Action Alert: Tell Oceana Gold to drop the lawsuit and stay out of El Salvador!
For nearly a decade, the Salvadoran people have been courageously and successfully defending their rivers and farm lands from the Pacific Rim mining corporation (now owned by OceanaGold). In 2009, after the Salvadoran government refused to grant permits to Pacific Rim to mine in the northern region of Cabañas (read more about that decision from Mining Watch Canada), the company sued for hundreds of millions of dollars at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a private tribunal housed at the World Bank. CISPES has joined Oxfam and SumOfUs.org on a petition to the CEO of OceanaGold demanding that the company drop its outrageous lawsuit against the government of El Salvador. Click here to sign today. It's pretty inconceivable to think that the Salvadoran government might be forced to pay over $300 million to line Oceana Gold's pockets instead of providing school uniforms, free medications and seeds to the Salvadoran people in order to combat poverty and inequality. And yet the threat is real. Help us send a strong message to Oceana Gold: It's time to listen to the Salvadoran people, who've declared NO to mining. Click here to add your name to the petition.