VANCOUVER - Pacific Rim Mining held its annual general meeting in
downtown Vancouver today - attended by a few directors and more than a
dozen protesters.
Most of the demonstrators were from the Committee in Solidarity with
the People of El Salvador (CISPES) in the US Pacific Northwest. They
wore tags describing themselves as shareholders in democracy, human
rights, access to clean water and "our future."
Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining is suing the people of El
Salvador after the government refused to allow it to mine using methods
that would poison El Salvador's rivers. The suit for millions in "lost
profits" has been filed under the Central American Free Trade
Agreement. CISPES is calling on the company's directors to drop the
suit.
Two CISPES representatives were allowed into the meeting, then ejected after they tried to speak.
Fundraising Collective Member - hourly (10 hrs/week) Application Due: September 10th, 2010
Location: Washington, DC
Start Date: Immediately
Fundraising Collective Members will be part of the national fundraising team. FunK members are responsible for ensuring funds for the national organization as one of our primary grassroots fundraising programs. The main role of this position is to make calls to our grassroots phone list, update supporters on our campaign, and pitch them to increase their financial and political support of CISPES.
CISPES statement on the new US Ambassador to El Salvador
Wednesday, 01 September 2010
On August 19th, President Obama appointed
Maria del Carmen Aponte to be the new U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador. The President’s
appointment during the Senate’s August recess broke a hold on her
nomination by a few right-wing Republicans like Jim DeMint (R-SC). Her
appointment will last until January 2012, when she would be re-nominated and
approved by the Senate.
Ms. Aponte is a Puerto Rican lawyer and
former director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration (2001-2004).
She has also served on the boards of the National
Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund,
and the University of the District of
Columbia.
Last summer, CISPES issued some
criteria for a new Ambassador to El Salvador,
in consultation with Salvadoran community organizations in the U.S.
We noted that, “Given the vast importance of the Salvadoran
immigrant community in the US,
the new ambassador should be prepared to work in support of immigrant rights...”
It is exciting that the U.S. government has finally named a bilingual woman
to be the new Ambassador to El
Salvador, especially someone like Ms. Aponte
who, through her work with the NCLR and other organizations, has advocated for
rights of Latinas/os.
ACTION ALERT: Pacific Rim shareholders meet today!
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Let’s send
a clear message: Withdraw your shameful lawsuit against El Salvador!
Today, the shareholders and Board of Directors of Pacific
Rim Mining will meet for their Annual General Meeting in Vancouver, B.C. When the government and people of El Salvador
stopped Pacific Rim’s gold mines from opening, this Canadian
corporation opened a storefront in Nevada, and is now using the US-Central
American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to sue the Salvadoran government for
hundreds of millions of dollars in ‘lost profits’.
The company has been telling their shareholders that
they are still hopeful for a “resolution” with the Salvadoran
government. However, after the 2009
elections, El Salvador
finally has a democratic government that is responding to the people’s demands. On Saturday, the President of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes
reiterated his public commitment: “I
will not authorize any mining exploration or exploitation project”
and he welcomed the process underway in the Legislative Assembly to pass a
national ban on metallic mining.
Update: Students Demand Justice on 35th Anniversary of Massacre
Monday, 09 August 2010
Also included in this update:
* FMLN and Ministry of Health Push for Affordable Medicines
* El Salvador and Cuba Increase Cooperation
On Friday, July 30, hundreds students from the University of El
Salvador took to the streets, accompanied by professors, staff and
other sectors of the social movement. The march, filled with street
theater, papier-mâché tanks and a 9-foot gorilla, was a commemoration
of the university student massacre that occurred on July 30, 1975.
Thirty-five years ago, university students took to the streets to protest
military incursions on the Santa Ana campus and the repressive policies
of the military dictatorship in power at the time. The peaceful march
was attacked by Salvadoran army soldiers with gunfire and tanks,
perpetrating the attack with other repressive State security forces.
While there are no official numbers of how many students were killed
and wounded in the massacre, it is estimated at least 30 students died
and over a hundred more were wounded.
This year, student organizations including the Roque Dalton University
Front (FURD), the Revolutionary Student Brigades (BRES) and a number of
other groups organized the march and all-night vigil that followed.
This year, marchers and organizers demanded trials to bring justice to
the victims of the 1975 massacre and a repeal of the country's Amnesty
Law - passed just after the end of El Salvador's Civil War in 1993 and
considered by many Salvadorans to be the biggest obstacle to respect
for human rights in the country.
World Bank tribunal gives green light to Canadian mining company’s lawsuit against government of El Salvador
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A World Bank tribunal’s decision on Monday to move
forward with a Canadian gold mining company’s controversial lawsuit
against the government of El Salvador highlights a central failure of
U.S. trade pacts to respect the national sovereignty of member
countries.
In 2009, Pacific Rim Mining filed the lawsuit under the rules of the
U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), demanding “hundreds
of millions” of dollars from the Salvadoran government, which rejected
the Vancouver, B.C.-based company application for exploitation permits.
