Environmental Advocacy and Youth Organizing in the UCRES Region
This past November I was joined by a marvelous group of delegates from one of SHARE’s newest sisters, St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton from Milwaukee , WI , for their first delegation in El Salvador . We spent an action-packed two days in the UCRES region getting to know the people, the communities and the projects that UCRES is implementing in the region with the financial and spiritual support of St. EAS and other sister.
Our first stop was at the waste water discharge site of a locally owned paper plant just outside of San Salvador . The pale, milky gray water was being emitted from below the street and into a stream which would feed the Rio Sucio, which runs through the entire UCRES region. Minutes after we had gotten off the bus and began looking at the water, we noticed three well-dressed people rushing over to us from the paper plant. One of these was the plant manager who assured us that it was only cellulose from the paper processing activities which was making the water gray. Tito, the President of UCRES for the next two years, passionately explained the extent of the contamination of the river and the serious health effects it was having on people living downstream. The plant manager pledged to have the contaminants in his plant’s discharges reduced by 50% within six months, and that within a year, you would be able to drink the water coming out of the plant. He proceeded to offer us a tour of the plant on the spot, which we were forced to refuse given our tight delegation schedule. But the delegates were intent on holding the plant manager to his word and promised that they would be back to check on the plant’s progress and to tour the facility. It was a thought-provoking experience which left everyone cautiously hopeful about the prospects of environmental advocacy around the contamination of the Rio Sucio.
Soon thereafter, we viewed another site of a factory discharging their waste water into the Rio Sucio, this time by a company fairly well-known to our Wisconsin delegates- the US giant, Kimberly Clark. As we watched a bubbly, translucent, sickly concoction flowing directly into the river, there was no plant manager or representative to greet us and assure us that this offense against mother nature and human life would be mitigated. Only the kids from the community on the banks of the river showed up to give us a more personal glimpse into the effects of Kimberly Clark’s activities. The majority of them were barefoot and dirty, and one of the girls had a terrible rash on her face and arms. Some of the kids said she had fallen in the river, some said she had drank from it, but what was certain was that she was not in good health, and it had something to do with the river.
As Tito began to tell us how terribly contaminated the Rio Sucio was at that point in its progression and how it was not fit for human nor animal consumption, we witnessed a small herd of cows crossing the river, along with a man on horseback. The man’s dog thought better of the idea, and paced worriedly on the other side as the man tried to coax it across. Tito proceeded to explain how during the dry months the gray streaks of pollution criss-crossing the river’s currents was painfully obvious, and how years ago this river had been the site of a thriving ecosystem with fish and birds of all sorts. Now it is something to be avoided, even by dogs.
As far as the Ministry of Environment knows (or pretends to believe) Kimberly Clark is running a socially conscious, environmentally sound operation on the banks of the Rio Sucio. The children showed us a spigot joined to a series of hoses on the community’s side of the barbed-wire fence, which was connected to a huge metal apparatus on the Kimberly Clark side of the fence. The children told us that this was where their families got their water from, and Tito explained that the metal contraption was a filtering device that Kimberly Clark only turns on when the Ministry of Environment comes for an inspection. Apparently, it makes quite a ruckus when it is engaged, but as we listened closely, all we could hear were the sounds of giggling children, and cars out on the main street.
Tito wasn’t sure what the exact quality of the water in the river or coming out of the spigot was, but according to sight, smell, and studies by various institutions, it is clear that the Rio Sucio is extremely polluted. According to a study by SNET, the branch of the Ministry of Environment which deals directly with water issues, the Rio Sucio contains dangerous levels of arsenic, mercury, and lead. An investigation published by a group of chemistry students and faculty of the University of Central America (UCA) found that 76% of the communities around the Rio Sucio drink water directly from the river, while 24% consume water provided by ANDA, the government water company. 35% of the people in these communities suffer from respiratory problems, 39% from stomach diseases, and 26% from skin infections of some kind. The investigation postulated that the majority of these infirmities had probably been caused by contact with, if not direct consumption of water from the Rio Sucio.
But UCRES, nor the communities in works with, nor sister groups like St. EAS are content with this situation, and with SHARE’s support have begun a project of education and advocacy around the contamination of the Rio Sucio. UCRES will be leading efforts to organize people in the communities, especially youth, who are disproportionately affected by environmental contamination, to form coalitions with local health clinics, municipal representatives, and other concerned social organizations to pressure the companies to stop polluting the river, and also to demand that the national government begin enforcing its environmental laws instead of letting private businesses destroy the environment at the expense of common Salvadorans. This advocacy effort will be greatly facilitated by collaboration by a number of UCRES sisters who are working to provide the technological and scientific capacity to thoroughly quantify the extent of specific contaminants present in the Rio Sucio.
