Another Canadian-American Mining Company Linked (In)Directly to Repression & Killings
"On June 2, in the city of Ilobasco, [department of] Cabañas, thirty year-old Juan Francisco Duran Ayala was hanging flyers and banners as part of a CAC (Environmental Committee of Cabanas) campaign against mining and the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim. The CAC reports that Ilobasco's mayor, José Maria Dimas Castellano, ordered municipal police to remove the banners and intimidate the activists hanging them. The next day Juan Francisco left for his classes at the Technological University in San Salvador and was not heard from again. His body was found after midnight on June 4; he had been shot twice in the head, execution style. The Medical Examiner declared his body "unidentifiable" and buried him in a common grave in San Salvador. The following week, CAC members visited the morgue and learned that Juan Francisco's body had been found. His father positively identified his son´s body on June 14."
CISPES
ADDRESSES - PACIFIC RIM
http://www.pacrim-mining.com/s/Home.asp)
CANADA
Pacific Rim
#1050 - 625 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6C 2T6
T: (604) 689-1976
Toll Free: 1-888-775-7097
general@pacrim-mining.com
USA
Pacific rim
#105 - 3545 Airway Drive,
Reno, NV, USA 89511
T: 775-852-5888
pacrim-exp@sbcglobal.net
* * *
ADDRESSES - Canada
CONTACT YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC
GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA David Johnston
Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1A-0A1
info@gg.ca, (613) 993-8200 , 800 465-6890
Duncan Mousseau, Director of Policy, Planning and Correspondence
Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
DMousseau@GG.CA
PRIME MINISTER Stephen Harper
harpes@parl.gc.ca
Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) Peter Kent
125 Sussex Dr, Ottawa, ON, K1A-0G2
(613) 992-0253 , kent.p@parl.gc.ca
Gilles Duceppe, leader, Bloc Quebecois
1200 Papineau Av, #350, Montreal, QC, H2K-4R5
ducepg@parl.gc.ca
Jack Layton, leader, New Democratic Party
221 Broadview Ave, Suite 100, Toronto, ON, MM-2G3
laytoj@parl.gc.ca
Elizabeth May, leader, Green Party
Saanich Gulf Islands EDA, Box 20076, Sidney, BC, V8L-5C9
emaytowin@greenparty.ca
Michael Ignatieff, leader, Liberal Party
656 The Queensway, Etobicoke, ON, M8Y-1K7
ignatm@parl.gc.ca
Bob Rae, Liberal, Foreign Affairs Critic
(613) 992-5234 , RaeB@parl.gc.ca
Paul Dewar, NDP, Foreign Affairs Critic
1306 Wellington St. W, Ottawa, ON, K1Y-3B2
dewarp@parl.gc.ca, 613-946-8682
Larry Bagnell, Liberal
bagnell.l@parl.gc.ca
Peter Julian, NDP International Trade Critic
Rm 178, Confederation Bldg., Ottawa, ON, K1A-0A6
Julian.P@parl.gc.ca
John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough-Guildwood
(613) 992-1447 , MckayJ@parl.gc.ca, 613-947-4609
Claire Lehan, Legislative Assistant
(613) 992-6512 , McKayJ8@parl.gc.ca
549-D Centre Block, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A-0A6
Kevin Sorenson, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, Room 518, Justice Building, Ottawa, ON, K1A-0A6
(613) 947-4608 , SorenK@parl.gc.ca, 613-992-2971
Dean Allison, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairperson
4994 King Street, Beamsville, ON, L0R-1B0
allison.d@parl.gc.ca, 905-995-2772
Marketa Evans, Global corporate responsibility commissioner
Marketa.Evans@international.gc.ca
CANADIAN Embassy in El Salvador
Ambassador Marianick Tremblay
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
CANADIAN Embassy in Guatemala
Karin Reinecke, Assistant to the Ambassador
karin.reinecke@international.gc.ca
Jennifer Chacon
jennifer.chacon@international.gc.ca
13 Calle 8-44 Zone 10, Edificio Edyma Plaza, Ciudad de Guatemala
(502) 2363-4348, 2365-1201, gtmla@international.gc.ca
evelyne.coulombe@international.gc.ca
AMBASSADOR to the OAS
H.E. Allan Culham
wshdc-prmoas@international.gc.ca
(202) 682-1768
* * *
ADDRESSES - USA
WHITE HOUSE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/, 202-456-1111 , Comment Line: 202-456-1414
CONGRESS: Go to http://www.house.gov/ to get info for your member of Congress, and call: 202-224-3121
SENATE: Go to http://www.senate.gov/ to get contact for your Senator, and call: 202-224-3121
STATE DEPARTMENT - Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs: 202 647-0834 , WHAAsstSecty@State.Gov
AMBASSADOR CRAIG KELLY, Principal Deputy Asst. Secretary, Western Office of Hemisphere Affairs:KellyC@state.gov
MARIA OTERO, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs; c/o Laura Pena, Assistant:PenaL@state.gov
DR. ARTURO VALENZUELA: ValenzuelaAA@state.gov
PAUL MONTEIRO, Office of Public Engagement, Darron_P._Monteiro@who.eop.gov
Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte, U.S. Embassy in El Salvador
Embajada de Los Estados Unidos
Final Boulevard Santa Elena
Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad
Telephone: 2501-2999
IRCSanSalvador@state.gov
ACSSanSal@state.gov
1. If you speak Spanish, call Salvadoran Attorney General Romeo Barahona at 011-503-2230-6350 (hector.burgos@fgr.gob.sv) to demand a full investigation into the murders of Juan Francisco, Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera and Dora Alicia Sorto. Sample script below.