El Salvador’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources argues
that Pacific Rim never completed the necessary process to obtain an
exploitation permit, and local communities have demonstrated widespread
opposition to the proposed El Dorado gold mine based on the
environmental and public health risks of cyanide-leach mining.
Update: Suspects Arrested for Assassinations, Coalition Reasserts Mining Motive
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Also included in this update:
* Cabañas Community and CISPES Delegation Honor Marcelo Rivera
* Right Wing Parties Continue to Scramble and Divide
* Domestic Workers Granted Health Care Coverage
* Sixteen Killed in Bus Burning, FMLN Suspects Destabilization Plan
* Social Movement, FMLN and Funes Denounce Honduran Coup Leader's Visit
In a July 13 statement after the arrest of 8 suspects in connection to
the murders of anti-mining activists from the rural department of
Cabañas, El Salvador, the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining
(the Mesa) criticized the investigation for ignoring glaring ties to
gold mining interests in the region. On July 1, the National Civil
Police (PNC) and the Attorney General's Special Organized Crime Unit
(DECO) announced the arrests of 8 individuals for the murders of Dora
Alicia Sorto Recinos and her unborn child, Ramiro Rivera and Felicita
Echeverría in December of last year. Rodolfo Delgado, the director of
the DECO, announced that the murders were due to a family feud and that
two families had contracted gang members to kill members of the rival
families. He went on to say that the mining conflict was not the
principal motive for the murders and that the Attorney General was
satisfied that all the material authors and the two intellectual
authors of the crime were in custody.
In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama published an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune
entitled “Why I oppose CAFTA.” In his article, released on the same
date as the Senate vote on the Dominican Republic-Central American Free
Trade Agreement (“DR-CAFTA”), Obama explained that he would not vote
for the bill and voiced his opinion that DR-CAFTA “…does little to
address enforcement of basic environmental standards in the Central
American countries and the Dominican Republic.”1
Despite well-founded fears about the consequences of DR-CAFTA among its
critics, President George W. Bush and his administration lobbied
heavily for the passage of the bill, which was signed into law on
August 2, 2005. El Salvador became the first of the Central American
nations to implement DR-CAFTA after the treaty took effect in the
country on March 1, 2006.
Job Posting: El Salvador solidarity org in Seattle hiring community organizer
Tuesday, 03 August 2010
español sigue
**please distribute**
GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY ORGANIZING POSITION with El Salvador solidarity organization in Seattle, WA
Organization: Seattle CISPES – Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Position: Committee Coordinator – bilingual English/Spanish (see details in position description)
Location: Seattle, WA
Application deadline: August 30, 2010
Contact: Eddie Salazar –
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
, 206.329.3543
Seattle CISPES – Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
– is hiring for a 1/2 time community organizing position. Applications
are due August 30, 2010. The position begins October 1.
Comunicado: Jóvenes salvadoreños residentes en EE.UU visitan país de origen para mostrar solidaridad
Friday, 02 July 2010
Comunicado de Prensa - 1 de julio, 2010
CONTACTO: Lisa Fuller, (202) 521-2510 ext. 204
Jóvenes salvadoreños residentes en los EE.UU. visitan su país de origen para mostrar solidaridad con comunidades bajo la amenaza de explotación minera metálica
Exigen al Fiscal General que investigue los asesinatos de tres líderes comunitarios
SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – El 25 de junio, una delegación de 10
jóvenes salvadoreñas y salvadoreños viviendo en el exterior – de las
ciudades de Nueva York, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Francisco,
Washington, DC, y Vancouver, B.C. – visitaron la oficina del Fiscal
General de la República para exigir una investigación profunda sobre
los asesinatos de 3 activistas anti-minería en el Departamento de
Cabañas, El Salvador los cuales han sucedido desde junio del año
pasado.
Special Update: One year since the coup in Honduras
Monday, 28 June 2010
June 28th marks the one year anniversary of the military coup in
Honduras, as well as the consolidation of a powerful and vibrant
opposition to the resulting administrations. CISPES stands in
solidarity with the people of Honduras and the Frente Nacional de
Resistencia Popular (FNRP) in continuing to demand a true and
participatory democracy, economic justice and an immediate end to the
horrendous repression and human rights violations that have surged
since the coup. We remember all those whose lives have been taken for
resisting the illegitimate governments of Roberto Micheletti and Pepe
Lobo and for fighting for a better life for the Honduran people.
Commemorating the anniversary, the FNRP declared that “Honduras today
is the scene of a battle between the old and the new; between
domination and liberty. Here the criminal armies of international
fascism, right-wing parties, churches at the service of the oligarchs
and governments that serve the empire are confronted by grassroots
popular organizations, progressive and democratic political forces,
historically-oppressed social sectors and the impartial solidarity of
brother and sister counties.”
Ambassador to El Salvador. The President’s
appointment during the Senate’s August recess broke a hold on her
nomination by a few right-wing Republicans like Jim DeMint (R-SC). Her
appointment will last until January 2012, when she would be re-nominated and
approved by the Senate.