After seeing the Rio Sucio with their own eyes, the delegates were moved to want to speak with representatives of Kimberly Clark to see what could be done about the pollution. But unfortunately, after a half hour of waiting, and explaining to the guards that these people were constituents of the owner of Kimberly Clark, we were still not able to gain entry to the plant. We told the guards that they had done a commendable job guarding the plant, but that we would be in touch with their superiors and went on our way.
Later that day, we arrived in the community of Rutilio Grande where the delegation would spend the night and get a more intimate look at life in the UCRES region, as well as projects they were supporting there. After a walking tour of the area and a dinner with the community directiva, we sat down in the communal building to be entertained by a cultural presentation of different youth groups from the communities of San Jorge, Rutilio Grande, and Uisisilapa. These youth groups were products of the UCRES youth organizing project which provides community youths with recreational activities to participate in so they learn discipline, leadership, and commitment, as well as have something fun and constructive to do with their time as opposed to getting caught up in the escalating violence in the region, or pursuing the dangerous dream of immigrating north.
We witnessed both modern and folkloric dances, a few singing numbers, and a plethora of theatre presentations by youth of all ages. One presentation was an artistic interpretation of the three little pigs complete with a houses made of straw, wood, and bricks, a frightening wolf, and small children playing the flowers around the pond. A group of older girls put together a theatrical lip sync to a popular song which spoke to issues of love, infidelity and domestic violence. It was impressive not only for the dramaturgic abilities of the girls, but for its relevant social content as well.
But the delegates were not to be outdone! They had put together a presentation about the origins and the modern incarnation of the US holiday of Thanksgiving which they presented to the crowd with reckless gusto and homemade costumes. Like all of the presentations, it was received with thunderous applause. The cultural night in Rutilio Grande was a rousing success both as a fun event for everyone involved, and an example of the social benefits that youth organizing can have for kids, as well as for communities as a whole.
The next afternoon, we wrapped up our time in the UCRES region with a visit to the community of El Matazano. The motive of the visit was to discuss the issue of mining which had come to play a pivotal role in the social life of this extremely impoverished community, along with many other communities in the northern region of El Salvador . We learned from about 30 community members who had showed up for the meeting, that about two years ago the US mining company, Pacific Rim, had arrived in El Matazano and promised the people just about anything their hearts desired including decent housing, a new school, and the provision of electricity, along with $100 cash up front, for the opportunity to explore for gold and silver on the land of El Matazano residents. For this community of ex-combatants who had largely been ignored by the municipal and national governments since the war, the offer of such beneficial services for the relatively minimal expense of a few deep holes on their land seemed like a pretty good deal.
Within the last year, in the context of the larger national grassroots movement against mining in El Salvador, UCRES with the support of SHARE, has begun a regional campaign to educate communities about the detrimental environmental effects that actual mining extraction would have on the land, water, and the future of the people, especially because of the use of the toxic chemical cyanide in the extraction process. Furthermore, the jobs that would be created by the mining process would be low-paying and short lived (about 3-5 years) and the aftermath of the metallic mining process would leave the area looking more like the moon than lush, green El Salvador. As a result, the people of El Matazano have begun to realize that allowing mining companies to work on their land might not be such a good trade-off. This coupled with the fact that none of the services promised by Pacific Rim have arrived, has caused a healthy degree of discontent, and a desire for change among the people of El Matazano.
The delegates expressed their utmost support and concern for the people of the community and pledged to help them in any way possible as they confronted the mining situation. The community members seemed very enthused and empowered simply from having a group of people coming to hear their story and caring about what happened to them. They mentioned that this was the first time a group of foreigners had ever come to their community.
We didn’t get a chance to see the actual holes that had been dug in El Matazano by Pacific Rim because it started to ran (in the middle of November speaking of environmental quandaries- ahem global warming). But throughout the days we spent in the area, we did see the extent of the environmental and social problems that face El Salvador- from river pollution and possible land degradation, to lack of educational and employment opportunities for youth. We also witnessed the way in which US citizens, through financial, advocacy, and physical accompaniment, can accompany Salvadorans in constructing a brighter future. With the support of St. EAS and the other UCRES sisters for projects of environmental advocacy and youth organizing, the communities of the UCRES region are indeed moving toward that future.
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