Rights Action - June 17, 2011
Canadian Mining Impunity & Repression

ANOTHER CANADIAN-AMERICAN MINING COMPANY
LINKED (IN)DIRECTLY TO REPRESSION & KILLINGS

BODY COUNT RISING IN EL SALVADOR
WHERE "PACIFIC RIM"
WANTS TO MINE FOR GOLD

 

juan
(Juan Francisco Duran Ayala)

CISPES WRITES:

"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."

BELOW

WHAT TO DO  ???  THIS IS A CANADIAN & AMERICAN CORPORATE & PUBLIC POLICY ISSUE

OTHER KILLINGS RELATED TO THIS
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT versus MINING RELATED STRUGGLE

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WWW.CISPES.ORG - ACTION ALERT, JUNE 17, 2011

STUDENT ANTI-MINING ACTIVIST ASSASSINATED
Call on the Attorney General and the Minister of Security to Begin an Investigation Immediately!

With heavy hearts, we report that Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, anti-mining activist and university student, has been murdered (background information below). Join the Environmental Committee of Cabañas (CAC) and Juan Francisco's family in calling on the Attorney General and National Civilian Police to carry out an exhaustive investigation into the material and intellectual authors of this brutal murder and to and protect the lives of all anti-mining activists in El Salvador.  We will not remain silent while the murders of Juan Francisco, Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera, Dora Alicia Sorto, and the threats against Radio Victoria remain in impunity!

TAKE ACTION!

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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NATIONAL WORKING GROUP AGAINST METALLIC MINING
www.esnomineria.blogspot.com
PRESS RELEASE - HOW MANY TIMES WILL WE HAVE TO REPEAT IT?

Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, of the Cabañas Environmental Committee (CAC), was killed on June 4th and his body wasn't identified until 10 days after his disappearance.  He is the fourth environmental activist killed in Cabañas.  The last time he was seen by fellow environmental activists was on June 2nd, distributing fliers against metallic mining in Ilobasco in preparation for a public consultation about the mining sector taking place nearby.

How many times will we have to repeat it?

Metallic mining projects are a serious threat to human life, not only because of the environmental impacts they provoke, but also because of the social destabilization they create in communities.  The declarations made by the Director of Investigations of the National Civilian Police, Howard Cotto, in 2009 are public knowledge. Sotto signaled that the spiral of killings and threats against defenders of environmental and human rights in Cabañas are directly linked to the presence of mining projects and mining companies in the region.

This is the fourth killing of activists in the fight against mining.  Nearly two years ago, Marcelo Rivera, community leader who organized resistance to mining in Cabañas, was killed.  To this day, investigations into this brutal murder haven't produced the capture of the intellectual authors.  Nor have the investigations into the murders of two other anti-mining activists, Dora Alicia Sorto and Ramiro Rivera.  In addition, threats against journalists at Radio Victoria continue without any concrete action taken by authorities.  The justice system in this country is failing, and we will not stop repeating this!

We demand that government authorities, the Attorney General and the National Civilian Police fulfill their mandate and assure that all victims of metallic mining have access to justice.  We demand thorough and exhaustive investigation and that the material and intellectual authors of these killings be brought to justice. We further demand that the authorities take into account testimony that can link local public officials in the department of Cabañas to these murders.

We stand with our compañeros of the Cabañas Environmental Committee and we assure those that are behind this campaign of terror that we will not stop in our struggle to prevent mining in El Salvador or in our conviction to get mining companies out of our communities.

Thursday June 16, 2011

National Working Group Against Metallic Mining, www.esnomineria.blogspot.com
Network of Latin American Youth Activists, www.niunaminamas.blogspot.com

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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

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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

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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

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Thank-you, Gracias a la visa

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