Photos here.

Pacific Rim Mining executives Barbara Poisonwell and Thomas Snake are joined by shareholders for a toast to U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) as protesters look on

SEATTLE – Dozens of demonstrators marched from Westlake Plaza to the office of Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) on Thursday afternoon to protest the Congressman’s ongoing refusal to endorse a trade policy reform bill currently before the Congress, and to disrupt a press conference held by Pacific Rim Mining Corporation honoring McDermott for his support of free trade.

Representatives of several Seattle-area unions, environmental groups, churches and other community organizations lined sidewalks on both sides of 7th avenue between Olive and Stewart Streets in front of McDermott’s downtown Seattle office, chanting and holding signs in support of the “TRADE Act,” a bill that would overhaul existing free trade agreements and set standards for future pacts.

Meanwhile, before a backdrop of golden balloons, a dozen executives and shareholders of Pacific Rim, a Vancouver, B.C., gold mining company, held a press conference thanking McDermott for his refusal to support trade policy reform. Pacific Rim is currently suing the government of El Salvador for hundreds of millions of dollars under the provisions of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) after that country nixed a proposed gold mine on environmental and public health grounds. If it were to become law, the TRADE Act would eliminate provisions in U.S. trade agreements allowing corporations to challenge environmental protections with lawsuits.

Pacific Rim CEO Thomas Snake praised McDermott’s “bold inaction” on trade policy reform, and thanked him for his “bravery in standing up to keep trade policy as it is – with corporate profit as the bottom line.”

At the close of the ceremony, Pacific Rim executives and their supporters toasted McDermott with hearty gulps of “Pacific Rim Mineral Water,” which the company had unveiled just moments earlier. The water, tainted with cyanide and heavy metals that threaten to contaminate El Salvador’s rivers and ground water as a result of gold mining operations, immediately had dramatic, negative health repercussions for the well-dressed corporate crowd that ingested it.

Pacific Rim executives collapse in front of Rep. McDermott's office after ingesting their own new mineral water

With the mining CEOs’ and shareholders’ expired bodies littering the sidewalk, activists seized control of the podium and called for McDermott to support the TRADE Act, and for Pacific Rim Mining to drop its lawsuit against El Salvador.

Addressing the crowd, Kristen Beifus, Director of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, said that the Pacific Rim CEOs had died due to “their own greed, and U.S. trade policies that encourage them to put profit over health and safety. We are here to demand respect for the environment, workers rights and human rights in US trade policies. Rep. McDermott, co-sponsor the TRADE Act now! Pacific Rim, drop your lawsuit against El Salvador now!”

Proceedings in Pacific Rim’s lawsuit against the government of El Salvador are scheduled to begin on Monday at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. It is unclear how Thursday’s self-inflicted poisoning deaths of the company’s CEO and other top leadership will affect the case.

Contact Seattle CISPES to sign up TODAY!
206.325.5494, seacispes@igc.org

CLICK HERE for an article about the Solidarity Cycle in the May issue of Momentum Magazine.

Grassroots organizing in El Salvador has stopped North American gold mining companies in their tracks. But now one company, Pacific Rim Mining (based in Vancouver, B.C.) is taking advantage of U.S. trade policy to sue the Salvadoran government for hundreds of millions of dollars, arguing that El Salvador should not be able to protect its environment and people by denying mining permits.

Join us to learn more and raise money in support of the Salvadoran people’s ongoing resistance to environmental devastation and unjust U.S. trade policies!

• A two day bike trip through east King County. Participants are protected by a county ordinance limiting law enforcement collaboration with immigration officials.

• Raise money to support grassroots organizing in El Salvador

• Enjoy the camaraderie of a fun, low-key group bike ride!

• $25 registration + $125-$300 fundraising goal per person. No one turned away for lack of funds. Contact us for more info.

For more info, and to sign up, contact Seattle CISPES: 206.325.5494, seacispes@igc.org

THURSDAY, MAY 27, 4:00 PM

@ Westlake Plaza – 4th Ave. between Pine & Pike, downtown Seattle. We will march to Rep. McDermott’s office (7th Ave. between Stewart and Olive) for a demonstration and street theater.

