On May 9, I (Lisa Rankin) had the opportunity to take part in an international delegation to El Salvador. The delegation was focused on mining in El Salvador, and included over 40 people from 12 different countries. Although some of the organizations already work with Breaking the Silence, such as members of CAMIGUA, other delegates included students, members of unions, and other solidarity networks with El Salvador from around the world. The delegation was organized by the International Allies against Metallic Mining in El Salvador.

The delegation began with a conference on May 10. We had the opportunity to hear for both national and international allies in the struggle against metallic mining in the country. One of the most interesting speakers was the Human Rights Ombudsman for El Salvador, who was been a proponent for the moratorium on mining in the country. She has been one of the major allies in the struggle, though it appears her position is up for re-election in the coming months.

That same day, we had smaller group discussions on regional issues. As Breaking the Silence is focused on Guatemala, I was placed in the Cerro Blanco group, discussing a Goldcorp-owned mine in Asuncion Mita, Guatemala. However, there is great concern in El Salvador that there will be contamination from the Cerro Blanco mine into a lake which feeds El Salvador’s major water source. We had the opportunity to hear from activists and community leaders from Guatemala and El Salvador working on this issue, and get a better idea of concerns and challenges they have been facing.

On Friday, May 11, the group traveled to Las Cabañas, a community that is in resistance to Pacific Rim, another Canadian mining company. Community leaders have received threats for their resistance to the mine, and four activists from the community have been murdered. Pacific Rim currently has a law suit against the state of El Salvador for $315 million dollars for the loss of potential income due to the government’s failure to grant an exploitation license to the company. National and international groups are calling on Pacific Rim to drop the lawsuit, which is equal to El Salvador’s education budget.

The group was then spilt in two, with half going to visit the San Sabastian mine, which is no longer in operation but was owned by the Commerce Group, a company from the United States. The site is infamous for its orange/red/yellow water caused by high levels of acid rain drainage.

However, my group went to the Cerro Blanco mine, in Asuncion Mita, Guatemala. This mine is owned by Goldcorp. We attended a mass in the community of Asuncion Mita, where members of the church have been the strongest opponents of the mine. After the mass, we met with members of the community who are in opposition to the mine. We heard about intimidation and the first signs of contamination from the exploration process of the mine. The group then ate lunch in a community close to the mine, and were then able to travel up to the mine to see the site from a nearby hill. Upon regressing to the highway, mine staff took photos of our vehicle and the license plates.

The Cerro Blanco mine is not currently in operation, because a hot spring located on site contained water much hotter than was expected. The mine is currently attempting to deal with this obstacle, and has resorted to shooting the water out into the air through hoses in order to cool it down.

We then returned to San Salvador to close the delegation. A preliminary report was released by the Table, in English.