the world and point to similar cases of violence which have erupted in other countries like Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru. The Attorney General, however, so far has not taken this pattern into account.
The social movement also asserts that neither the current Attorney General, Romeo Barahona, nor his predecessor have been interested in carrying out thorough investigations in Cabañas, and that while there have been some arrests in the cases of murdered environmentalist Marcelo Rivera, and now the Trinidad victims, the fact that death threats, kidnappings and intimidation of activists continues is proof that the intellectual authors of the crimes are still free. Also, there the Attorney General has never performed significant investigations into the threats against Radio Victoria, the attempted kidnapping of Father Luis Quintanilla, the robbery and attempted kidnapping of Father Neftalí Ruíz, and countless other cases of threats and violence against community leaders.
The problems of impunity and discrimination in the justice system, as perpetrated by the Attorney General, has gained even more importance recently as the Legislative Assembly is slated to name the next Attorney General within the next week. Romeo Barahona, is running as a candidate, and he has proposed that Rodolfo Delgado continue in the Organized Crime division. According to the Mesa, in order to deal with the increased crime and violence in Cabañas, the Legislative Assembly must appoint officials to the Attorney General’s Office who will thoroughly investigate both the material authors and intellectual authors of such politically motivated crimes and push for prosecution and real justice. If the new Attorney General doesn’t take these steps, the threat of violence will continue to hinder the Salvadoran people’s struggle for environmental and social justice.
The legal process that lead to the sentencing of six people accused of the murders of five environmentalists in the town of Trinidad, Sensutepeque, Cabañas, was manipulated and lacking diligent investigation, said Francisco Pineda, the President of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas (CAC).
“We express our rejection of the decision of the Specialized Sentencing Court in San Salvador, with regards to the deaths of the environmentalists from Cabañas. From the beginning we have denounced the Attorney General’s hypothesis, which was that personal feuds caused these crimes,” he said.
The environmentalist affirmed that before the arrival of the company Pacific Rim to the area, there were disagreements between families; however, it wasn’t until the Canadian corporation began to buy loyalties and rally against those that opposed the mining project that the murders began.In 2009, Ramiro Rivera and Dora Alicia Sorto were murdered, the last of which was eight months pregnant.
The crimes were widely denounced and, according to the CAC, the only reason for the crimes was to silence environmentalists. Previously, Marcelo Rivera, a community leader that also opposed the mining project, had been murdered.
“We also observed, with concern, the interest of the Attorney General’s Office in exonerating these people, it seems that they said ‘they didn’t do it’ without investigating what happened,” added Ricardo Navarro, from CESTA.Five of the accused were set free.
Ramiro Rivera’s brother, Santos, denounced that, when he went to testify against the accused during the judicial process, he was pressured by the Attorney General’s office and they tried to intimidate him by threatening to incarcerate him if he testified.
Pineda, who condemned these actions, recognized the commitment made by the President of the Republic, Mauricio Funes, who has condemned the murders but questioned the conduct of some of the government institutions, as in the case of the San Francisco El Dorado School, in the town with the same name.
Do Trade Agreement International Investor Protections Imperil Local Communities and the Environment?
On Wednesday, March 28th Luis Gonzalez, a member of the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining in El Salvador and Unidad Ecologica de El Salvador, joined experts on investor-state disputes in Washington D.C. for a Congressional briefing organized by Public Citizen and Oxfam in coordination with Congresswoman Linda Sánchez and Congressman Raúl Grijalva.
The briefing, titled Do Trade Agreement International Investor Protections Imperil Local Communities and the Environment?, focused on how three recent investor-state cases brought by extractive industry corporations against low-income Latin American countries illustrate a stark reality: that legitimate public interest policymaking and the functions of domestic court systems are being undermined by unaccountable foreign tribunals, adversely affecting poor communities as well as national development goals.
These types of cases are especially important as the Obama administration pushes to extend investor-state provisions to many more countries through negotiations for the Trans-Pacific “free trade” agreement.
Pacific Rim Mining Corp. v. El Salvador. After failing to complete the necessary environmental protection steps to obtain a mining permit in El Salvador’s main watershed region, Canadian gold mining company Pacific Rim Mining Corp. reincorporated a Cayman island subsidiary in Nevada and then filed an investor-state suit against El Salvador under CAFTA. The company now seeks hundreds of millions in compensation for its “lost profits” through an international tribunal, challenging the country’s mining laws. As an imminent jurisdictional ruling drags out, violence and threats against local environmentalists in the region where Pac Rim wants to run a cyanide-leach gold mine continue.
Chevron v. Ecuador. After 18 years of litigation in two countries, 30,000 indigenous peoples and farmers in Ecuador’s Amazon won a historic $18 billion ruling ordering Chevron to clean up horrific contamination of land and drinking water. But, instead of starting the long overdue clean up and provision of health care to the victims of their extreme pollution, Chevron filed an investor-state suit under the U.S-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty to try to evade complying with judgments made and confirmed in U.S. and Ecuador courts. Even before it decided it had jurisdiction, a tribunal issued an order for Ecuador’s president to block enforcement of the court orders. This ruling sets a dangerous precedent, allowing deep-pocketed corporations to challenge the functions of a country’s domestic court system and the decisions of its duly-appointed judges – and would violate Ecuador’s constitutional separation of powers.
