BODY COUNT RISING
4th KILLING OF COMMUNITY MEMBER
WHERE CANADIAN COMPANY “PACIFIC RIM”
WANTS TO MINE FOR GOLD IN EL SALVADOR
December 30, 2009

BELOW, REPORT BY: CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador)
BACKGROUND

EMERGENCY RELIEF FUNDS NEEDED:  As in the cases of recent assassinations in Chiapas, Guatemala and El Salvador, RA is providing emergency relief funds for the family and community members of the murder and repression victims.  To make tax-deductible donations, see below.

FOR INTERVIEW & MORE INFORMATION:  Annie Bird, annie@rightsaction.org, 1-202-680-3002; Grahame Russell, info@rightsaction.org, 1-860-352-2448
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Action Alert, December 29, 2009
By CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with El Salvador), www.cispes.org, 202 521-2510, cispes@cispes.org
On December 26, Dora “Alicia” Sorto Recinos was murdered in the small community of Trinidad in the department of Cabañas.  Sorto Recinos was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child when shot after doing laundry at a nearby river. The child, who was also shot in the leg is currently receiving medical attention.
Watch a Democracy Now interview with CISPES director: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/29/anti_mining_activists_killed_in_el
Sorto Recinos and her life partner, José Santos Rodríguez, were opponents of the “El Dorado” gold mine, which Pacific Rim, a Vancouver BC (Canada) company, is desperate to open despite widespread community and governmental opposition.
DEATH TOLL FOR CABAÑAS ANTI-MINING ACTIVISTS:
1-  Dora Alicia Sorto Recinos was a member of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, active in educating and mobilizing the local community against Pacific Rim’s El Dorado gold mine; her life partner José Rodríguez is a board member of the committee and has received death threats and survived three separate attempts against his life.
2-  Last week, the Committee’s vice-president, Ramiro Rivera, was gunned down in front of his daughter, despite his 24-hour police protection since being shot eight times in August.
3-  His neighbor Felicíta Echeverría was also killed in the attack.
4-  The first murder related to this gold mining struggle occurred last June, when anti-mining and FMLN activist Marcelo Rivera (no relation to Ramiro) was found tortured and killed in Cabañas.
A common thread among the two most recent slayings is Oscar Menjívar.  Currently awaiting trial for shooting Ramiro Rivera 8 times in August, he was previously arrested for attacking José Rodríguez with a machete.  Menjívar’s neighbors report that he was one of Pacific Rim Mining’s paid “promoters,” though Pacific Rim denies that he has ever been on payroll.
Violence has become a harsh reality for Cabañas residents since the arrival of Pacific Rim.  After community organizing efforts successfully blocked Pacific Rim’s attempts to obtain gold mining permits, the company filed a lawsuit against the Salvadoran government under CAFTA, the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. In recent months, it has proven especially dangerous to oppose mining in Cabañas, with a steady stream of attacks, death threats and attempted assassinations and kidnappings against community leaders and anti-mining activists.
Despite the overtly political overtones of these violent acts, whose frequency is only increasing, 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 and by the inability or unwillingness of the police and the office of the Attorney General to protect community activists like Alicia Sorto Recinos, Ramiro Rivera and Marcelo Rivera.
Community members believe that until these cases are thoroughly investigated for political motives and the perpetrators brought to justice, impunity against the mining resistance movement in Cabañas will continue, sending a message to the intellectual authors of these crimes that they can continue their wave of violence and murders without punishment. 
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WHAT TO DO
WRITE TO CANADIAN GOVERNMENT & POLITICIANS & TO PACIFIC RIM
TALKING POINTS (From CISPES)
SAMPLE SCRIPT:
“I have been following the news about Pacific Rim’s El Dorado mine in El Salvador and am extremely disturbed by the news of three community members murdered this past week, as well as a 4th in July.  These individuals were part of local organizations that have been promoting community development and environmental justice – and opposing Pacific Rim’s mine since 2004.  I call on CEO and President Thomas Shrake and Pacific Rim’s board of directors to:

