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<font face="Times New Roman">Compañeras y compañeros,<br>
<br>
We are very sad to inform you that another anti-mining activist has
been assassinated in Cabañas, El Salvador. On Saturday, </font><font
face="Times New Roman">Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto was shot by hitmen
as she returned from washing clothes in the river. She was 32 years
old and 8 months pregnant</font>. This follows the killings of two
other prominent anti-mining activists this year: Ramiro Rivera, shot
dead in an ambush on December 20, and Marcelo Rivera, disappeared,
tortured, and ultimately found dead in June. There is truly an
emergency right now in Cabañas, and CISPES and other solidarity allies
will continue to follow the unfolding of events, increase pressure on
authorities to
protect environmental activists, and take other actions in the coming
weeks.<br>
<br>
Attached is a press release that we hope you can help distribute to
your media contacts (it's also on <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=654&Itemid=1">the
CISPES
website</a>.)<br>
<br>
Also, Upsidedownworld.org continues to provide excellent coverage of
the spate of violence in El Salvador and below are three articles,
including Jason Wallach's recent story about Recinos Sorto's murder,
much of which was taken from accounts
by another prominent Salvadoran anti-mining activist, Hector Berrios.<br>
<br>
Finally, on our website there is also information in Spanish, including
the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=653&Itemid=98">press
release by the Mesa Nacional Frente a la Mineria</a> and a <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=650&Itemid=98">press
release by CISPES about the Ramiro Rivera assassination</a>.<br>
<br>
Please stay tuned for more updates and alerts, and thanks to
everyone who already responded to <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=648&Itemid=1">our
action alert from last week</a> targeting the Salvadoran attorney
generals office.<br>
<br>
In solidarity,<br>
<br>
-CISPES National Office<br>
<font face="Times New Roman"><br>
---------------------<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2280/1/">Canadian
Mining in Latin America: Paramilitaries, Assassinations, and Impunity</a>
(from Upsidedownworld.org, December 28, 2009) <br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1584/74/">El
Salvador: Company Promoters Shred Social Fabric of Communities</a> (</font><font
face="Times New Roman">from Upsidedownworld.org,</font><font
face="Times New Roman"> November, 2008)<br>
<br>
<br>
<big><b>Hitmen Assassinate Prominent Woman Activist in Cabañas;
Pro-Mining Violence Continues </b> </big> <br>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman">written by Jason Wallach on <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2279/1/">Upsidedownworld.org</a>
</font><font face="Times New Roman">- Sunday, 27 December 2009<br>
<br>
Six days after heavily armed men took the life of a respected
anti-mining activist in Cabañas, El Salvador, another prominent
community leader has been assassinated. On December 26 at 3:30 pm Dora
“Alicia” Recinos Sorto, 32, was killed as she returned from doing
laundry at the river near her home in Cantón Trinidad, in the
municipality of Sensuntepeque, Cabañas. “Alicia,” as she was known to
friends, was carrying one of her children in her arms as she was shot
dead. The child was shot in the foot and is receiving medical care.<br>
<br>
Since 2005, many Cabañas residents like Recinos Sorto have been
involved in a fierce battle over whether the US/Canadian Pacific Rim
Mining Company can re-open the shuttered El Dorado gold mine. Late last
year, outgoing President Tony Saca responded to local pressure and
negated Pacific Rim’s permit applications for gold extraction.
Activists are concerned that re-starting the mine will threaten local
water supplies and ruin their ability to grow crops. Supporters—mostly
Pacific Rim employees and their families—see the revival of the mine as
a source of job creation and economic development.<br>
<br>
Alicia Recinos Sorto together with her husband, José Santos Rodriguez,
were active members of the Cabañas Environment Committee. Santos
Rodriguez holds a position on the CEC Board and was attacked with a
machete for his anti-mining views in May 2008. According to Hector
Berríos of MUFRAS-32, the now-deceased Alicia recently told fellow CEC
activists that armed men showed up at the couple’s home looking for her
husband. She said that he had not been present at the time.<br>
<br>
Recino Sorto’s murder has further shaken Cabañas, a region which was
already reeling from the Dec. 20 killing of the Vice President of the
Cabañas Environmental Committee (CEC), Ramiro Rivera. Rivera had been
the target of a previous attacks and was under police protection at the
time of his murder. The police presence, however, did not deter the
hitmen, who rode up to the side of the Rivera’s pick-up as he drove and
shot him repeatedly in the head and chest. A passenger in Rivera’s
pick-up was killed and a teen girl was injured. According to
elfaro.net, a fourth passenger escaped by running into the woods.<br>
<br>
Information for this report was taken from a report by Hector Berríos,
MUFRAS-32, previous UDW reports, and the recent Salvadoran press.<br>
</font>
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