[CISPES-Alert] Anti-Mining Activist Ramiro Rivera Assassinated in Cabañas

[CISPES National Office]

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EMERGENCY UPDATE AND ACTION ALERT

December 21, 2009

 

Anti-Mining Activist Ramiro Rivera Assassinated in Cabañas;

Demand an investigation and an end to the murders!

Ramiro Rivera Gómez, vice-president of CAC (Comité Ambiental de Cabañas/ the
Environmental Committee of Cabañas) and a local leader in the community
struggle against the environmentally-destructive gold mining projects
proposed by Pacific Rim, was assassinated on Sunday, December 20, 2009 in
the Trinidad neighborhood of Ilobasco, in the department of Cabañas where he
lived.

Héctor Berríos reports
<http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2266/1/>  that Ramiro Rivera
was killed by hitmen carrying M-16 rifles. Ramiro’s thirteen-year old
daughter who was with him on Sunday afternoon was also injured but is
reportedly in stable condition. 

On August 7 of this year, Ramiro Rivera was shot 8 times, but survived the
vicious attack. Oscar Menjívar, previously implicated in physical attacks on
anti-mining activists, was arrested and charged with Ramiro’s attempted
murder. Community members report that Menjívar had previously worked for
Canadian mining company Pacific Rim; Pacific Rim denies that he has ever
been an employee. 

Since his recovery, Mr. Rivera had been under the protection of two police
officers from the Witnesses and Victims Protection Unit of the National
Civilian Police. On the afternoon of December 20th, they were apparently
unable to protect him.

Since June of 2009, when anti-mining and FMLN activist Marcelo Rivera (no
relation to Ramiro) was found tortured and killed in Cabañas, there have
been continued attacks, death threats and attempted kidnappings of community
members and activists who have vehemently opposed the proposed El Dorado
gold mine. The Ministry of Environment denied mining exploitation permits to
Pacific Rim, a Vancouver-based mining company, which subsequently announced
a $77 million dollar lawsuit against the Salvadoran government under CAFTA,
the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (watch the Real News video
here
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=637&Itemid=
1> ).

Despite the overtly political overtones of this wave of violence, local
police authorities and the former Attorney General's office have classified
these cases as common crimes. Salvadorans are fearful and outraged by the
continued violence but also by the inability or unwillingness of the police
and the office of the Attorney General to protect community activists like
Ramiro Rivera and to halt the violence. 

Join the international response to this repression of anti-mining organizers
in Cabañas TODAY. Call on the Salvadoran authorities to carry out an
exhaustive investigation of these crimes and their motives.

---------------------­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­----------------------------------
------------------------------------
TAKE ACTION:

1)      E-mail Rodolfo Delgado, head of the Organized Crime unit of the
Attorney General’s Office (Sample e-mail text at the end of this alert) This
e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript
enabled to view it radelgado at fgr.gob.sv. Please copy Human Rights Ombudsman
Oscar Luna to your email, via his front desk: heidybrizuela at pddh.gob.sv



2)      Please forward a copy of your sent email to cispes at cispes.org This
e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript
enabled to view it 
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript
enabled to view it 

SAMPLE E-MAIL (English translation below): 

Estimado Señor Rodolfo Delgado:

Como miembro de la comunidad internacional, quiero expresar mi profunda
preocupación por lo más reciente hecho de violencia contra un líder social
en Cabañas, el asesinato de Ramiro Rivera Gómez. Después de que él fue
baleado ocho veces en agosto del 2009, fue bajo la protección de la Unidad
de Protección de Víctimas y Testigos de la Policía Nacional Civil. 

El asesinato de Ramiro Rivera parece otro hecho de violencia sistemático 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 de
Cabañas; el sabotaje al sistema electrónico de Radio Victoria; y los
intentos de asesinato de los líderes comunitarios, Padre Luis Quintanilla y
Ramiro Rivera.

Considero que existen suficientes evidencias para presumir que el asesinato
de Ramiro Rivera y los demás crímenes están relacionados y forman parte de
una campaña para intimidar a las organizaciones sociales en Cabañas. 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. 

Por lo tanto como miembro de la comunidad internacional, hago un llamado
para que ahora bajo la dirección del nuevo Fiscal General de la República
Romeo Barahona, la Fiscalía realice una investigación imparcial, exhaustiva
y efectiva en el caso del asesinato de Ramiro Rivera y de todos estos casos,
para dar a conocer a los autores intelectuales y materiales de estos
crímenes y garantizar así la protección de los líderes sociales en la región
de forma verdadera. 

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, licenciado Oscar Humberto Luna, quien ha
mostrado un compromiso fuerte para proteger la seguridad y los derechos
humanos de los líderes sociales en Cabañas. 

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.

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 Ramiro.

 [Tu nombre/ Your name]

___________________

Translation of Email:

As a member of the international community, I want to express my profound
concern about the most recent act of violence toward a community leader in
Cabañas: the assassination of Ramiro Rivera Gómez. After being shot eight
times in August, Mr. Rivera was under the protection of the Victims and
Witnesses Protection Unit of the National Civilian Police. 

The assassination of Ramiro Rivera appears to be another systematic act of
violence that has occurred in Cabañas since June of this year: the
kidnapping and brutal assassination of the activist Gustavo Marcelo Rivera;
the death threats against journalists at Radio Victoria, the director of the
Association for Social and Economic Development (ADES) and other community
leaders in Cabañas; the sabotage of the broadcasting equipment at Radio
Victoria; and the assassination attempt against the community leaders Father
Luis Quintanilla and Ramiro Rivera.

I believe there is sufficient evidence to assume that Ramiro Rivera's murder
and the other crimes are linked and part of a campaign to intimidate
community organizations in Cabañas. It is alarming that the Attorney
General’s Office under the direction of former acting Attorney General Ástor
Escalante attributed these crimes to common violence, ignoring the evidence
and antecedents that indicate the political nature of these events.

Therefore as a member of the international community, I now call on the
Attorney General’s Office under the leadership of new Attorney General Romeo
Barahona to carry out impartial, exhaustive and effective investigations of
the assassination of Ramiro Rivera and all of these crimes in order to bring
to justice the intellectual and material authors of these crimes and
guarantee the protection of other community leaders in the region. 

After the assassination of Marcelo Rivera in June, over 100 organizations in
the U.S. and Canada sent a letter to the Attorney General’s office
expressing their serious concern about the human rights abuses.
Representative Jim McGovern of the U.S. Congress expressed the same concern
in his meetings with Mr. Attorney General Romeo Barahona and with
representatives of the administration of Mr. President Mauricio Funes during
his recent visit to El Salvador. 

I am sending a copy of this message to the Human Rights Ombudsman, Mr. Oscar
Luna, who has shown a strong commitment to protect the security and human
rights of social movement leaders in Cabañas. 

Leaving these crimes in a state of impunity creates a climate of fear and
uncertainty for the rest of the community leaders, undermining the advances
in the democratic process in El Salvador.

I thank you in advance for your efforts to speed up the investigations and I
hope that there will soon be justice in these cases and that the victims'
lives will be protected and Ramiro’s family will be compensated for their
loss.

[Your name]

 

 

 


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© 2008 CISPES - The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
CISPES National Office | ph. 202-521-2510 | 1525 Newton St. NW, Wash. DC
20010| cispes at cispes.org

 

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