 Washington, Ottawa, San Salvador – On behalf of the hundreds of organizations from over two dozen countries that support the International Allies Against Mining in El Salvador, we condemn the November 26 ruling by Santiago Alvarado Ponce and José María Zepeda Grande, Magistrates of the Cojutepeque Appeals Chamber, that ordered a retrial for the ADES Santa Marta Five Water Defenders. The November 26 decision overturns a unanimous and principled verdict handed down by the Sentencing Tribunal in Sensuntepeque after a trial that dismissed the Salvadoran Attorney General’s office prosecution case based on a lack of evidence linking the five Water Defenders to the alleged crime. The Tribunal determined that the prosecution’s case did not meet the definition of 1) a crime against humanity; or 2) a war crime, as established in the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions, respectively. According to the legal defense team, the subsequent appeal lodged from the Attorney General’s office has no legal basis, and the Cojutepeque Appeals Chamber’s annulment of the trial ruling is a political decision that acquiesced to this appeal. Their decision presents further evidence of the deterioration of independence within El Salvador’s judicial system, and its politicization to punish and weaken the struggle to uphold the Law of Prohibition of Metals Mining of 2017. The objectivity of the Sensuntepeque trial and its accompanying decision were affirmed by an international observer mission who have published their report on the proceedings. In reference to the retrial of the five Water Defenders, Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders, and the Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas, have expressed publicly their concerns about the persecution of environmental defenders by the government in El Salvador. It is worth noting that the 2023 arrest of the ADES Santa Marta Five Water Defenders took place as they and other activists voiced concerns that the Nayib Bukele government was considering reestablishing metals mining in El Salvador, pointing to 1) the Administration’s May 2021 decision to join the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development, and 2) other legal reforms that led to the current moment. Chillingly, on the very day that dozens of social organizations held a press conference to denounce the retrial order, Bukele communicated on X, in reference to gold, that “God has placed a giant treasure beneath our feet,” called the mining ban “absurd,” and claimed, against all evidence, that gold can be mined sustainably. He further stated in a press conference that El Salvador has “trillions of dollars” worth of mineral resources and that they should be exploited in order to develop the country. El Salvador’s 2017 prohibition against metallic mining is a widely popular measure and overturning it would be a death sentence for the small and densely-populated country with its scarce water sources, many of which are already contaminated. The historic ban, passed in a unanimous 70-0 vote by El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly in 2017, was the result of a decade-long campaign to value life over transnational mining corporations’ pursuit of profits. The campaign was ultimately supported by a wide coalition of civil society organizations, educational institutions, some business sectors, legislators and Ministers from across the political spectrum, as well as two Archbishops. They were all persuaded by substantial evidence of gold mining’s destructive effects, and the deleterious impacts of cyanide used in gold mining. The struggle also cost the lives of several beloved water defender activists who stood up to the mining companies in Cabañas: Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera, student Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, and Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto, who was eight months pregnant when murdered, and whose two-year old child witnessed and was wounded in the attack. In light of these troubling developments, we affirm our steadfast commitment to support the ADES Santa Marta FIve Water Defenders and the broader movement to resist metallic mining in El Salvador. We call on the San Vicente Sentencing Court to exercise the same objectivity that already resulted in a verdict acquitting the Water Defenders. The eyes of the world remain on El Salvador and on this politicized, unwarranted trial. Press contacts:
