On One-Year Anniversary of Reversal of Mining Ban, International Allies Join Salvadoran Communities in Their Demand to Bring Back the 2017 Mining Prohibition
San Salvador and worldwide – December 23 marks the one-year anniversary of the Salvadoran government’s legislation that overturned the historic 2017 nationwide ban on metals mining in El Salvador. On that anniversary, International Allies against Mining in El Salvador joined the communities of El Salvador in their call to oppose new toxic mining projects in El Salvador.
El Salvador faces multiple challenges and environmental threats that would be exacerbated by large-scale industrial mining, as outlined in “Water Over Gold: 15 Reasons Why El Salvador Should Again Reject Gold Mining.”
President Nayib Bukele’s reversal of the metals mining ban aggravates environmental risks already posed by his extractive economic agenda and will increase El Salvador’s risk of environmental contamination, human rights violations, and public health concerns, and will have an adverse economic impact on important industries like agriculture.
“El Salvador cannot mine its way to clean water, healthy communities, and sustainable livelihoods,” warned John Cavanagh, Senior Advisor of the Institute for Policy Studies.
On Mar. 29, 2017, El Salvador’s legislature voted unanimously to prohibit all metals mining in order to save its rivers and water. That momentous decision was the result of powerful sustained organizing by ordinary community members in El Salvador and supported by social organizations and communities around the world.
The faith community played a huge role in that historic victory to defend water and land resources and continues to be a strong voice for those who are now defending land and water rights under extraordinary circumstances. In June the government introduced a Foreign Agents Law that targets civil society organizations who receive international development aid and advocate for human rights by defining their activities, perceived as a threat to their economic agenda, as political activities .
On December 1, 153 prominent faith organizations from 25 countries released a powerful letter in support of Salvadorean faith leaders who have urged the preservation of El Salvador’s historic 2017 unanimous vote in the National Legislature to prohibit metals mining. The ban was overturned by the National Legislative Assembly and replaced by a new law that allows mining with no environmental protections in 2024 under orders of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
The full list of signatories of the letter represents local, regional, and national expressions of faith communities, denominations, and related agencies from countries and regions around the world, including Asia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, the Middle East, Spain, the United States, and Zambia, among others.
In a powerful editorial in La Jornada highlighting that open letter, columnist and trade and mining policy expert Manuel Perez Rocha notes the moral authority with which the faith organizations condemn the harmful reintroduction of mining in El Salvador and urge protection of precious water resources. “The global call for Bukele to end the persecution and criminalization of water and human rights defenders is growing,” Perez Rocha explains.
That persecution of community leaders and water defenders who have opposed the reintroduction of mining in El Salvador resulted in politically motivated charges against five prominent water defenders in Santa Marta, El Salvador, who were found innocent of all charges twice in two separate trials. This month, a Salvadoran court sentenced an environmental lawyer and a community faith leader to three years in prison for protesting near President Nayib Bukele’s home, but granted them a conditional release prohibiting their participation in public protests. Constitutional lawyer Ruth Lopez, who presented a constitutional challenge to the 2024 Mining Law, has remained in prison since May with no date for her preliminary hearing.
As international allies we stand in solidarity with communities, faith and civil society organizations working to protect water in El Salvador and echo their demands to bring back the mining prohibition and the rule of law.
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Press contacts:
John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, [email protected]
Manuel Perez Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies, [email protected]
Pedro Cabezas, Central American Alliance against Mining (ACAFREMIN) and International Allies Against Mining in El Salvador, [email protected]
Alexis Stoumbelis, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), [email protected]
"I am a CISPES supporter because continuing to fight for social justice and a more people-centered country means continuing the dream and sacrifice of thousands of my fellow Salvadorans who died for that vision.” - Padre Carlos, New York City
