Mining in El Salvador: At What Price?

Mining companies from Canada and the US have their eyes on El Salvador’s rich natural resources. In El Salvador every other radio commercial is an anonymous promotion for la mineria verde or green mining. The Catholic Church, residents of areas designated to be mined, social organizations and environmentalists are resisting saying that the potential metallic mining, will pollute the water, air, and soil with cyanide and heavy metals like lead and acidic drainage; while mining will only provide some small short term economic benefits. If allowed mining would be centralized in the northern region, however it would affect the water supply for almost entire country, including the greater San Salvador area and its estimated 2.1 million residents. This is the reason the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador (CEDES-acronym in Spanish) warns that this industry is putting ‘human life at risk’“. (Picture above: Land in Northern El Salvador, very similar to what they hope to mine)

The Church’s Stance

The Episcopal Conference of El Salvador (CEDES- its acronym in Spanish), composed of Catholic Bishops in the country, put forth their stance on mining in the country a little more than a year ago in a declaration titled “Lets Take Care of Everyone’s Home”.  It is strong, clear and very much against mining operations in the country.

"Our small country is the place where God the Creator called us to life.  This is the portion of the world that he has trusted us to take care of and use according to his will: 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.' (Gen 1:28).  But this blessed Earth that we love so dearly, suffers an increasing and insensitive deterioration. We all have a responsibility to conserve and defend it because the environment is 'the house of all': it is ours and that of future generations.

From this perspective of faith we wished to share with you our pastoral vision on a problem that deeply worries us: the possibility that mining of precious metal is authorized, to open cast mining or subterranean mining, mainly in the northern part of our country.

The experience in brother and neighboring countries, that have permitted gold and silver mining, is truly sad and lamentable. The bishops of those nations have raised their voice. We also wish to pronounce ourselves against [mining] before it is too late."

Since then, Salvadoran Arch Bishop, Monsignor Saenz Lacalle, has come under attack. A group called Movement Pro Green Mining has maintained that the Churches stance will inhibit the country’s development process. The spokesperson for this movement, Amadeo Garcia told a local newspaper, Co Latino, “They are losing several jobs by not permitting mining in this country”.  This group has been holding protest outside the Cathedral in San Salvador for several Sundays demanding that Monsignor Saenz Lacalle change his position. The Prensa Grafica reported that the Archbishop said this week the pro mining group is paid a salary to protest in favor of mining. He acknowledged their right to protest. The Co Latino reported last Monday that, “The Catholic Church reaffirmed its opposition against mining projects in the country, as they act against human life and the environment.”  The Archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Sáenz Lacalle, sustained that green mining is nothing more than a “concept of propaganda” and that it does not relate to any reality. (Picture above: An open pit mine in Latin America)

The Archbishop’s position on mining was supported by Juan Marco Alvarez, Executive Director of Salvanatura, an environmental organization funded in part by USAID. In an interview with internet magazine El Faro, Alvarez said “There is no such thing as green mining, I don’t like the term. Its possible mine is a sustainable way, in environmental and social terms. But the term, green mining is used to clean the image of the industry”.

This past Sunday a new group of protesters from the department of Cabañas gathered on the steps in front of the downtown Cathedral. Quietly talking to people as they entered the church, they handed out popular education style pamphlets demonstrating the damage that mining has on the environment.

Where Does Mining in El Salvador Stand Today?

The Mining Law, which several Salvadoran newspapers have reported to have been written by the mining company Pacific Rim, was presented to parliament by legislators from the National Conciliation Party (PCN- acronym in Spanish) and supported by some representatives from the National Republican Alliance (ARENA- acronym in Spanish) party. The Mining Law has not yet been passed.

Juan Marco Alvarez, Executive Director of Salvanatura, emphasized in an interview with the internet magazine El Faro the need to change the law before mining is allowed. He said, “The law has to be modified. It’s not possible that they will only leave 2% of their earnings here [in El Salvador].”

