The mining company, which, faced with government’s decision to suspend exploration permits in 2009, sued the Salvadoran state for $300 million in a foreign court.

More than 800 people from the communities of Cabañas celebrated El Salvador’s defeat of the mining companies in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The court ruled in favor of our country and obliged the extractivist company to pay $8 million as retribution to the State for their legal defense costs.

Organized by the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining (MNFMM), whole families participated in the festival in Sensuntepeque´s central park. Monseñor Elías Rauda presided over the thankful mass.

During the homily Monseñor Rauda expressed his position against mining:

As a church we do not agree with mining because we have seen its negative impacts… I have visited places closely, like San Sebastián and other parts of the world where there have been mining projects and I have seen rare illnesses from the mining, we are in favor of life because we are following the example of San Francisco de Asís.

The company expected El Salvador to pay them $250 million dollars as compensation for suspending the gold and silver extraction in San Franciso El Dorado en Cabañas.

The governor of Cabañas, Gloria Saravia, expressed her support for the communities that have been fighting to stop mining projects, asking the legislators to immediately approve the law against mining.

I call on the Deputies of the Legislative Assembly to approve the law that prohibits metallic mining in the country.

The proposal for the law against mining was presented to the Legislative Assembly’s Commission on the Environment in 2006, however the law has been shelved for more than 10 years and the deputies refuse to discuss or approve it.

Vidalina Morales, president of Asociación de Desarrollo Económico Social, Santa Marta (ADES), and member of the Roundtable Against Mining says that winning the lawsuit against the company is a product step in our communities’ struggle, together with Marcelo, Ramiro and Dora, environmentalists killed in 2009.

“The campesinos, we are the ones that have saved the country from the catastrophe the would be mining,” said Morales.