El Salvador Perspectives

Measures the Legislative Assembly passed for Nayib Bukele On January 29, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly gave the second vote to adopt  a constitutional amendment to allow the Constitution to be amended in the future by a single supermajority vote by the legislature.  Up until now, amendments had to be approved by two successive legislatures with a national election in between. That requirement gave the public the chance to vote out of office legislators who supported an amendment before they had a chance to give it final approval in the next term.  Since Bukele's Nuevas Ideas party today possesses such a supermajority in the congress, he can now amend the Constitution anytime he wants by submitting it to a single vote in his rubber stamp legislature. For example, those pesky provisions that limit how long a president can serve in office, can be eliminated with a quick vote and no debate. The constitutional amendment passed with no prior announcement that it would be o...

Recent polling by Francisco Gavidia University in San Salvador released this week offers insights into two areas -- how Salvadorans view religious faith and how they view Nayib Bukele's recent decision to promote gold mining in El Salvador. Salvadorans continue to be religious by nature and believers in the Christian god: 17.39% of those polled considered themselves "very religious" 78.12% consider themselves believers 2.86% agnostic 1.63% atheist However the make-up of church affiliation continues to evolve, as the Roman Catholic church continues to lose adherents: 47.02% declared belonging to protestant/evangelical churches 36.82% to the Catholic church 12.98% do not belong to any denomination 1.55% are in a non-Christian religion.  Review the full poll results to see a wide variety of polling questions about how religious faith influences beliefs about knowledge, science and morality.  The poll did not, however, test Salvadorans' acceptance of the regular asserti...

Seven years after El Salvador became the first country to ban metallic mining within its borders, especially gold mining, president Nayib Bukele is calling the prohibition "absurd."  The Salvadoran president took to social media with a post on X to proclaim that El Salvador needs to exploit gold deposits in the country (translated here to English):  GOD PLACED A GIGANTIC TREASURE UNDER OUR FEET: El Salvador potentially has the highest density gold deposits per km² in the world. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the richest areas in mineral resources thanks to its volcanic activity… Studies carried out in only 4% of the potential area identified 50 million ounces of gold, valued today at $131.6 billion. This is equivalent to 380% of El Salvador's GDP. The total potential could exceed $3 trillion, more than 8,800% of our Gross Domestic Product. Tapping into this wealth could transform El Salvador: Create thousands of quality jobs. Finance infrastructure throughou...

Anti-mining activist press conference in July Environmental activists in El Salvador continue to be on alert for the possible resumption of gold mining activity in the country. Although the country was the first in the world to ban metallic mining within its borders in 2017, anti-mining advocates worry that preparations are being made in the current government to lift that prohibition. One signal of the possible resumption of mining activity was the October 2022 creation of the General Directorate of Energy, Hydrocarbons and Mines within the ministries of the Salvadoran government.  More concerns were raised when it was learned that El Salvador had become a member of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) , a global association of countries coming together on mining issues.  Joining the forum seemed a strange choice for a country which was the first in the world to ban all metallic mining operations. Then in 2023, the...

El Salvador's government has locked up 5 community organizers and environmental activists from the rural community of Santa Marta, alleging their participation in a decades old crime during El Salvador's civil war.   But the circumstances surrounding the case suggest to many that the real motivation for their detention is to weaken resistance to metallic mining in the country and make possible the lifting of a mining prohibition. The actions of the country's Attorney General, Rodolfo Delgado, illustrate how the State of Exception with its suspension of judicial guarantees of due process is being used, not just to fight gangs, but to intimidate human rights defenders, including environmental activists. His actions show that the hard won victory to ban extractive metallic mining in the country may be under threat.  Nina Lakhani in the  Guardian  reported the arrests of the five community leaders:  Five prominent environmental defenders who played a crucial ro...

In 2017, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly passed a law banning metallic mining throughout the country. Today, there is a new mining threat, because an open pit gold mine being developed just on the other side of the border in Guatemala could have a profoundly negative environmental impact on El Salvador's largest watershed, the Lempa River.   The planned mine in question is the  Cerro Blanco mine , owned by the Canadian gold mining company  Bluestone Resources .  The mine is located in southeastern Guatemala near Lake Guija. The lake's waters flow into the Lempa River, El Salvador's most important river, which supplies  people throughout the country. Bluestone Resources acquired the mining rights from fellow Canadian mining company GoldCorp in 2017.   In 2021, Bluestone revealed that instead of an underground mine, this operation would be an open pit strip mine, where cyanide is used to extract the gold from the surrounding rock and soil. The e...

