Please TAKE ACTION

Anti-Mining Activists Murdered
YOUR voice, emails and faxes are NEEDED

Two anti-mining activists murdered in one week.
Ramiro Rivera, murdered on December 20th, 2009
Dora "Alicia" Recinos Sorto, murdered on December 26th, 2009
Alicia was 8 months pregnant, and was murdered in front
of her 2 year old son, who was injuried in the attack.

Photos:
1) Image of Ramiro Rivera taken from www.upsidedownworld.org
2) Image of Dora Alicia Sorto from www.cispes.org

On December 26, 2009, Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto, age 32, was assassinated, the second anti-mining activist killed in one week in the small community of Nueva Trinidad in the department of Cabañas. Recinos Sorto was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child when she was shot on her way back from doing laundry at a nearby river. She and her husband, José Santos Rodríguez, were outspoken opponents of the proposed El Dorado mine which Pacific Rim, a Vancouver-based mining company is desperate to open despite widespread community opposition.

Rodríguez is a board member of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, an organization that formed to educate the community about health and environmental risks of cyanide contamination from gold extraction.

On December 20th, 2009, the Committee's vice-president, Ramiro Rivera Gómez, vice-president of CAC (Comité Ambiental de Cabañas/ the Environmental Committee of Cabañas), and a local leader in the community struggle against the environmentally destructive gold mining projects proposed by Pacific Rim, was assassinated in front of his thirteen-year old daughter, in the Trinidad neighborhood of Ilobasco, in the department of Cabañas where he lived. His wife, Felícita Echevarría, was also killed in the attack. They were killed by hitmen carrying M-16 rifles.

Previously, on August 7th, 2009, Ramiro Rivera was shot 8 times, but survived the vicious attack. Oscar Menjívar, previously implicated in physical attacks on anti-mining activists, was arrested and charged with Ramiro’s attempted murder. He had previously attacked Rodríguez with a small machete. Community members report that Menjívar had previously worked for Canadian mining company Pacific Rim; Pacific Rim denies that he has ever been an employee. It has been reported that he was one of Pacific Rim Mining's paid “promoters”. Mr. Rivera had been under the protection of two police officers from the Witnesses and Victims Protection Unit of the National Civilian Police. On the afternoon of December 20th, they were apparently unable to protect him.

These attacks follow the late June kidnapping, torture and assassination of Marcelo Rivera (no relation), in the nearby municipality of San Isidro.

The ongoing violence in Cabañas, including assaults, attempted kidnappings, and death threats, seems to be centred around the controversial presence of Pacific Rim Mining in the region, with prominent anti-mining leaders coming under attack. Pacific Rim ceased activity at the El Dorado site after local protests forced the company out and the Salvadoran government subsequently denied extraction permits. University of Central America polls show that over 62% of the population opposes 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, or CAFTA (Pacific Rim filed the suit through a recently acquired subsidiary, Pac Rim Cayman, based in Reno, Nevada.) 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 shares of stock to finance its legal case against the Salvadoran government. The company does not have any other mining projects in operation.

The international community must stand strong with our friends in Cabañas, and demand that the government respond with a thorough investigation and bring all of those responsible to justice.

Click here for important information and links below - or keep scrolling

HOW CAN YOU ACT IN SOLIDARITY WITH
COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN CABAÑAS?

Join the international response to this repression of anti-mining organizers in Cabañas TODAY. Call on the Salvadoran authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation of these crimes and their motives. Phone, Email, or Fax NOW

Please demand an investigation and an end to the murders!

Please take a moment to email the Salvadoran Attorney General and Ombudsman for Human Rights and demand that they do their jobs. See sample e-mail below

E-mail or Fax Rodolfo Delgado, head of the Organized Crime unit of the Attorney General’s Office, and the Police.

E-mail
alberto.uribe@fgr.gob.sv
violetapolanco@pnc.gob.sv
angel.manzano@pnc.gob.sv
radelgado@fgr.gob.sv
astor.escalante@fgr.gob.sv
fatima.guardado@fgr.gob.sv
elopez@fgr.gob.sv
joseph_4567@hotmail.com

Please copy Human Rights Ombudsman Oscar Luna to your email, via his front desk: heidybrizuela@pddh.gob.sv

Or fax
The National Attorney General's Office (503) 2523-7170
The Cabañas Departmental Attorney General's Office: (503) 2382-0208

SAMPLE EMAIL (English translation below):

Estimado Señor Rodolfo Delgado:

Como miembro de la comunidad internacional, quiero expresar mi profunda preocupación por lo más reciente hecho de violencia contra un líder social en Cabañas, el asesinato de Ramiro Rivera Gómez. Después de que él fue baleado ocho veces en agosto del 2009, fue bajo la protección de la Unidad de Protección de Víctimas y Testigos de la Policía Nacional Civil.

