On December 4, representatives of faith-based international solidarity groups from the United States and Australia joined Salvadoran faith, environmental, and social movement leaders for a press conference in San Salvador to announce a letter signed by 153 prominent faith organizations from 25 countries expressing support for religious leaders and communities in El Salvador who are opposing metals mining in the country.  In December 2024, Bukele and his allies in the Legislative Assembly overturned a 2017 law that prohibits metals mining by passing a new law allowing mining to return to the country, despite widespread disapproval.

The letter recognizes the leading role that Salvadoran faith leaders have played in the decades-long fight against metal mining to ensure that “all Salvadorans can enjoy their God-given right to clean water.” Salvadoran religious leaders and faith communities played a key role in securing the historic 2017 legislation and are once again mobilizing their members to resist the Bukele governments’ efforts to reintroduce mining today.

In addition to joining the call from Salvadoran faith leaders for the Bukele government to reverse its 2024 legislation, the letter expresses “solidarity with civic and religious leaders who are being persecuted and imprisoned for working against injustices, including the devastation that metals mining would cause their communities.”

During the press conference, participants also highlighted the unity expressed by the Central American Catholic Bishops who, on Sunday, November 30, made a joint declaration denouncing mining, other devastating extractivist industries, the violent criminalization of environmental activists in the region and the forced displacement caused as a result.

Sean Cleary, a member of the International Christian Service of Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America (SICSAL), emphasized that the Vatican is also “very concerned” about the issue of mining and that “at the worldwide level, the Catholic church and other churches, as we see gathered here today, are very aware of and motivated to accompany the Salvadoran people in the process of defending life.” Cleary closed by noting that he finds it strange that Nayib Bukele wants to “oppose the opinion of the Catholic church globally on an issue that most unifies Catholic bishops at the global level.”

The in-person press conference followed a virtual one earlier in the week to premier a video featuring faith leaders from around the world who joined the statement.

Read the full letter here.

Check out the media coverage of this effort:

• https://www.commondreams.org/news/el-salvador-mining
• https://ysuca.org.sv/2025/12/lideres-religiosos-internacionales-respalda...
• https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/153-iglesias-de-25-paises-exp...
• https://ips-dc.org/carta-abierta-insta-a-mantener-la-historica-prohibici...
• https://www.diariocolatino.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Edicion-04-de-...