[CISPES-update] Breaking News: Cabañas Anti-Mining Activist Gunned Down

Tue Dec 22 11:08:31 EST 2009

Breaking News: Cabañas Anti-mining Activist Gunned Down

CISPES <http://www.cispes.org/>  update

December 22, 2009

Included in this update:

*	Clinton urges Funes to take <>  “leadership” in Honduran crisis
*	U.S. remains inflexible on El <>  Salvador immigration policy 
*	Community mining <>  resistance calls on Funes for accompaniment 
*	Ex-President Tony Saca expelled <>  from ARENA
*	Obama names U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador

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. 

Take action today by demanding the Salvadoran Attorney General conduct a
thorough investigation into Ramiro Rivera’s assassination by clicking here
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=648&Itemid=
1> .

Clinton urges Funes to take “leadership” in Honduran crisis

On December 9th, Minister of Foreign Relations Hugo Martínez met with U.S.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in Washington, D.C. At the meeting
Secretary Clinton urged El Salvador to take on greater leadership in the
resolution to the crisis in Honduras.  President Funes has yet to make a
pronouncement on the results of Honduras’ controversial November 29th
elections.  Recently, he acknowledged the repressive conditions under which
the elections took place, but also called the elections a first step towards
a negotiated exit.

The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party, which carried
Funes to an electoral victory on March 15 of this year, has condemned the
Honduran elections as an attempt to legitimize the June 28 coup.  In their
annual convention on December 12, the party reiterated its position that the
coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras represents a threat to
democracy for the entire region.  FMLN General Coordinator Medardo González
has acknowledged the party and Funes’ differing opinions, particularly
concerning foreign relations.  In a recent interview, González spoke of the
importance of the FMLN in maintaining its positions as a party despite the
president’s position. He highlighted the difference between the current
situation and the behavior of Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA)
administrations during their 20 years of governance, in which they were
frequently denounced for fusing the party and government institutions and
for using state funds and resources to promote the party.

Since his presidential nomination by the FMLN, Mauricio Funes has reiterated
his desire to build a “strategic alliance” with the U.S. and emphasized the
importance of maintaining friendly relations with the country where 2.5
million Salvadoran’s live and work, sending back an estimated $315 million
each month.  Clinton’s push for El Salvador to take a more active role in
the Honduras crisis was viewed by many policy analysts as an attempt to
build regional support for the U.S.’ anticipated position of accepting the
elections.

U.S. remains inflexible on El Salvador immigration policy

The primary objective of Martínez’s visit to Washington D.C. was to petition
for immigration reform aimed at improving the lives of Salvadorans in the
U.S.  In addition to Secretary Clinton, he met with Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, to whom he proposed a
temporary moratorium on deportations of Salvadorans in the aftermath of
Hurricane
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=638&Itemid=
1>  Ida.  Napolitano showed little flexibility, despite the devastation
caused by the hurricane.  She agreed to try to reduce the daily number of
deportation flights to El Salvador—currently averaging 10 per day—but failed
to give a concrete figure for flight reduction.  

Martínez expressed hope that future conversations would address more
comprehensive solutions to the problems faced by immigrants in the U.S.,
beyond a simple renewal of Temporary Protection Status (TPS)—the temporary
legal status granted to Central American immigrants in the U.S. who fled a
rash of natural disasters in 2001.  Roughly 229,000 Salvadorans living in
the U.S. have temporary legal residency under TPS.  

TPS and its renewal have often been threatened by U.S. congressional members
and government officials for political purposes.  In both the 2004 and 2009
Salvadoran presidential elections, Republican Congressional representatives
and administration officials threatened
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=539&Itemid=
1>  to terminate TPS if the FMLN candidate won the elections—a fear tactic
utilized by the ARENA party during its electoral campaign.

Community mining resistance calls on Funes for accompaniment 

On December 9th, hundreds of people from Cabañas, Chalatenango, and other
departments of El Salvador that are facing potential mining projects
gathered at the Presidential House to raise public awareness and debate
surrounding the two
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=597&Itemid=
28>  lawsuits El Salvador is facing in the International Center for the
Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank tribunal based in
Washington, D.C.  Gold mining companies Pacific Rim of British Columbia and
Wisconsin-based Commerce Group are suing El Salvador for hundreds of
millions of dollars for violating the U.S.-Central America-Dominican
Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) by refusing to grant mining
permits.  The communities opposing the mining projects called on President
Funes to unite with the anti-mining movement and confront the lawsuits in
concert.

On December 10th, La Mesa Nacional frente a la Minería Metálica (the
National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining in El Salvador)—a coalition of
the community organizations in areas affected by mining, environmental
organizations, and other non-governmental organizations—was recognized for
its community organizing efforts by El Salvador’s Human Rights Ombudsman,
Oscar Luna.  Radio Victoria, a youth-led community station in Cabañas, was
also celebrated.  The awards were presented in the celebration of the 61st
Anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Ex-President Tony Saca expelled from ARENA

Former President of the Republic Tony Saca was expelled from the ARENA party
on December 20, 2009.  According to ARENA party president Alfredo Cristiani,
Saca violated the party’s principles by manipulating the internal election
process that nominated Rodrigo Ávila as the 2009 presidential candidate.
Ávila lost the March 15 elections to FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes, ending
20 years of ARENA governance.

Saca’s expulsion comes after the Presidential House was exposed for spending
$219 million beyond the amount budgeted by the Legislative Assembly during
his presidency from 2004-2008.  Many analysts view this sudden expulsion as
an effort by the ARENA party to distance itself from allegations of
corruption, as well as a scrambling attempt to salvage the party’s image.
ARENA has been suffering a serious internal crisis, brought to public
attention in late October by the defection
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=634&Itemid=28>
of over 1/3rd of its legislative deputies. 

Obama names U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador

On December 9th, the White House announced the nomination of Mari Carmen
Aponte as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador; she is awaiting approval by the
Senate before assuming the post.  Aponte, a lawyer by training, grew up in
Puerto Rico and New Jersey and previously was the Executive Director of the
Administration of Federal Subjects in Puerto Rico.   President Bill Clinton
nominated her as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic in 1998, but her
confirmation was blocked by Senate Republicans.  The U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador has been without an Ambassador since January 20, when Obama took
office and dismissed all politically appointed ambassadors of the Bush
Administration.  The Embassy is currently under the direction of Charge
d’Affaires Robert Blau, who occupied the post under Bush.  

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-update/attachments/20091222/e730baae/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 6135 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-update/attachments/20091222/e730baae/attachment-0001.jpeg 