Aliados Internacionales contra la Minería en El Salvador condena la decisión de volver a juzgar a los Cinco Defensores del Agua de ADES Santa Marta y los intentos de Bukele de anular la prohibición de la minería. Washington, Ottawa, San Salvador – En nombre de los cientos de organizaciones de más de dos docenas de países que apoyan los Aliados Internacionales Contra la Minería en El Salvador, condenamos la sentencia del pasado 26 de noviembre emitida por Santiago Alvarado Ponce y José María Zepeda Grande, Magistrados de la Cámara de lo Penal de Cojutepeque, la cual ordena un nuevo juicio para los Cinco Defensores del Agua de la Asociación de Desarrollo Económico y Social de Santa Marta (ADES) Santa Marta. La decisión del 26 de noviembre revoca un veredicto unánime emitido por el Tribunal de Sentencia de Sensuntepeque tras un juicio que desestimó la acusación de la Fiscalía General de la República basándose en la falta de pruebas que vincularan a los cinco Defensores del Agua con un presunto delito. El Tribunal determinó que el caso de la fiscalía no se ajustaba a la definición de 1) crimen de lesa humanidad; o 2) crimen de guerra, según lo establecido en el Estatuto de Roma y los Convenios de Ginebra, respectivamente. Según el equipo de defensa legal, el posterior recurso interpuesto desde la Fiscalía carece de fundamento legal, y la anulación de la sentencia de primera instancia por parte de la Cámara de lo Penal de Cojutepeque es una decisión política que accede a este recurso. Su decisión es una prueba más del deterioro de la independencia del sistema judicial salvadoreño y de su politización para castigar y debilitar la lucha en defensa de la Ley de Prohibición de la Minería Metálica de 2017. La objetividad del juicio de Sensuntepeque y la decisión que lo acompañó fueron afirmadas por una misión internacional de observadores que ha publicado su informe sobre los procedimientos. En referencia al nuevo juicio de los Cinco Defensores del Agua, Mary Lawlor, Relatora Especial de la ONU para los Defensores de los Derechos Humanos, y el Arzobispo de San Salvador, Monseñor José Luis Escobar Alas, han expresado públicamente su preocupación por la persecución de los defensores del medio ambiente por parte del gobierno Salvadoreño. Cabe señalar que la detención en 2023 de los Cinco Defensores Ambientales de ADES y Santa Marta tuvo lugar cuando estos, junto con otros y otras activistas, expresaron su preocupación de que el gobierno de Nayib Bukele consideraba restablecer la minería de metales en El Salvador, advirtiendo sobre 1) la decisión del gobierno, en mayo de 2021, de unirse al Foro Intergubernamental sobre Minería, Minerales, Metales y Desarrollo Sostenible, y 2) otras reformas legales que condujeron al momento actual. De forma escalofriante, el mismo día en que decenas de organizaciones sociales convocaron una conferencia de prensa para denunciar la orden contra los defensores ambientales de ADES, Bukele emitió una publicación en X, en referencia al oro, que “Dios colocó un gigantesco tesoro puesto bajo nuestros pies”, calificó de «absurda» la prohibición de la minería y afirmó, contra toda evidencia, que el oro puede extraerse de forma “sostenible”. Además, afirmó en una rueda de prensa que El Salvador tiene recursos minerales con un valor de “trillones de dólares” (sic) que deberían explotarse para desarrollar el país. La Ley de Prohibición de la Minería Metálica en El Salvador de 2017 es una medida ampliamente popular y anularla sería una sentencia de muerte para el pequeño y densamente poblado país cuyas escasas fuentes de agua ya están en su mayoría contaminadas. La histórica prohibición, aprobada por una votación unánime de 70-0 por la Asamblea Legislativa de El Salvador en 2017, fue el resultado de una campaña mas de una década para resaltar el valor de la vida por encima del afán de lucro de las empresas mineras transnacionales. La campaña contó en última instancia con el apoyo de una amplia coalición de organizaciones de la sociedad civil, instituciones educativas, algunos sectores empresariales, minstros de gobierno y legisladores de todo el espectro político, así como dos arzobispos. Todos ellos estaban convencidos de la evidencia irrefutable de los efectos destructivos de la minería del oro y de los efectos nocivos del cianuro utilizado en su extracción. La lucha también costó la vida a varios reconocidos activistas defensores del agua que se enfrentaron a las empresas mineras en Cabañas: Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera, el estudiante Juan Francisco Durán Ayala y Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto, quien tenía ocho meses de embarazo cuando fue asesinada, y cuyo hijo de dos años fue testigo y resultó herido en el ataque. A la luz de estos preocupantes acontecimientos, reafirmamos nuestro compromiso de apoyar a los Defensores del Agua de ADES Santa Marta y al movimiento más amplio de resistencia a la minería metálica en El Salvador. Hacemos un llamado al Tribunal de Sentencia de San Vicente para que ejerza la misma objetividad que ya dio lugar a un veredicto de absolución de los Defensores del Agua. Los ojos del mundo siguen puestos en El Salvador y en este politizado e injustificado juicio. Contactos de prensa:
 Santa Marta Community and International Allies Call on Appeals Court to Reaffirm the Innocence of the Five Salvadoran Water Defenders.  Uphold October 18 Ruling of Innocence in Trial of Five Prominent Water Defenders.