According to Remberto Nolasco of the Center of Research about Investments and Commerce (CEICOM-acronym in Spanish), the government has already given, through concession [for prospect assessment] 58% of the Northern zone or 6.2% of the national territory to mining projects. The departments of Morazán, San Miguel, La Unión, Cabañas, San Salvador, Chalatenango and Santa Ana will all be affected. No concession for metallic mining has been granted so far.

None the less, the residents of Cabañas are already being negatively affected by prospect assessment taking place in the department of Cabañas. Those who live in El Chacalín and El Palmito, from the village of San Francisco El Dorado (San Isidro, Cabañas) publically denounced mining being carried out by Pacific Rim after their wells and hills slopes dried up this spring.

As reported by the Co Latino, representatives from Pacific Rim came immediately to visit these communities. They acknowledged the tributary had dried up.  However, they “attributed it to an error” committed by their employees. They offered to solve the problem by delivering water by way of cistern trucks to the community as long as “they didn’t tell anyone what had happened.” The farmers didn’t accept the offer; instead they opted to publicly denounce what had ensued. Personal from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources visited the community to assess damages, but the report has not yet been made public.

Propaganda Inundates the Air Waves

El Salvador’s radio stations have been bombarded by anonymous Mineria Verde or Green Mining propaganda for a year now. These announcements name countries whose leftist governments like Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia allow mining. 

As the YSUCA, a radio station of the University of Central America Jose Simeon Cañas, stated in an Editorial last November titled, El Salvador: Green Mining- A Lying Business

“Marketing strategies aren’t always ethical. In the case of green mining, they don’t only lie but repeat the same message, believing that simple repetition can soften Salvadoran citizens.  When radio stations, who believe in advertising liberty, ask the publicity agency, who contracts the radio spots, to identify who their client is, the results are always negative. (The begining of an open bit mine in Guatemala.)

If someone wants to publish in the paid realm, they would usually ask that they sign, but in this type of paid field of Pacific Rim or of their accomplices, who are attempting to make information appear to be objective and clean, they do not carry the signature of anyone.  

No country has become wealthy thanks to mines. Bolivia, which is usually mentioned in this green advertising, is a much poorer country than El Salvador.  They have been a mining expletively in the country since colonial times.

Now, according to Pacific Rim and there accomplices, with green mining Bolivia should be enjoying happiness, but Bolivia holds the 115th place on the United Nation’s Human Development Index and El Salvador, without mining, holds 101st place.

In reality, the only countries that have advanced in their development thanks to mining are those who have maintained the ownership of the mines in the hands of the State or in national companies.  The others have failed and have been exploited by transnational mining companies.”

Archbishop Fights for His People

Archbishop Saenz Lacalle denounced the dangers of mining to the Vatican, during his recent visit.  In the report he gave to Pope Benedict XVI, he presented mining as one of the gravest problems in El Salvador, along side poverty and violence.

The Archbishop also went to the Parliamentary special Mining Commission to ask the representatives to not allow these projects, due to the detrimental effects it will have on the environment and on human health.

Sáenz Lacalle requested that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) take his message of rejection of mining to the United State’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). The MCA finances a development project in the northern zone. In the Archbishop’s letter he remarks that MCA’s goals of human development, reactivation productivity, and environmental protection, would not be met if mining is allowed.

In Sáenz Lacalle’s letter to Monsignor Thomas G. Wenski bishop of the Orlando Diocese and President of the Committee of Peace and Justice International of the USCCB, he wrote “This [development] project will help this impoverished region of the country. However, there is a problem: the Canadian company Pacific Rim has permission to explore for gold and silver in this same zone.  The extraction of these metals uses cyanide and huge amounts of water”. He goes on to say, “We are convinced that mining is damaging to the Salvadoran environment. This concern has been confirmed by evidence presented in the Secretarial Episcopal Assembly of Central America (SEDAC- acronym in Spanish) by our brother bishops from Honduras and Guatemala, who have also declared themselves against mining projects.” He concludes his letter by saying “I could say much more, but I will only add on [one] more fact: in El Salvador, the water supply depends on the flow from the north regions towards the coast. The water pollution would not only affect the people in the northern zone, but rather the entire country. Mining is a problem for the future of this poor country.”