Click here for more info on the Day of Action:

Maya-Q'anjob'al women vote to express their opposition to mining in a community consultation in Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala in August, 2006. (Phil Neff photo)

Let the Communities Decide!

• More than 600,000 people participating in community consultations have voted NO to the expansion of harmful mining projects in Guatemala.
• At the same time, mining companies are using DR-CAFTA to sue the government of El Salvador for refusing to approve mining projects.
• In his presentation, Pascual Bernabe Velásquez will speak about the consulta movement and civil resistance against the expansion of mining projects in Guatemala.

With a photo exhibit by James Rodriguez

Hosted by the UU Central America Network and Seattle CISPES
Co-sponsored by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, the UW Student Labor Action Project, Casa Latina, and the Community Alliance for Global Justice.
Speaking tour organized by Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tell Pacific Rim Mining to drop its lawsuit against the Salvadoran government!

After community organizing efforts successfully persuaded the Salvadoran government to block Pacific Rim’s gold mining permits, the company filed a lawsuit against the government under the rules of CAFTA, the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Legal proceedings in the case are set to begin in the coming weeks.

El Salvador’s environmental movement has called for international pressure on Pacific Rim Mining, demanding that the company drop its lawsuit and respect the sovereign right of El Salvador to protect its own environment and public health by putting the brakes on metallic mining.

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TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Call Barbara Henderson, Vice President of Investor Relations at Pacific Rim Mining in Vancouver, Canada.
To call from the U.S., dial 1-888-775-7097, then press 1.
DEMAND THAT PACIFIC RIM DROP THE LAWSUIT. CALL SCRIPT IS BELOW.

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In addition to the financial threat Pacific Rim’s lawsuit poses to the Salvadoran people, the controversy surrounding the company’s continued presence in the country is provoking violent repression of those who oppose mining in the Department of Cabañas. 2009 was marked by a steady stream of attacks, death threats, attempted assassinations and kidnappings against community leaders and anti-mining activists. Just before the New Year, two more community leaders were murdered within a week, bringing the death toll of anti-mining activists in Cabañas to three in 2009:

• December 26: Dora “Alicia” Sorto Recinos was murdered by gunfire. She was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child, who was also injured. Sorto Recinos was a member of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas.
• December 20: Ramiro Rivera, vice-president of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, was gunned down in front of his daughter. His neighbor Felicíta Echeverría was also killed in the attack.
• June 30: Anti-mining and FMLN party activist Marcelo Rivera (no relation to Ramiro) was found tortured and murdered in an empty well in Cabañas after his disappearance eleven days prior.

This recent wave of violence has been specifically targeted at those who oppose Pacific Rim’s El Dorado mine. The community and the government have rejected the company’s plans as environmentally, socially and economically inviable. On Tuesday January 12, Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes stated “my government will not authorize any mining exploitation project.” Yet Pacific Rim remains in El Salvador – why?

It’s time for Pacific Rim to heed the message of the Salvadoran people and the international solidarity movement: Drop the lawsuit and withdraw from Cabañas!

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To call from the U.S., dial 1-888-775-7097, then press 1.
SAMPLE SCRIPT:

“Hello. I have been following Pacific Rim’s El Dorado mine and am extremely disturbed by the recent news of assassinated community members. These individuals were part of local organizations that have been actively opposing the El Dorado mine since 2004. I call on CEO and President Thomas Shrake and Pacific Rim’s board of directors to recognize the social conflict the mine is causing and to make the moral decision to:

1. Immediately withdraw from Cabañas and cease all efforts to mine gold from the El Dorado site. The company applied for mining permits and was rejected by the Salvadoran people and government.  Pacific Rim has no business remaining in Cabañas.
2. Immediately withdraw its lawsuit against the government of El Salvador. It is absolutely disgraceful for a company to sue a poor nation like El Salvador, especially when the Salvadoran people and government have every right to prevent cyanide gold extraction from destroying their lands and their communities.
3. Cooperate fully with the official investigations surrounding the murders of Alicia Sorto Recinos, Ramiro Rivera and Marcelo Rivera. Violence is tearing apart Cabañas, and Pacific Rim has every obligation to offer its full support to bring to justice the perpetrators of these murdered community members, all of whom have openly opposed the El Dorado mine.

Thank you.”