San Salvador – On October 28, the Salvadoran Attorney General opted to appeal the historic verdict in the trial of the five prominent Salvador water defenders, who were arrested on trumped-up charges back in January 2023. On October 18, the presiding tribunal in the Salvadoran trial of the five leading Salvadoran Water Defenders ruled that all five are completely innocent of the two sham charges of murder and illicit association that were laid against them. Read the official statement in Spanish and translated into English from the Santa Marta, El Salvador community, whose community leaders were among those on trial, in response to the announcement of the appeal. The statement denounces the “attempt by the Salvadoran Attorney General’s Office to continue using the judicial system to persecute environmental activism and manipulate restorative and transitional justice to criminalize environmental defenders who warn about the serious dangers of mining.” On November 1, 14 international organizations that have played a vital role in an international solidarity campaign to highlight the sham charges and who released a statement on the October 18 verdict issued the following comment in response to the announcement of the appeal: We applaud the October 18 verdict by the tribunal in the Sensuntepeque Sentencing Court that found no evidence of a crime and declared the five water defenders innocent and freed them. We condemn the Attorney General’s October 28 appeal of this very clear verdict. We urge the Appeals Court to uphold the law and reaffirm the innocence of the five Salvadoran water defenders. The presiding tribunal in the Sensuntepeque Sentencing Court ruled that prosecutors did not provide evidence of the existence of a crime, could not link the defendants to the alleged crime, and that the alleged crime itself did not classify as a crime against humanity or a war crime. Despite that clear ruling that there was no basis for prosecution of the five and that there was no crime committed, the Salvadoran Attorney General is persisting in his attempt to unjustly persecute these five prominent community leaders, who were instrumental in the historic 2017 law that prohibits metallic mining in El Salvador and who have continued to be instrumental in ongoing efforts to protect Salvadoran communities and preserve local natural resources. This further underscores our concerns that the Bukele administration is seeking to bring back mining to the country, and might even overturn the law that prohibits mining to generate foreign investment from transnational mining corporations. It is vital that justice continues to prevail. As leading international organizations, we join the Santa Marta community in calling on the Cojutepeque Criminal Chamber to reaffirm the ruling of innocence by the Sentencing Court of Sensuntepeque. That carefully considered ruling is a positive signal of judicial independence in El Salvador, and to reaffirm it on the same basis would further ensure that the law is applied fairly and in support of justice, honoring and upholding the values of a fair trial. We encourage the Salvadoran justice administrators to foster greater judicial independence and to implement policies that defend environmental activism in line with international treaties on the protection of human rights. Rather than insisting on prolonging this process any further, the Attorney General’s office should apologize to the five and to the community, and should dedicate themselves to investigating the real war crimes, starting with the massacres that were committed against Santa Marta and other communities.” The people of Santa Marta suffered brutal atrocities during the Civil War, and we join calls for real justice for victims of those war crimes. This statement is being released by the following 14 organizations, who released an October 18 statement on the initial announcement of the trial verdict: International Allies against Mining in El Salvador, Americas Policy Group/Groupe d’orientation politique pour les Amériques (APG-GOPA), the Central American Alliance on Mining (ACAFREMIN), Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Common Frontiers, CoDevelopment Canada, the Institute for Policy Studies Trade and Mining Project, InterPares, MiningWatch Canada, Pax Christi International, the SHARE Foundation, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team, The United Church of Canada, and the Washington Ethical Society. Contacts:
Friday, October 18, 2024, 4 pm ET
San Salvador and Washington, D.C. – On October 18, the presiding tribunal in the Salvadoran trial of five leading Salvadoran Water Defenders ruled that all five are completely innocent of the two sham charges of murder and illicit association that were laid against them.
"We call on the Attorney General’s office not to appeal this decision in order to ensure the definite freedom of our compañeros as soon as possible," the Economic and Social Development Association of Santa Marta (ADES), whose leading members were among those on trial, stated. "Rather than insisting on prolonging this process any further, the Attorney General’s office should apologize to the five and to the community, and should dedicate themselves to investigating the real war crimes, starting with the massacres that were committed against Santa Marta and other communities." ADES held a press conference outside the courthouse and will release a more detailed statement later today. In response to the verdict, an international coalition of 14 groups (listed at bottom) led by International Allies against Mining in El Salvador released the following statement: The five prominent community leaders known as the “Santa Marta 5,” Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Antonio Pacheco, and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega, were all instrumental in the successful campaign to save El Salvador’s rivers from the threat of gold mining. With a unanimous vote in El Salvador’s National Assembly in March 2017, El Salvador became the first nation on earth to ban all metallic mining. Since the arrest of the five water defenders in January 2023 on politically-motivated charges, prominent organizations and individuals have led a national and international campaign spanning 31 countries demanding that the bogus charges be dropped and denouncing the political motivations behind their detention given the lack of evidence presented by the Salvadoran Attorney General’s office. Beyond the lack of evidence, the Salvadoran Attorney General's pursuit of this case has dealt