Another opponent of Pacific Rim's El
Dorado mine killed in El Salvador
2nd community activist murdered in less than a week as
Canadian-U.S. gold mining company moves forward with legal case against
Salvadoran government
On December 26, Dora “Alicia”
Sorto Recinos, age 32, was murdered in El Salvador, the second anti-mining
activist killed in less than a week in the small community of Trinidad in the
department of Cabañas. Sorto Recinos was eight months pregnant and carrying her
two-year old child when shot after doing laundry at a nearby river. She and her
husband, José Santos Rodríguez, were outspoken opponents of the non-operational
El Dorado gold mine, which Pacific Rim, a Vancouver, B.C.-based company, is
desperate to open despite widespread community and governmental opposition.
José Santos Rodríguez is a
board member of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, an organization that
formed to educate the public about the health and environmental risks of
cyanide contamination from gold extraction. The Committee’s vice-president,
Ramiro Rivera, was gunned down on December 20 despite having been under 24-hour
police protection since being shot eight times in August. Salvadoran President
Mauricio Funes vowed to investigate that murder, stating, “I hope this case
will not remain in impunity the way that so many others do.” These attacks
follow the late June kidnapping, torture and assassination of anti-mining activist
Marcelo Rivera (no relation), in the nearby municipality of San Isidro.
Earlier this year, Sorto Recinos reported that her husband had received death threats. Oscar Menjívar,
the man awaiting trial for shooting Ramiro Rivera in August, had previously
attacked José Santos Rodríguez with a small machete. Menjívar’s
neighbors report that he was one of Pacific Rim Mining’s paid “promoters,”
though Pacific Rim denies this claim.
The ongoing violence in
Cabañas, including numerous assaults, attempted kidnappings and death threats,
seems to be centered around the controversial presence of Pacific Rim Mining in
the region, with prominent anti-mining leaders coming under attack. Pacific Rim
ceased operations at El Dorado in 2008 after local protests gained support, and
the Salvadoran government subsequently refused to grant extraction permits.
President Funes stated his opposition to the project during his presidential
campaign earlier this year, and University of Central America polling show that
over 62% of Salvadorans oppose gold mining.
In response, Pacific Rim
opened an investor-state arbitration case against the Salvadoran government in
April under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), filing the
suit through a subsidiary, Pac Rim Cayman, based in Reno, Nevada (Canadian
companies are not eligible to file CAFTA suits, as Canada is not party to the
agreement). According to Pacific Rim CEO Thomas Shrake, the company is seeking
“hundreds of millions” of dollars in the arbitration, which is scheduled to
begin in early 2010.
In November, Pacific Rim
received notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it is in danger of being
delisted after posting net losses for five straight years. The company then
announced that it will seek to generate CDN $2.36 million by selling additional
shares of stock to finance its legal case against the Salvadoran government.
The company does not have any other mining projects in operation.
