*** For immediate release***
Contact: Alexis Stoumbelis, CISPES 202-521-2510

Sensuntepeque, Cabañas, ElSalvador—On November 25, 2010, a district judge in Cabañas, El Salvador,dropped serious charges against seven local environmentalists who were accusedby Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining of “kidnapping”, “aggravated robbery,” and“aggravated threats” among others. All seven were members of theCabañas Environmental Committee for the Defense of Water and Culture (CAC); chargesof property destruction were referred to a different court.  Thecharges come four years after 2006 protests at the Santa Rita mine site on theCerro Limón hill, located in the rural community of Trinidad in Cabañas, whichsuccessfully halted activity at the mine. 

According to members of the CAC,representatives and employees of PacificRim were not present during Thursday’shearing, while outside of the courthouse, 150 community members hadgathered to support the accused. “Apparently the company’semployees did not want to show their face in front of all the people gatheredoutside to support us,” said the Cabañas Environmental Committee ina Friday, Nov 26 press release.

“It seems as though Pacific Rim onlybrought these charges in an attempt to intimidate people who continue to opposethe mines,” said Lisa Fuller, program director for CISPES, the Committeein Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, a U.S. organization thatis working with the communities threatened by Pacific Rim’s proposed activities.“Otherwise, why would they bother with a case that they knew theycouldn’t win, particularly since the 2006 protests were such a setbackfor them?”

In November 2006, protestors successfully shutdown Pacific Rim’sexploration activities at the Santa Rita site, which was reported at thetime in the Diario CoLatino asa “victory against metallic mining.” After several days of protest,which was observed by police and by the Human Rights Ombudsman, Pacific Rim was forced to stopoperations and dismantled the drilling equipment.  As stated in December2006 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pacific Rim “agreed to suspend itsSanta Rita drill program until such time as the NGOs environmental and socialconcerns could be addressed.”

However, grave concerns about the environmentaldamage caused by gold mining and the behavior of Pacific Rim Corporation haveonly increased since then, rising to international attention following themurders of three environmental activists in 2009, two of whom - Ramiro RiveraGómez and Dora Alica Sorto Recinos - were residents of the same community ofTrinidad and members of the Cabañas Environmental Committee; Ramiro Rivera wasone of the 2006 protest leaders. Also since 2006, the government has committednot to allow mining due to environmental risks; in a recent interview onNovember 18, President Mauricio Funes stated, “the Government hasn't lostits resolve to not authorize any mining exploration or exploitationproject in this country.”

Pacific Rim CEO Thomas Shrake and Chair of theBoard Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, continue to paint themselves as the victims inhearings before the International Centre for the Settlement of InvestmentDisputes at the World Bank, where they are suing El Salvador for at least $77million dollars years after the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resourcesdenied their application to exploit gold at the El Dorado mine, also in Cabañas. The next hearing isslated for early spring, where the Government of El Salvador is expected toraise objections to Pacific Rim’s change of nationality from Vancouver, B.C. to the state of Nevada inorder to exploit the foreign investor provisions in the U.S.-Central AmericaFree Trade Agreement.