El asesinato de Ramiro Rivera parece otro hecho de violencia sistemático que ha traspasado en Cabañas desde el junio de este año: el secuestro y brutal asesinato del activista Gustavo Marcelo Rivera; las amenazas de muerte a periodistas de Radio Victoria, al director de la Asociación de Desarrollo Económico y Social Santa Marta (ADES) y a varios líderes comunitarios de Cabañas; el sabotaje al sistema electrónico de Radio Victoria; y los intentos de asesinato de los líderes comunitarios, Padre Luis Quintanilla y Ramiro Rivera.

Considero que existen suficientes evidencias para presumir que el asesinato de Ramiro Rivera y los demás crímenes están relacionados y forman parte de una campaña para intimidar a las organizaciones sociales en Cabañas. Es preocupante que la Fiscalía, bajo la dirección de Ástor Escalante, adjudicó a priori estos crímenes a la violencia común, ignorando las evidencias y antecedentes presentados que indican la naturaleza política de los eventos.

Por lo tanto como miembro de la comunidad internacional, hago un llamado para que ahora bajo la dirección del nuevo Fiscal General de la República Romeo Barahona, la Fiscalía realice una investigación imparcial, exhaustiva y efectiva en el caso del asesinato de Ramiro Rivera y de todos estos casos, para dar a conocer a los autores intelectuales y materiales de estos crímenes y garantizar así la protección de los líderes sociales en la región de forma verdadera.

Después del asesinato de Marcelo Rivera en junio, más de cien organizaciones de los Estados Unidos y Canadá mandaron una carta a la Fiscalía expresando su preocupación grave con los atropellos a los derechos humanos. También el Congresista Jim McGovern de los Estados Unidos expresó la misma preocupación en reuniones con el Señor Fiscal General, Romeo Barahona, y representantes de la Administración del Señor Presidente Mauricio Funes, durante su visita reciente a El Salvador.

También le estoy mandando una copia de este mensaje al señor Procurador para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, licenciado Oscar Humberto Luna, quien ha mostrado un compromiso fuerte para proteger la seguridad y los derechos humanos de los líderes sociales en Cabañas.

De quedar estos eventos en la impunidad, se estaría generando un clima de temor e incertidumbre para los demás líderes comunitarios, contrarrestando así los avances logrados en el proceso de democratización del país.

Agradezco de antemano sus gestiones para agilizar las investigaciones y espero que pronto se haga justicia en estos casos y se brinde protección a las víctimas y reparación a los familiares de Ramiro.

[Tu nombre/ Your name]

___________________

Translation of Email:

As a member of the international community, I want to express my profound concern about the most recent act of violence toward a community leader in Cabañas: the assassination of Ramiro Rivera Gómez. After being shot eight times in August, Mr. Rivera was under the protection of the Victims and Witnesses Protection Unit of the National Civilian Police.

The assassination of Ramiro Rivera appears to be another systematic act of violence that has occurred in Cabañas since June of this year: the kidnapping and brutal assassination of the activist Gustavo Marcelo Rivera; the death threats against journalists at Radio Victoria, the director of the Association for Social and Economic Development (ADES) and other community leaders in Cabañas; the sabotage of the broadcasting equipment at Radio Victoria; and the assassination attempt against the community leaders Father Luis Quintanilla and Ramiro Rivera.

I believe there is sufficient evidence to assume that Ramiro Rivera's murder and the other crimes are linked and part of a campaign to intimidate community organizations in Cabañas. It is alarming that the Attorney General’s Office under the direction of former acting Attorney General Ástor Escalante attributed these crimes to common violence, ignoring the evidence and antecedents that indicate the political nature of these events.

Therefore as a member of the international community, I now call on the Attorney General’s Office under the leadership of new Attorney General Romeo Barahona to carry out impartial, exhaustive and effective investigations of the assassination of Ramiro Rivera and all of these crimes in order to bring to justice the intellectual and material authors of these crimes and guarantee the protection of other community leaders in the region.

After the assassination of Marcelo Rivera in June, over 100 organizations in the U.S. and Canada sent a letter to the Attorney General’s office expressing their serious concern about the human rights abuses.
Representative Jim McGovern of the U.S. Congress expressed the same concern in his meetings with Mr. Attorney General Romeo Barahona and with representatives of the administration of Mr. President Mauricio Funes during his recent visit to El Salvador.

I am sending a copy of this message to the Human Rights Ombudsman, Mr.
Oscar Luna, who has shown a strong commitment to protect the security and human rights of social movement leaders in Cabañas.

Leaving these crimes in a state of impunity creates a climate of fear and uncertainty for the rest of the community leaders, undermining the advances in the democratic process in El Salvador.

I thank you in advance for your efforts to speed up the investigations and I hope that there will soon be justice in these cases and that the victims' lives will be protected and Ramiro’s family will be compensated for their loss.

[Your name]

Thank you in anticipation for you efforts to speed up the investigations and we hope that there will soon be justice in these cases and reparations for the families. 

Do you speak Spanish?
 
Please call the Authorities in El Salvador to demand Justice!    
San Salvador Attorney General's Office
011-503- 2523-7171
or 011-503-2523-7282

Department of Cabanas Attorney General's Office
011-503-2382-0668
011-503-2382-0674

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