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Anti-mining activists Bernardo Belloso and Juan Carlos Ruiz Guadalajara spoke at McGill Tuesday on the adverse impacts of Canadian mining in their respective countries of El Salvador and Mexico.

Their speeches detailed the environmental, social, political, and cultural damages caused by the pending projects and current operations of Canadian mining companies in their countries.

El Salvadorians are resisting efforts of Pacific Rim, a Canadian company vying for operating permits to create an open-pit gold mine in the northern region of the country.

Bellosos stated that it is widely recognized throughout El Salvador that such a project is undesirable from an ecological perspective, though Pacific Rim insists on pressing ahead with its operations.

Through a translator, Belloso, who works for the Association for the Development of El Salvador explained, “Since there’s a big interest behind the amount of minerals that are found within the fields that Pacific Rim have been exploring, it has been basically the only company that has remained insisting to get the permit to keep exploring.”

The company’s behaviour, Belloso said, overlooks the likely ramifications of the open-pit mine. He added that the company’s testing phase alone has already resulted in the contamination of water sources and death of livestock.

Since the granting of 16 exploration permits to Canadian, American, and Australian companies, the political context of El Salvador has greatly shifted. Last year’s national election brought Mauricio Funes to power under a mandate of ending mineral extraction on El Salvadorian soil.

“Before 2010, in El Salvador the government was always responding to the neo-liberal policies in the interests of these big companies,” said Belloso.

Belloso added that the companies take “a stand toward big multi-national exploitation in El Salvador with no respect whatsoever for the needs of the country.”

Due to the issuance of exploration permits under the previous government, Pacific Rim and another Canadian company, Commerce Group, are demanding a total of $200 million from the El Salvadorian government through the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

“We are asking why is this happening,” Belloso said. “This is a Canadian company and El Salvador doesn’t have a free trade agreement with Canada.”

Although El Salvador wants to become the first country to ban all forms of mineral extraction, it sits in a precarious situation while it deals with the charges the companies have brought to the World Bank. Banning mineral extraction now may support the companies’ claims that El Salvador “illegally expropriated their investment.”

According to a Pacific Rim press release from earlier this month, the company “believes that El Salvador’s objections are not only completely without merit, but are also frivolous, and that [the government of El Salvador] filed them purely as an attempt to stall the arbitration proceedings. [Pacific Rim] fully expects that the Tribunal will reject the objections and proceed with the arbitration claim.”

The 29 sites originally considered for mining operations are located in the northern part of El Salvador, near the headwaters of all the major rivers that flow through the rest of the country.

Belloso stated that these rivers face contamination by heavy metals and cyanide if the open-pit operations begin.

This area is also home to the majority of all agricultural production in El Salvador, so a project such as this, said Belloso, threatens to destroy the entire country’s means of production and ability to feed its population of seven million.

Moreover, 250,000 families would be directly affected through forced displacement – a necessity given the mining sites proximity to the city of Cabañas.

These environmental concerns are only a part of the issue, as human rights abuses mount. There have been six killings with suspected links to the company in the region where Pacific Rim plans to dig. Religious leaders and radio journalists have received death threats after publicly opposing mining operations in El Salvador.

Belloso explained that there’s a need “to tell the Canadian people that Canadian companies are involved in very dirty ways of doing business.”

He also sees strong parallels between Canada and El Salvador, given the many struggles against the extraction of minerals on indigenous land.

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/articles/29955[/quote]

Compare and contrast:

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BARRIE, Ontario (miningweekly.com) - Canadian firm Pacific Rim Mining this week claimed a small victory in its arbitration against the El Salvadorian government, but president Mauricio Funes has been quoted as saying that he plans to stop mining in the country altogether.

“Funes has announced he intends to implement a total ban on mining,” London-based publication Latin America Monitor said in its August newsletter.

Funes, a former television reporter, took office in June last year, in the country’s first departure from right-wing politics.

Latin America Monitor said the intended ban on mining “undermines the generally pro-business policy stance that places El Salvador sixth in Latin America in the market orientation component of our business environment ratings”.

“Added to his refusal last year to recognise mining permits offered by previous administrations -which led Pacific Rim to seek international arbitration to recover $77-million of investment – we caution that the operating environment is likely to remain distinctly hostile for the industry over the medium term,” the newsletter said.

The tribunal at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled in Pacific Rim’s favour this week, regarding a preliminary objection filed by the government in relation to the action brought by Pacific Rim.

The government had halted work at the El Dorado gold mine after tensions erupted with surrounding communities. Anti-mining activists were reported to have been killed.

Mining contributes less than 5% to the smallest Central American country’s GDP.

Last month, the World Bank granted El Salvador three loans worth $230-million.

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/el-salvador-intends-total-ban-on-mining---report-2010-08-06 [/quote]

Damn. That's intense. More power to them.

This is different than nationalizing something and keeping the money in the country - it's putting a stop to mineral extraction completely. It's a straight up refusal to recognize the souped-up 'value' of these 'commodities'. In addition to protecting the interests of the people, it's a huge fuck-you to capitalism.

The claims are 'frivolous'?! Yeah, because wrecking someone else's land, water and food for some cash money, some abstract numbers in a fucking computer somewhere that allow you to get a bigger personal jet, isn't frivolous, no not at all.

and the king hell commodity at that. Those folks have got one tough row to hoe, getting between a capitalist and "his" gold, I fear for them. El Salvador too, mein gott, like those folks haven't suffered enough.

They aren't even suing for anything but the time they lost waiting for a permit to be issued. It was a hypothetical investment and they 'lost' $77 million.

Talk about frivolous.

Like it's El Salvador's fault that this company's investors counted all their chickens before they hatched. It's risky business, suckers.