2. Email the following to demand an investigations into these murders and threats against the anti-mining activists of Cabañas.
Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia
Manuel Melgar
jusegministro@seguridad.gob.sv
Sandra.lazo@seguridad.gob.sv (secretaria)
Presidente de la República
ccienfuegos@presidencia.gob.sv
cmedina@presidencia.gob.sv (secretaría)
Jefe de la Policia Nacional Civil
carlosascencio@pnc.gob.sv
arecinos@pnc.gob.sv (secretaria)
Attorney General Barahona
hector.burgos@fgr.gob.sv
BUENOS (DÍAS/TARDES)
Mi nombre es ___ y llamo para expresar mi indignación sobre el asesinato de Juan Francisco Durán Ayala y la violencia contra líderes sociales en Cabañas. Urge una investigación profunda sobre el asesinato del Señor Durán Ayala con un equipo especializado, y así también es necesario re-abrir los casos de Marcelo Rivera, Dora Alicia Sorto y Ramiro Rivera para investigar vínculos entre estos caso, los asesinatos de Darwin Serrano y Gerardo Abrego León, las nuevas amenazas contra el personal de Radio Victoria y la desaparición del Señor Durán Ayala. El hecho de que la violencia y amenazas anteriores quedaron en impunidad ha permitido que surgieran los nuevos hechos de violencia. Pido que el Fiscal General tome las medidas necesarias para asegurar justicia y protección para las y los afectados.
BACKGROUND
On June 2, in the city of Ilobasco, Cabañas, thirty year-old Juan Francisco was hanging flyers and banners as part of a CAC campaign against mining and the Canadian mining company Pacific Rim. The CAC reports that Ilobasco's mayor, José Maria Dimas Castellano, ordered municipal police to remove the banners and intimidate the activists hanging them. The next day Juan Francisco left for his classes at the Technological University in San Salvador and was not heard from again. His body was found after midnight on June 4; he had been shot twice in the head, execution style. The Medical Examiner declared his body "unidentifiable" and buried him in a common grave in San Salvador. The following week, CAC members visited the morgue and learned that Juan Francisco's body had been found. His father positively identified his son´s body on June 14.
Juan Francisco's murder comes two years after the brutal torture and killing of community leader and anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera Since then, two other anti-mining activists have been killed, Dora Alicia Sorto and Ramiro Rivera, and death threats and attempts continue against anti-mining activists, particularly the youth journalists of the Radio Victoria collective. As long as the intellectual authors of these crimes remain unpunished, impunity and violence will continue to reign in Cabañas.
MORE INFORMATION: www.cispes.org
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Report summary: "Searching for Gold in the Highlands of Guatemala: Economic Benefits and Environmental Risks of the Marlin Mine", By Lyuba Zarsky and Leonardo Stanley, Tufts University, September 2011
On October 31, 2011, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) did two reports on the Canadian mining industry in general, on HudBay Minerals and serious human rights violations in Guatemala, and on the new, non-binding Corporate Social Responsability Counsellor in Canada.
Almost 30 years after the massacres and genocide carried out by the U.S.-backed military regime of Guatemala against its own majority indigenous population (part of the "war on communism"), 11 years after the genocide cases were first filed in Guatemala courts, a former army general has been arrested for his role in genocide, forced disappearances and other crimes against humanity.
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