Earlier this week, El Salvador's environmental groups came together for the 22nd annual Caminata Ecológica or "Environment March".   They walked through the streets of the capital San Salvador under the theme Exigimos justicia ambiental para el cuido de nuestra casa común --  "We demand environmental justice for the care of our common home."  The march began at Cuscatlan Park in the center of San Salvador and proceeded towards the presidential palace, although barricades and riot police stopped the march short of the palace.  March leaders were not greeted by anyone from the executive branch, but could only deliver their letter at the correspondence window. ¡Exigimos Justicia Ambiental para el cuidado de nuestra casa común! @SomosAguaES fue parte de la XXII Caminata Ecológica, en el marco del Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente, para exigir el respeto de los derechos ambientales, nuestros bienes naturales y territorios. pic.twitter.com/r1p9jmDwQb — Alianza Nacion...

Once in a while, determined activists, with grit and determination, can defeat a multi-national mining corporation.    Water Defenders  is a new book with the inside story of the successful (but ongoing) struggle to prevent gold and other metallic mining in El Salvador. From the book's publisher : Based on over a decade of research and their own role as international allies of the community groups in El Salvador, Robin Broad and John Cavanagh unspool this untold story—a tale replete with corporate greed, a transnational lawsuit at a secretive World Bank tribunal in Washington, violent threats, murders, and—surprisingly—victory. The husband-and-wife duo immerses the reader in the lives of the Salvadoran villagers, the journeys of the local activists who sought the truth about the effects of gold mining on the environment, and the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of the corporate mining executives and their lawyers. The Water Defenders demands that we examine our assumptions...

There is a wealth of coverage of El Salvador available in English this week on a potpourri of topics: Why is this Chicago cop training police in El Salvador? (Chicago Reader) --  "ITTA is a small police training company founded in Chicago that has trained more than 600 officers in El Salvador. That's problematic given the behavior of some of the U.S. officers running the program." El Salvador president gains most from prosecution of rivals  (InsightCrime) -- "The evidence used to indict several high-ranking politicians in El Salvador for negotiating with gangs has been around for years, raising questions about why prosecutors are bringing the cases now, and what President Nayib Bukele stands to gain." Challenges after an Attempted Self-coup in El Salvador  (El Faro English) -- "Bukele sees himself above the norms of his job, as well as free of legal formalities. He was set on demonstrating that his political experiment isn’t tied down to any rules. H...

Many people around the world celebrated when El Salvador became the first country to ban all metallic mining including gold mining.    In tiny El Salvador, with limited water resources free of contamination, the threat of environmental degradation from mines was seen as too great.   Add to that, most believed that the economic benefits would only go to the multi-national companies which would own and operate the mines. But an article in the Guardian reminds us that there is another class of gold miners in El Salvador.  "Artisanal" gold miners, who dig for gold by hand from small, older mines, will soon be put out of business by the new law.   As one of these miners stated: “We’re lucky if we get $20 or $40 every two days. There are weeks when we don’t find any gold,” he says. Soza has worked all his life as a güirisero, the Salvadoran term for a small-scale, artisanal miner. He works five days a week inside an underground mine, dragging carts filled with h...

When the gold mining company OceanaGold lost its international arbitration with the government of El Salvador, it was ordered to pay $8 million in legal fees incurred by El Salvador to defend the case. Yet so far, the company has not honored its obligation to pay those fees. This week El Salvador took the step of freezing OceanaGold's assets in the country as a way to gain some of that payment.   From Reuters : El Salvador froze bank accounts and assets belonging to OceanaGold Corp after the mining company refused to pay the country $8 million as mandated by an international court, the Attorney General's Office said on Tuesday. Last year, El Salvador won an arbitration at the World Bank's International Center for Settlements of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Australian-Canadian mining firm, which sought $250 million from the Central American nation for revoking an extraction permit....  The asset freeze was authorized by the Supreme Court to ensure paymen...

El Salvador's National Assembly today unanimously passed legislation banning metallic mining, including gold mining in the country.   The new law follows a years long struggle against mining companies by environmental activists, and makes the country the first in the world to enact a nationwide ban on metallic mining.    Recent strong endorsements of the legislation by the Roman Catholic church and by the Jesuit-run University of Central America appeared to create the additional momentum needed to make the bill become law. A New York Times article on the passage of the law highlighted the environmental concerns which prompted the legislation: The risks of mining in El Salvador, however, are especially acute. The tiny country is densely populated and the second-most environmentally degraded country in the Americas, after Haiti, according to the United Nations.  “Mining is an industry whose primary and first victim is water,” said Mr. McKinley, who added that ...