And the company 'moved' the relevant 'subsidiary' to Nevada in order to file suit under DR-CAFTA since Canada isn't a part of the trade agreement. The subsidiary was originally located in Cayman.



International Interests with A Powerful Voice in Cabañas

Pacific Rim Mining Corp. operates the El Dorado mine through their wholly-owned subsidiary Pac Rim Cayman, LLC (“Pac Rim”), based in Nevada. The El Dorado project, located about an hour outside of San Salvador, is Pacific Rim’s “flagship exploration asset and has received the bulk of the Company’s exploration efforts over the past 7 years,” according to the company’s website.21

Canada is not a signatory of DR-CAFTA, and thus Vancouver-based Pacific Rim is filing the suit through its Nevada subsidiary, Pac Rim. Until 2007, the Pac Rim subsidiary was located in the Cayman Islands; the company has come under criticism for moving the branch with the sole intention of being eligible to file suit under DR-CAFTA. Under the treaty, investment disputes must be settled in an international tribunal. The International Center for Disputes (ICSID), an institution of the World Bank Group located in Washington, DC, is often the final destination for international resource cases.

The Pacific Rim case is not the first international resource dispute to be resolved in the ICSID. The number of cases filed has gone up dramatically over the past ten years. According to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), there are currently 32 pending cases related to oil, mining, and gas in the ICSID, whereas “ten years ago, there were only three pending ICSID cases” of the same nature.22 Countries in Latin America are disproportionally involved in cases involving oil, mining, and gas: IPS estimates that 66% of the cases filed globally are lodged against countries in Latin America.

The basis of Pacific Rim’s case involves DR-CAFTA’s investor rights provision, which stipulates that “each Party shall accord to investors of another Party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own investors.”23 Pacific Rim alleges that the government of El Salvador has failed to uphold its own laws by not granting the second round of mining concessions. The ICSID must decide if El Salvador violated Chapter 10 of DR-CAFTA by treating Pacific Rim differently than it would treat a Salvadoran mining company.

Dangerous Precedent

The international tribunal’s decision on the Pacific Rim v. El Salvador case is likely to have reverberations around the world. Should the tribunal rule in favor of Pacific Rim, it will signal to other international corporations that they, too, will find a sympathetic ear in Washington. It will also set a precedent for the numerous lawsuits that already have been filed with ICSID pertaining to resource exploitation in Latin America. The Pacific Rim case has the potential to replicate itself, as Canadian mining companies overwhelmingly choose Latin America as the site of their mining investments.24 Within Canada, there is very little regulation of mining companies’ impact abroad.25 If DR-CAFTA is interpreted to favor foreign mining interests over sovereign governments, there will be little recourse to prevent continued environmental exploitation by foreign mining companies operating in Latin America.

Lots in this article, covers various aspects of this situation. I may post more excerpts, looking at other sources too..This article wasn't written by CISPES but it was posted at their site since they were quoted. CISPES was at the USSF.

http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=731&Itemid=98

This guy thinks their mining plans are doomed. I sure hope so. Cuz these fuckers fight back.

http://voiceselsalvador.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/pacific-rims-icsid-claim-lives-to-see-another-day/

There is a crucial typo at the link, I think, near the bottom, I've edited it in bold from 'likely' to 'unlikely'..-mm

Pacific Rim’s ICSID Claim Lives to See Another Day
August 3, 2010

This morning Pacific Rim Mining Co. announced that yesterday the ICSID (International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes) tribunal denied the Government of El Salvador’s preliminary objections that sought to dismiss most of the mining company’s claims.

In April 2009, Pacific Rim filed international arbitration proceedings against the government of El Salvador claiming that their denial of mining exploitation permits violated their rights under the Central American Free Trade Agreement and Salvadoran Investment Law. In January of this year, the government filed preliminary objections requesting that the tribunal throw out most of Pacific Rim’s claims. They argued that even if all alleged facts are accepted as true, the tribunal still does not have a legal basis on which to decide in Pacific Rim’s favor. (Click here for a summary of the oral arguments). The tribunal heard oral arguments over these preliminary objections on May 31 and June 1, 2010, and yesterday released its decision denying the government’s request.

The tribunal’s decision does not mean that Pacific Rim is necessarily any closer to securing mining permits – only that their ICSID claims will live to see another day. In Pacific Rim’s press release, the company’s President and CEO states “We are very pleased with ICSID’s decision on the Preliminary Objection.” He continues, “[t]his is a positive and crucial step in the CAFTA process for PacRim. We are, however, reticent to celebrate, as we believe a more productive outcome is possible for both the Salvadoran people and foreign investors. With this phase of the arbitration now completed, we hope to resume a mutually beneficial dialogue with the GOES to resolve the impasse on the El Dorado project.”

In filing their claim, Pacific Rim is seeking to recover the $77 million they have invested in exploring their El Dorado site in Cabañas, El Salvador, as well as damages. In his statement, however, Tom Shrake seems to indicate that in trying to negotiate a settlement they are still working to secure exploitation permits. At this point, however, it seems very unlikely that Pacific Rim or any company buys their Pacific Rim El Salvador subsidiary will be able to mine for gold anytime soon. Public support for mining in Cabañas is so low that even Mayor Bautista (once a Pacific Rim promoter) from San Isidro, the municipality where the El Dorado site is located, has expressed his opposition to their efforts.

Investors are apparently not too impressed with the ICSID decision. Pacific Rim’s stock closed at $0.17 a share yesterday and is currently selling for $0.16.

While Pacific Rim’s ICSID claim may live to see another day, the likelihood that they will be resuming their activities in the region are slight.