Human rights organizations denounce that members of the Santa Marta community and the Association for Social Development (ADES) Santa Marta are being subjected to harassment, threats and surveillance by armed outfits as part of a campaign of persecution and criminalization that includes the double prosecution of four environmentalists who have been criminalized since January 2023 and are now subjected to an unjust, illegal and arbitrary criminal procedure for defending the prohibition of mining in El Salvador.
It is worth recalling that in October 2024, the Sensuntepeque Sentencing Court declared these defenders innocent and ordered their release. Nonetheless, in December of the same year, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office of El Salvador, the outcome of the trial was annulled and a retrial was ordered, violating the basic principle of due process that establishes that no one can be tried twice for the same charge. The retrial is expected in February 2025.
Given this situation, on January 28, organizations Tutela Legal and the Foundation for the Study of Due Process made a request to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for urgent and immediate precautionary measures for the four environmentalists. The filing provided new information showing how the case was built without scientific evidence in order to criminalize the defenders, and that it has a broader objective of paralyzing the collective demand for mining not to return in El Salvador.
In this context, women leaders and activists from the Santa Marta community have faced persecution and surveillance by unknown persons, in addition to harassment, stalking at night as well as cars without license plates circulating through the community and the presence of armed outfits claiming to seek “remnants of criminal groups”. These violent acts have generated great fear among residents, who have become anxious about the possibility of mass arrests – a threat that affects forty activists who are members of the community.
All this has taken place after the events of 23 December, when – with votes from the governing party and its allies and without prior citizen consultation – the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved the General Law on Mining for Metals, reversing the ban on this activity, which is so harmful to the environment, communities, and the country’s population. It is worth remembering that the 2017 ban on mining for metals 2017 was historic a victory for peoples’ struggles, led – among others – by the community of Santa Marta and ADES.
The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in El Salvador and IM-Defensoras add our voices to the call from the Santa Marta community against the return of metal mining in El Salvador. This demand has gained strength nationally and internationally, giving rise to numerous demands for justice by organizations, social movements and the general public, exercising their legitimate right to protest against a law that endangers water sources and the safeguarding of life.
We denounce corporate groups’ use of security outfits to infringe on the right to defend rights, and the State of El Salvador’s promotion of projects that affect the lives of communities.
We call on international human rights organizations to be vigilant regarding the escalation of attacks against the Santa Marta community and to accompany the demand to protect the life and integrity of environmental defenders and their families.
Finally, we demand that the State of El Salvador resume its duty to protect victims and refrain from criminalizing those who defend environmental rights, respecting people’s right to protest and demonstrate in defense of their rights.
We will remain alert and vigilant accompanying the demand that metal mining do not return in El Salvador, and the demand for protection, respect for human rights and guarantees for people, organizations and communities defending the commons in the country.