a serious blow to the Salvadoran government's credibility, belying its claim that it remains a democracy and that it holds no political prisoners. The unceasing and courageous pressure from grassroots organizations in El Salvador – in concert with international solidarity – may have worked in favor of the Water Defenders today, but hundreds of political opponents, labor leaders and human rights defenders remain imprisoned. The community-led movement of water defenders still stands strong in the face of future attempts to undermine land and water protections for communities in El Salvador. Our organizations support the call by Salvadoran civil society groups that the Salvadoran Attorney General should apologize to the five defendants, whose health has suffered greatly over the past 21 months that they have stood accused of and imprisoned on false charges, and to the Santa Marta community, which suffered from genuine military atrocities during the Salvadoran Civil War in 1980-1992. As highlighted in a crucial fact-finding January 2024 report, the national and international campaigns have also condemned the criminalization of environmental defenders, the lack of legal rights and due process under the current “state of exception” imposed by the Salvadoran government, and have warned about the intention of the Salvadoran government to reverse the historic 2017 nationwide ban on metals mining. The five Water Defenders should never have been charged, and the Salvadoran government's willingness to pursue these accusations despite their clear innocence signals a worrying willingness to persecute the movement that these five water defenders represent. We call on the Salvadoran government to forgo future sham prosecutions and uphold the democratic rule of law in future pursuit of true justice. An international observer delegation made up of academics and lawyers from Canada, the United States, and Mexico observed the trial and noted several transgressions by the Salvadoran Attorney General’s lawyers during the proceedings. Not only did they violate the tribunal’s gag order, by recklessly exposing the identities of witnesses and observers, they exhibited “overly aggressive behavior” toward witnesses. The international solidarity movement supports the call by Salvadoran civil society and human rights organizations to end the ongoing "state of exception" in El Salvador, to release thousands of people who have been unjustly imprisoned, and to ensure that the historic 2017 nationwide ban on metallic mining remains in place. "We applaud this verdict as a signal that justice must prevail in El Salvador. The five prominent Water Defenders who faced politically-motivated charges are heroes of El Salvador — and they never should have been arrested in the first place," said John Cavanagh, Senior Advisor at the Institute for Policy Studies. "These charges were clearly politically motivated, and through them, the Salvadoran attorney general displayed a stunning lack of respect for human rights and the environment in El Salvador. But the fight is not over – we have to ensure that the persecution of these community and environmental movement leaders does not continue and that they and others will be able to continue their important work safely. Pursuing this trial from the start still signals a willingness by the Salvadoran government to reverse the protections guaranteed by the historic 2017 mining ban." “We are grateful to the hundreds of national and international civil society organizations who worked tirelessly for more than 20 months to denounce this injustice. A guilty ruling would have been a death sentence for our compañeros, as the inhumane conditions of Salvadoran jails have become a death trap for people of advanced age who suffer from chronic health conditions,” said Vidalina Morales, president of The Economic and Social Development Association of Santa Marta (ADES). “We urge the Attorney General not to appeal this decision to the higher courts, but we are ready to go to the international human rights system if necessary to defend their innocence and their life.” “As we have said, the absolution of our environmental defenders was the only legal and just outcome. This ruling also upholds the interests and well-being of the country,” Morales continued. “We recognize the professionalism, the independence and the courage of the judges of the Sentencing Tribunal of Sensuntepeque, who correctly applied the law and have not yielded to the extrajudicial pressures and interests that conspired to invent this case.” “We applaud the verdict. It is an important victory for environmental justice and human rights,” said Viviana Herrera, Latin America Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada. “We join Salvadoran civil society, particularly environmental organizations such as ADES, who have worked hard on the case, and hope it will set a precedent for any future case of water defenders facing politically motivated prosecution in El Salvador”. “Through unity, conviction, and courage - and with overwhelming international support - the Salvadoran popular movement halted a grave injustice today,” said Alexis Stoumbelis, organizational director at the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). “It should not have taken twenty months of a massive national and international campaign to free these community leaders when there was no evidence that a crime had ever occurred - and everyone knew it. That is why international organizations and governments must also join the call for freedom and justice for the dozens of union leaders, land defenders, and community leaders who have denounced attacks on their rights and democracy and are now in jail, facing trumped up charges, or in exile, and for the tens of thousands who have been arbitrarily detained under the state of exception. Their lives are in jeopardy every day they remain in prison.” This statement is endorsed by the following 14 organizations: International Allies against Mining in El Salvador, Americas Policy Group/Groupe d’orientation politique pour les Amériques (APG-GOPA), the Central American Alliance on Mining (ACAFREMIN), Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Common Frontiers, CoDevelopment Canada, the Institute for Policy Studies Trade and Mining Project, InterPares, MiningWatch Canada, Pax Christi International, the SHARE Foundation, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team, The United Church of Canada, and the Washington Ethical Society. Press contacts:
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