Tuesday,October 26 · 6:30pm - 8:00pm

EastLecture Hall in Franklin Patterson Hall, Hampshire College (oncampus near intersection of Library & College Rd)

HampshireCollege 893 West StreetAmherst, MA 01002

 Contact: Nico Chavez-Courtright - [email protected]

Thepeople of Cabañas, El Salvador effectively mobilizedto oust an environmentally and socially-damaging gold mining company from theirown backyard, overcoming violence and intimidation against anti-miningactivists. Now the company, Pacific Rim, has retaliated with over $200 millionin lawsuits against ElSalvador, using the investor"protections" of the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement(CAFTA-DR). Come learn about what the anti-mining struggle looks like, from communitymobilizing to the courtroom, from Miguel Rivera, a community activist who hasbeen intimately involved in the movement since the very beginning! 

There will most likely be food!

This event is sponsored by ISWI, PopDev, and CSI.

Speakerbio:
Miguel Rivera is a community activist from SanIsidro, Cabañas, founder of the Asociación Amigos de San Isidro,Cabañas (Association of Friends of San Isidro, Cabañas or ASIC)and current organizer with the Asociación de Desarrollo EconómicoSocial (Association for Economic and Social Development, ADES). Both ASIC andADES promote community organization and conduct popular education work toencourage people to participate in the decisions that impact their lives. WhenPacific Rim descended upon San Isidroin 2005 to explore for gold, the disastrous environmental effects wereimmediately felt. In San Isidroand both ASIC and ADES took on an active role to inform the public about thedangers and organize communities in resistance to the mine. They organizedpublic forums, marches, and cultural activities. In 2006, both organizationsjoined a broad-based, national coalition Mesa Nacional Frente a laMinería Metálica en El Salvador (National RoundtableAgainst Metallic Mining), to amplify and expand the mining resistance movement.As the resistance to the mine grew, so did violence and threats against theactivists. Mr. Rivera’s brother Marcelo—co-founder of ASIC and avocal activist and opponent to mining—was forcibly disappeared, tortured,and murdered in June of 2009.