On December 26, Dora “Alicia” Sorto Recinos, an active opponent of Pacific Rim’s El Dorado gold mine in El Salvador, was shot and killed as she returned home from doing her laundry. Sorto Recinos was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child at the time. The child was also shot, in the foot, and is currently receiving medical attention.
Sorto Recinos is the second anti-mining activist to be killed in less than a week, in the department of Cabañas, where the Vancouver-based company Pacific Rim is working desperately to open their mining project despite widespread community and government opposition.
Ramiro Rivera Gómez, vice-president of CAC (Comité Ambiental de Cabañas/ the Environmental Committee of Cabañas) was gunned down six days earlier, in front of his thirteen-year old daughter in the Trinidad neighborhood of Ilobasco.
Rivera Gómez had just recovered from a previous attempt on his life in August of this year. He was shot 8 times in the legs and back. According to the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Oscar Menjívar was arrested and charged with the attempted murder. Menjívar had been “previously implicated in physical attacks on anti-mining activists” and is reported to be a former employee of Pacific Rim; however, the company denies the charge.
Following the attack, Rivera was placed “under the protection of two police officers from the Witnesses and Victims Protection Unit of the National Civilian Police, adds CISPES. However, “on the afternoon of December 20th, they were apparently unable to protect him.”
The deaths of Sorto Recinos and Rivera Gómez are the latest in a string of recent murders and brutally violent attacks against community members opposing Canadian mining projects in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
1) E-mail Rodolfo Delgado ( radelgado@fgr.gob.sv ), head of the Organized Crime unit of the Attorney General’s Office and demand that the Attorney General’s office:
Please send copies to the Human Rights Ombudsman, Oscar Luna, heidybrizuela@pddh.gob.sv and forward a copy to cispes@cispes.org
2) Call Barbara Henderson, Vice President of Investor Relations at Pacific Rim Mining using the talking points below. To call from the U.S. dial 1- (888) 775-7097, or from Canada (604) 689-1976, and then press ‘1’.
SAMPLE SCRIPT:
“Hello. I have been following Pacific Rim’s El Dorado mine and am extremely disturbed by the recent news of two community members who were murdered this past week. These individuals were part of local organizations that have been actively opposing the El Dorado mine since 2004. I call on CEO and President Thomas Shrake and Pacific Rim’s board of directors to recognize the social conflict the mine is causing and to make the moral decision to:
* Immediately withdraw from Cabañas and cease all efforts to mine gold from the El Dorado site.
* Immediately withdraw its lawsuit against the government of El Salvador. It is absolutely disgraceful for a company to sue a poor nation like El Salvador, especially when the Salvadoran people and government have every right to prevent cyanide gold extraction from destroying their lands and their communities.
* Cooperate fully with the official investigations surrounding the murders of Alicia Sorto Recinos, Ramiro Rivera and Marcelo Rivera, providing full disclosure on all the people the company has contracted in the region and any other monetary transactions it has conducted among community members, organizations and local government officials. Violence is tearing apart Cabañas, and the company has every obligation to offer its full support to bring to justice the perpetrators of these murdered community members, all of whom have openly opposed the El Dorado mine. Thank you.”
SAMPLE E-MAIL (English translation below):
Jefe de la División Élite contra el Crimen Organizado
Fiscalía General de la Republica de El Salvador
Fiscal Rodolfo Delgado
Presente.
Estimado Señor Rodolfo Delgado:
Como miembro de la comunidad internacional pro-derechos humanos, quiero expresar mi profunda preocupación por lo más reciente hecho de violencia contra la comunidad ambientalista en Cabañas, el asesinato de Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos. Además, quiero expresar la indignación de la comunidad internacional pro-derechos humanos por la falta de justicia en los casos de asesinato y violencia política contra las comunidades opuestas al proyecto minero El Dorado de la empresa canadiense Pacific Rim.
Hago un llamado para que la Fiscalía tome los siguientes pasos para terminar con el ambiente de impunidad que permite estos asesinatos y intentos:
1) Cumplir la recomendación del Procurador para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (PDDH) Oscar Luna para formar una comisión de trabajo especial con la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) para investigar los atentados y amenazas en contra de defensores ambientales.