Renco v. Peru. Renco Group Inc, invested in a metal smelter in La Oroya, Peru, which has been designated as one of the top 10 most polluted sites in the world. The firm was sued in U.S. court on behalf of severely lead-poisoned children in La Oroya. Renco filed an investor-state suit under the U.S.-Peru FTA, alleging that Peru’s failure to grant it a third extension on its remediation obligations constituted a violation of the FTA investment provisions and demanding $800 million in compensation. The mere threat of the case puts pressure on the Peruvian government to weaken its environmental and health policies, and has disrupted justice in the victims’ case in U.S. courts.
">To watch video of the briefing follow the links below.
While There is a Slight Increase in Water Quality, the Situation is still Critical
River Water Quality Improves, says MARN
The water classified as “good” in rivers increased 2 per cent, to 12 percent in 2011.
By Gloria Morán
Diario Contra Punto
San Salvador- With its report “River Quality in El Salvador, 2011” the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) revealed that the water in Salvadoran rivers showed a tendency of improved water quality.
The studies were carried out between April and June of 2011, and the MARN took 123 samples from 55 rivers, including the Paz River, the Grande River in Sonsonate, the Bahia River in Jiquilisco, the Grande River in San Miguel, as well as others.
The information collected showed that none of the rivers had “excellent” water quality, that 12 percent had “good” quality, which shows an increase from 10 percent in 2010; that 50 percent had “average” quality; that 31 percent had “poor” quality, and 7 percent had “terrible” quality.One of the major findings is that according to the study the Lempa Rivera improved in water quality in the Northern regions of the country.The improved water quality has provided the conditions for the more aquatic life.
The head of the MARN, Herman Rosa Chazez, said that improved water quality can be attributed to the work done by the ministry in sewer and other waste treatment; for example collecting tires, compost sites, and sewer treatment, among others.
Domestic water is the most contaminated
However, he empathized that while it is true that there has been an increase in the river water considered “good,” that is not enough and he affirmed that the Government will invest more resources in treating sewer water.
According to Celia Mena, hydrologist with the MARN, this investment is necessary because the water coming from domestic use is the most contaminating to rivers.
“This type of pollution can be seen by the presence of high concentrations of Coli form fecal bacteria in the water.During the study, there were concentrations of 3,500,00 bacteria/100 mL found,” says the MARN report.Celina affirmed that “the water quality of the majority of rivers is deficient for conventional potable water standards,” referring to the fact that only 17 percent of river water can be made drinkable by taking steps like adding bleach, boiling or filtering water. “The quality of river water is improving,” said Rosa Chavez, when he compared the results with those in 2009 where none of water could be classified as “good”.
Other Results
Other results found by the study were that only 26 percent of river water can be used for crop irrigation.
Of the 123 sample sites on a national level, only 26% met irrigation standards, “the other 74% don’t meet the requirements for irrigation due to the high levels of fecal Coli forms, with conductivity levels up to 1319 uS/cm and some areas with elevated levels of sodium and sulfates.”
According to the study, the rivers that meet irrigation standards are the Lempa River and the San Simón River that provide water for the Lempa Acahuapa Irrigation District. While those which didn’t meet the standards are the Sucio River which supplies the Zapotitan Irrigation District with water, the Lempa River in the Northern District and the Acahuapa River that supplies the Lempa Acahuapa District.
The study showed poor water quality for recreational activities, indicating that only 0.08 percent can be used for recreation, while in 2010 the report showed that 6 percent was adequate for recreation.
“This is not a new situation [the river pollution] and that is why we need more investment and commitment from the Government,” said the head of MARN.
The National Roundtable against Metallic Mining reveals the results of the mining sector SEA and demands its immediate discussion in the Legislative Assembly
March 21, 2012
In honor of World Water Day, which is celebrated on March 22, the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining (Mesa in Spanish) gave representatives from the Environment and Climate Change Commission of the Legislative Assembly a copy of the mining sector Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which to date has not be officially released by government authorities from the Ministry of the Environment, nor Ministry of the Economy.
The activity was organized as part of the events for Water Action week, where the Mesafocusedon banning metallic mining as a situation that cannot be put off as well as on the fact that the conditions necessary to stop the deterioration of the quality life of the people should be guaranteed as soon as possible.They emphasized that the Metallic Mining Ban bill, presented to the legislative assembly in 2006, should be discussed and immediately approved.There are no more excuses.
If the obstacles to date have been the lack of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), whose results have been withheld since September of 2011, the presentation of the finished SEA today should allow for the immediate debate to begin.The irresponsible silence maintained by authorities from the Ministries of the Environment and Economy towards the population has found its accomplice in the Legislative Assembly because they have stalled the discussion.
The Environment and Climate Change Commission of the Legislative Assembly no longer has any excuse to delay the discussion about metallic mining.The Mesa reiterated that the communities affected by mining in El Salvador and the social organizations that oppose metallic mining should be included in the debate because they understand the issue and know the terrible effects said industry has had on Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and even Costa Rica and Panama, where they have at least banned open-pit mining.
In 2010, the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination report classified this country as the most vulnerable in the entire world.That same year, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN in Spanish) stated that barely 2% of the rivers in the country have water classified as “good.”The rest, 98%, are average or bad.The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has also announced that El Salvador is on the verge of water stress, which is to say that the country is beginning to have less than the minimum average annual amount of accessible water.Are more statistics to prove the vulnerability?
To confront this situation, the Mesa believes that allowing metallic mining to be established would be no more and no less than a coup de grace for our country.The unregulated use of water (for ex:the El Dorado mine that would use 900 thousand liters of water a day), the wide spread use of highly toxic chemicals like cyanide, the destruction of landscape and ways of living, are more than enough reasons to ban mining.
**Press Release by the Mesa Nacional Frente a la Minería Metálica