On February 26, I wrote about the ongoing fight to prohibit gold mining in El Salvador.     Joining the struggle to get a law passed to prohibit all metallic mining are the Roman Catholic church, the University of Central America, the Human Rights Advocate (PDDH), local municipalities and a host of national and international environmental organizations. I also wrote that "Oceana Gold will continue to struggle to salvage the earlier investments its subsidiary Pac-Rim made in the country."   An example of how Oceana Gold is trying to get permission to mine gold in the country can be seen in the full page ad it took out in today's La Prensa Grafica : Withe the slogan " Yes" to Responsible Mining , the ad contains a variety of facts and graphics to support Oceana Gold's assertion that "El Salvador is the only country in the Americas that does not have responsible mining." We are now 12 months away from the next election for legislators in t...

Although El Salvador currently has a moratorium on gold mining imposed by the executive branch, and the country won an international arbitration with gold mining company Oceana Gold, activists have not stopped the fight to keep gold mining companies out of the country. Oceana Gold has not yet paid the $8 million judgment against it for the costs incurred by the government of El Salvador in the arbitration.   280 national and international environmental and solidarity organizations recently released a letter demanding that Oceana Gold pay up and move out. Meanwhile, the National Assembly has still failed to pass a law to prohibit metallic mining in the country.    Passage of such a law is one of the major goals of the environmental movement in El Salvador.    The Roman Catholic church has added its voice to those calling for the mining ban. With so many forces aligned against gold mining, even without the passage of a law I see little chance that any mi...

There was celebration yesterday in El Salvador's government and among environmental activists after the country won its seven year legal dispute with Oceana Gold .    Oceana God's predecessor, Pacific Rim, had initiated the arbitration against El Salvador seeking more than $250 million after the country refused to grant it permits to mine gold on the company's El Dorado property in the department of Cabanas.   OceanaGold was ordered to reimburse El Salvador for the country's $8 million in legal costs in defending the suit.   The Guardian quoted the parties' reactions to the decision: “For the people of Cabanas who have been fighting to defend their environment, it is mission accomplished,” said El Salvador’s attorney general, Douglas Meléndez Ruiz. “It is an important step for the country to have been victorious in this lawsuit.”  While an OceanaGold statement expressed disappointment at the verdict, the outcome was celebrated by civil society groups f...

It has been one year since I last wrote a blog post about gold mining in El Salvador and the international arbitration commenced against El Salvador by Oceana Gold (formerly known as Pac Rim).   It has been two years since the final hearing in that arbitration.   It has been seven years since the arbitration started.   Now there are statements floating around that a decision by the arbitration panel is imminent.   According to some reports , the parties have been told that a decision could come in September and that the decision has been written but simply needs to be translated into Spanish.  It was also reported that OceanaGold recently approached El Salvador with a request to negotiate over the dispute but the overture was rejected. As a reminder, OceanaGold sued El Salvador because of a moratorium on mining permits imposed by the Tony Saca administration and continued by the following administrations.  Despite the existence of this de facto moratori...

The international arbitration between the government of El Salvador and Australian mining company OceanaGold continues to wait for a decision.   (OceanaGold bought the company formerly known as Pac-Rim).    It is now a year since the arbitration hearing took place in September 2014 before a panel of arbitrators at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. This week Lynn Holland at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs published an excellent summary of the moratorium on gold mining in El Salvador and the resulting arbitration titled  For the Love of Water: The Ban on Mining in El Salvador . She concludes with a discussion of the current plans of the anti-mining movement: While Salvadorans await the outcome of the case, a new action plan for passing a nationwide ban has begun to unfold. In just the last year, several rural communities have passed their own prohibitions against metal mining. San Jose Las Flores, San Isidro Labrador and Nue...

On El Salvador’s Independence Day, September 15, the country will face a major challenge to its actions in placing a moratorium on gold mining in the country.   Five years after it began, the international arbitration between Pacific Rim (now owned by OceanaGold) and the government of El Salvador starts its final hearing next week in Washington, D.C.  The legality of the mining moratorium and its impact on foreign gold mining companies will be judged by an arbitration panel of international legal experts.  The hearing will begin on Monday and last for six days through the following Saturday.      Here is a primer to help you understand the proceeding which will be unfolding this week:       Who are the parties? The official parties to the arbitration are the government of El Salvador and Pac Rim Cayman, LLC.   Pac Rim Cayman is ultimately owned and controlled by OceanaGold , an Australian gold mining compan...