{"id":27979,"date":"2025-01-23T09:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T16:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=27979"},"modified":"2025-01-23T09:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T16:55:11","slug":"anti-mining-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/anti-mining-law\/","title":{"rendered":"El Salvador overturns 2017 anti-mining law, sparking protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Anti-mining
Anti-mining law, on the same day that the Salvadoran metal mining law was approved, December 23, 2024, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) of the United States published an article warning of environmental threats to the Central American country. Photo: Cuenta X @ysuca91siete<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We knew the importance of international solidarity
\nand its need,
\nBut we knew that the guarantee of our struggle
\nIt was in our own strength<\/em><\/p>\n

Roque Dalton, \u201cThe dead of Vietnam speak\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Samuel Cort\u00e9s Hamdan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nayib Bukele's controversial administration in El Salvador has reopened another front of social dispute, this time over the reactivation of metal mining.<\/p>\n

In December 2024, the Legislative Assembly \u2014 which has also had its tense relations with the president, even once emboldened to enter the premises accompanied by the military \u2014 advanced the metal mining law, which reverses a 2017 ban.<\/p>\n

The day before, Bukele called the refusal to exploit Salvadoran gold absurd and asserted that \u201cstudies carried out in only 41% of the potential area\u201d found 50 million ounces of gold in Salvadoran soil, which could translate into more than 131 billion dollars, 3.8% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).<\/p>\n

With 57 of 60 possible votes, the government approved the exploitation of Salvadoran gold by the end of 2024, with the argument that economic development will be achieved and jobs will be created.<\/p>\n

El Salvador, defending its parliamentary power in the corresponding information note, \u201cis located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the richest areas in mineral resources thanks to its volcanic activity: there are deposits of lithium, cobalt, nickel, which are used to make renewable energy storage batteries.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Environmental, human rights and violence threats<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the same day that the Salvadoran metal mining law was approved, December 23, 2024, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) of the United States published an article warning of environmental threats to the Central American country.<\/p>\n

Contrary to official promises of sustainable development, the organization asserted that the advance of this extractive model aggravates the environmental risks that currently challenge El Salvador, and will probably lead to human rights violations, pollution and threats to public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they will have an adverse economic impact on important industries, such as agriculture and tourism. El Salvador cannot undermine its path to water conservation, healthy communities and sustainable neighborhoods. This is a contradiction in terms,\u201d said the authors of the analysis, Robin Broad, John Cavanagh, Jan Morrill and Manuel P\u00e9rez-Rocha.<\/p>\n

In developing their arguments, the evaluators considered that, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Jos\u00e9 Sime\u00f3n Ca\u00f1as Central American University, 59% of Salvadorans consider that the country is not suitable for industrial mining.<\/p>\n

They also point out that Salvadoran gold is extremely fine, it does not come in solid nuggets, so huge amounts of water are required for its filtering, with a consumption of up to 18 thousand liters for each ounce of metal extracted.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Salvador has the lowest water resources per capita in Central America and is among the lowest in the entire hemisphere. Gold mining threatens both the quantity and quality of the water supply,\u201d they stress.<\/p>\n

They also pointed to risks surrounding violence and security, which has been one of the most visible banners of Bukele's administration. His fight against gangs, a social scourge in El Salvador since the years of the civil war, has earned him high levels of public popularity and the executive often resorts to the argument of pacification to advance his political agenda.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, however, IPS analysts warned that mining interests tend to increase cases of corruption, through the purchase of local authorities in exchange for financial favors.<\/p>\n

They also recalled that in 2009, three water defenders were murdered, while in 2023, mining was the area most linked to the murder of environmental activists worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua are usually among the ten countries with the most violations against environmental defenders,\u201d they noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Citizen mobilization<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Sunday, January 19, 2025, different civil organizations, students and the deputy Claudia Ortiz, affiliated with the Vamos party, demonstrated in the historic center of El Salvador to demand that President Bukele and the Legislative Assembly repeal the metal mining law.<\/p>\n

Gathered under the slogan \u201cYes to life, no to mining,\u201d the protesters sought to collect signatures against the extractive measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Salvador is not a country suitable for mining, it puts ecosystems and health at serious risk. Anyone who ignores this is going against the will of the majority of the population. Here we choose life, that is why we say no to mining,\u201d said the Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Central American Alliance Against Mining (Acafremin) argued that mining pollution of rivers could be irreversible, affecting both diversity and the human right to access water.<\/p>\n

"The pollution left in the basins also affects the population with chronic diseases, such as kidney failure and cancer," he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is worth more than gold,\u201d \u201cRivers don\u2019t scream, but I do,\u201d \u201cBukele, let your gold be bitcoin, our gold is the forests and rivers,\u201d \u201cEl Salvador\u2019s gold is green\u201d were some of the slogans expressed by the protesters on banners.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething is awakening in Salvadorans, believers are collecting signatures, young people are mobilizing, more people are raising their voices with courage. The people do not want to return to the past, that is why there is hope for the future. Let's move forward!\u201d wrote parliamentarian Ortiz on her X account.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0You may be interested in: <\/strong>Trump's war on immigrants a threat to public health<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conoc\u00edamos la importancia de la solidaridad\u00a0 internacional y su necesidad, pero sab\u00edamos que la garant\u00eda de nuestra lucha estaba en nuestras propias fuerzas Roque Dalton, \u201cHablan los muertos de Vietnam\u201d \u00a0 Por Samuel Cort\u00e9s Hamdan \u00a0 La pol\u00e9mica gesti\u00f3n de Nayib Bukele al frente de El Salvador volvi\u00f3 a abrir otro frente de disputa social, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":27980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-usworld"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27981,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27979\/revisions\/27981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}