[CISPES-Alert] Pacific Rim Shareholders Meet Today! Tell them it's time to drop the lawsuit against El Salvador!

Wed Aug 25 08:56:00 EDT 2010

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ACTION ALERT

Pacific Rim shareholders meet today! 

August 25, 2010

Let’s send a clear message: Withdraw your shameful lawsuit against El
Salvador! 

Today, the shareholders and Board of Directors of Pacific Rim Mining will
meet for their Annual General Meeting in Vancouver, B.C. When the government
and people of El Salvador stopped Pacific Rim’s gold mines from opening,
this Canadian corporation opened a storefront in Nevada, and is now using
the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to sue the Salvadoran
government for hundreds of millions of dollars in ‘lost profits’.  

The company has been telling their shareholders that they are still hopeful
for a “resolution” with the Salvadoran government. However, after the 2009
elections, El Salvador finally has a democratic government that is
responding to the people’s demands. On Saturday, the President of El
Salvador, Mauricio Funes reiterated his public commitment: “I will not
authorize any mining exploration or exploitation project” and he welcomed
the process underway in the Legislative Assembly to pass a national ban on
metallic mining.

El Salvador is standing strong in the face of violent
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=655&Itemid=
27>  attacks against rural communities that oppose the mines and the open
threat of the World Bank lawsuit. We need you to stand in solidarity with
these struggles against corporate extortion, neocolonialism, and
environmental racism in Latin America today!  

Let’s keep Pacific Rim’s phone ringing off the hook all morning; solidarity
activists will take over at the start of the meeting (3 pm PST) with a rally
outside the conference center. Call Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, the Chair of
the Board of Directors today to let her know that she is up against the
peoples of El Salvador, Canada and the US!  

-------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------

TAKE ACTION!

1) Call Pacific Rim and tell them to drop the lawsuit and get out of El
Salvador! See sample script below.

Call Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, Chair of the Board of Directors in the
Vancouver, BC office at (604) 689-1976. Call as early as you can before she
heads off to the shareholder meeting!

2) Email a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun to expose this
corporate extortion! See sample letter below.

Send a short letter to the editor (200 words or less) at:
<mailto:sunletters at vancouversun.com> sunletters at vancouversun.com

SAMPLE CALL SCRIPT: 

Hello. My name is _________ and I have been following Pacific Rim’s lawsuit
against the government El Salvador. I am calling with a message for the
Board of Directors and all the shareholders who are meeting today. 

The people of El Salvador have rejected the mine and that decision must be
respected. Your lawsuit is a shameful ploy to rob the government of
desperately-needed resources for your own financial gain. But you have a
chance to do the right thing at today’s meeting. I call on you to make the
decision to:

1. Immediately withdraw from Cabañas and cease all efforts to mine gold in
El Salvador.

2. Immediately withdraw your lawsuit against the government of El Salvador.”

SAMPLE TEXT OF LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE VANCOUVER SUN:

To the editors: 

There is a new form of corporate extortion going on in Vancouver today which
is not being covered by the Sun. Pacific Rim Mining is suing the government
of El Salvador for, at minimum, $77 million dollars for rejecting its
proposed gold mine. This company is based in Vancouver and the Board of
Directors, chaired by Catherine McLeod-Seltzer, has deep ties to the
Canadian mining industry. However, the company now claims to be American, at
least American enough to sue El Salvador through the U.S.-Central America
Free Trade Agreement. 

As worldwide resistance to the plundering of land and resources by Canadian
mining companies grows, it seems the industry is getting desperate and more
dangerous (the Sun previously looked in to Pacific Rim after three local
environmentalists were murdered). Suing an entire nation, especially a
country like El Salvador, whose economy has been ransacked by centuries of
exploitation and now “free” trade, because you could not convince local
people to let you destroy their lands, is not just immoral; it should be
illegal. 

You can also fax this letter to the Vancouver Sun at 604-605-2522 (Attn:
Letters to the Editor)

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© 2009 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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