GET INVOLVED! | PROJECTS & CAMPAIGNS | INTERNSHIPS | VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

• CURRENT CAMPAIGN: STOP THE SUITS!
  Solidarity with El Salvador’s Anti-mining Movement
  In solidarity with allies in El Salvador, including the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining, CISPES is working to protect human health and the environment from the threat of 29 proposed mining projects across the northern zone of the country. For the past 5 years, organized communities and social movement groups have taken a stand against the proposed mining practices of foreign companies, including the use of tremendous quantities of water and the utilization of tons of cyanide per day in the mining process, which could contaminate whatever water remains.

  Through grassroots organizing and popular education, the Salvadoran anti-mining movement succeeded in pressuring the previous government to deny permits for mining extraction, and the current administration of President Mauricio Funes has affirmed that it will not grant permits for the pending projects. In response, two North American mining companies – Pacific Rim and Commerce Group – have filed legal demands against the Salvadoran state under the provisions of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), effectively challenging the sovereign right of the Salvadoran government to protect its own population and environment from the threat of devastating contamination.

  In collaboration with the Salvadoran anti-mining movement, and alongside allied organizations in Canada and the United States, CISPES has developed a campaign to stop these lawsuits, which represent hundreds of millions of dollars, and to change the rules of free trade that allow these suits to be filed in the first place.

  In Seattle, a network of solidarity organizations, faith communities, immigrants, students, and environmentalists has come together to contribute to this campaign.

  Please contact our office if you would like to get involved!

• Defending Free and Fair Elections
  Seattle CISPES sent a dozen activists to serve as international observers for El Salvador’s 2009 municipal, legislative and presidential elections. We also played an important role in preempting and counteracting electoral intervention by U.S. government officials. CISPES and allied organizations secured a public commitment from 33 Members of Congress to respect the will of the Salvadoran voters and work with whichever party was elected.

  After Republicans made threats days before the March 2009 presidential election – claiming that the U.S. would punish El Salvador if the FMLN party’s candidate were elected – CISPES mobilized massive public pressure on Congress and the State Department, resulting in several official statements of neutrality and respect for election results.  Confident that the threats were nothing more than a hollow scare tactic, Salvadoran voters turned out in mass to elect Mauricio Funes of the FMLN, ending decades of repressive, right-wing government.

• Fighting for Access to Water
  CISPES provides financial and political support to organizations in El Salvador that have effectively used popular education and organizing to halt the previous government’s long-standing plan to privatize the nation’s public water system.