PACIFIC RIM
Toll Free: 1-888-775-7097
T: (604) 689-1976
E: general@pacrim-mining.com
#1050 - 625 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 2T6
Thomas Shrake, CEO and President
Barbara Henderson, VP Investor Relations
END IMPUNITY FOR CANADIAN COMPANIES
SEND COPIES TO YOUR OWN POLITICIANS, ASKING THEM:
Why the Canadian government fully supports the expansion of Canadian mining companies across the globe, often contributing to repression, death, human rights violations and environmental harm?
Why the Canadian government opposes the passing of any legislation whatsoever so that Canadian companies and investors can be held criminally and civilly accountable in Canadian courts for repression, human rights violations and environmental harms caused in other countries.
(Thanks to www.ccic.ca for this list)
Peter Kent
Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas)
125 Sussex Dr
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
T: (613) 992-0253
F: (613) 992-0887
E: Kent.P@parl.gc.ca
Rafael Angel Alfaro Pineda
Ambassador of El Salvador to Canada
209 Kent St,
Ottawa, Ontario K2P 1Z8
T; (613) 238-2939
F: (613) 238-6940
E: embajada@elsalvador.ca.org
Claire A. Poulin
Canadian Ambassador to El Salvador
Centro Financiero Gigante
63 Av. Sur y Alameda Roosevelt, Local 6, Nivel Lobby II
San Salvador, El Salvador
T: (503) 2279-4655
F: (503) 2279-0765
e: ssal@international.gc.ca
Kevin Sorenson, MP
Chair, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
T: (613) 947-4608
F: (613) 947-4611
e: SorenK@parl.gc.ca
John MacKay, MP
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
T: (613) 992-1447
F: (613) 992-8968
e: MckayJ@parl.gc.ca
Bob Rae, MP
Liberal Party Foreign Affairs Critic
T: (613) 992-5234
F: (613) 996-9607
e: RaeB@parl.gc.ca
Francine Lalonde, MP
Bloc Québecois Foreign Affairs Critic
T: (613) 995-6327
F: (613) 996-5173
e: LalonF@parl.gc.ca
Paul Dewar, MP
NDP Foreign Affairs Critic
T: (613) 996-5322
F: (613) 996-5323
e: DewarP@parl.gc.ca
Alexandre Leveque
Director Caribbean, Central America & Regional Policy, Central America Division, DFAIT
125 Sussex Dr
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2
T: 613-992-2971
F: 613-944-0760
E:
Barbara Curran
Director, Canadian International Development Agency, Central America Division
200 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0G4
T: 819-994-4092
F: 819-997-0628
E: barbara.curran@ acdi-cida.gc.ca
How to contact your Member of Parliament in their ridings:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
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HUMANITARIAN RELIEF FUNDS
To donate tax-deductible funds to family members of the victims of mining-related violence and repression and to community organizations in mining affected regions, make tax deductible donations to “rights action” and mail to:
UNITED STATES:  Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
CANADA:  552-351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS:  http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm
Upon request, Rights Action can provide a proposal of which community organizations resisting the harms and violations caused by mining in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador we are working with and channeling your funds to.
HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION TO HONDURAS, January 24-31, 2010
Since the June 28th oligarchic-military coup against the government of President Zelaya, Rights Action – along with other North American activist and solidarity groups – has been working hard to support the extraordinary anti-coup, pro-democracy movement.
Now that the November 29th “elections” are over, this delegation will overlap with the January 27th “formal transfer of power” from President Zelaya to the incoming President-elect Pepe Lobo.  Anyone following the situation in Honduras knows ‘free and fair’ elections were not held on November 29th, President Zelaya is still effectively jailed inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa (capital city), and the “transfer of power” looms as another key date in this long-term struggle against the oligarchic-military regime.
More than an educational delegation (anyone who comes will learn a huge amount about the background context that led to the military coup, about the courage and spirit of Honduras’ peaceful pro-democracy movement and about the nature and repression of the oligarchic-military regime), this will be a human rights accompaniment and observation delegation.
We will have serious discussions with interested persons about the nature and goals of this delegation, before people decide to join or not. If you are considering joining this delegation, we urge you to read through our series of Honduras Coup Alerts, found at www.rightsaction.org.  To join: info@rightsaction.org
FOR INTERVIEW & MORE INFORMATION:  Annie Bird, annie@rightsaction.org, 1-202-680-3002; Grahame Russell, info@rightsaction.org, 1-860-352-2448

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