2) Investigar los casos de una manera exhaustiva e imparcial y llevar justicia a los autores intelectuales y materiales del crimen.
El asesinato de Sorto Recinos parece otro hecho de violencia sistemática 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 del Comité Ambiental de Cabañas; el sabotaje al sistema electrónico de Radio Victoria; el intento de secuestro del Padre Luis Quintanilla; el asesinato de Ramiro Rivera la semana pasada; y, los más de tres intentos de quitarle la vida a Santos Rodriguez, compañero de vida de la señora Sorto Recinos.
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. La Fiscalía, ahora bajo la dirección del Lic. Romeo Barahona, tiene la oportunidad de terminar con esta impunidad.
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, Lic. Oscar Humberto Luna, quien ha mostrado un compromiso fuerte para proteger la seguridad y los derechos humanos de los líderes sociales en Cabañas, además de manifestar en su más reciente comunicado de prensa que existen evidencias suficientes para descartar que estas muertes sean producto de la delincuencia común.
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. Además, mandaría un mensaje a los autores intelectuales que pueden seguir su ola de violencia y asesinatos sin ningún castigo.
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 los asesinados.
[Tu nombre y lugar de residencia/ Your name and place of residence]
——————
Chief of the Elite Division Against Organized Crime (DECO)
Office of the Attorney General of El Salvador
Attorney Rodolfo Delgado
Presente.
Dear Mr. Rodolfo Delgado:
As a member of the international community in support of human rights, I want to express my profound concern over the most recent act of violence against the environmentalist community in Cabanas, the murder of Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos. Furthermore, I want to express the indignation of the international community in support of human rights for the lack of justice in the cases of murders and political violence against the communities opposed to the Canadian company Pacific Rim’s mining project El Dorado.
I call on the Attorney General’s office to take the following measures to put an end to the environment of impunity that has permitted these murders and attempted murders:
1) Complete the recommendation of the Ombudsman in Defense of Human Rights Oscar Luna to create a special team with the National Civilian Police to investigate these murders and threats against environmental activists.
2) Investigate the cases exhaustively and impartially and bring the intellectual and material authors of the crimes to justice.
The murder of Sorto Recinos appears to be the most recent act of the systematic violence that has been taking place in Cabañas since June of this year: the kidnapping and brutal murder of activist Gustavo Marcelo Rivera; the death threats against journalists from Radio Victoria, the director of the Association for the Economic and Social Development of Santa Marta (ADES), and other community leaders in Cabañas; the sabotage of Radio Victoria’s electronic equipment; the murder of Ramiro Rivera last week; and more than three attempts against the life of José Santos Rodríguez, Sorto Recino´s life partner.
It is worrisome that the Attorney General’s office, under the direction of Astor Escalante, attributed these cases a priori to common crime, ignoring presented evidence that indicates the political nature of these events. The Attorney General, now under the direction of Lic. Romeo Barahona, has the opportunity to end this impunity.
After the assassination of Marcelo Rivera in June, over 100 U.S. and Canadian social organizations sent a letter to the Attorney General’s office expressing their deep concern over the human rights violations. U.S. Congressional Representative James McGovern also expressed the same concern in meetings with the Attorney General and with representatives of President Mauricio Funes’ administration during his recent visit to El Salvador.
I am also sending a copy of this letter to the Ombudsman in Defense of Human Rights Oscar Luna, who has shown a strong commitment to protecting the security and the human rights of social leaders in Cabanas in addition to expressing in his most recent press release that their exists sufficient evidence to demonstrate that these cases were not the product of common crime.
If these events remain in impunity, it will generate an environment of fear and uncertainty for the other community leaders, undoing the many advances achieved in the process of democratizing the country. Furthermore, it will send a message to the intellectual authors that they can continue their wave of violence and murders without facing punishment.
I thank you in advance for your efforts to facilitate the investigations and I expect justice is quickly brought to these cases and that protection is provided for the victims and reparations for the families of those murdered.
[Your name and place of residence]
Indigenous Peoples are putting their bodies on the line and it's our responsibility to make sure you know why. That takes time, expertise and resources - and we're up against a constant tide of misinformation and distorted coverage. By supporting IC you're empowering the kind of journalism we need, at the moment we need it most.
