El Salvador was hit by the news of the brutal crime against an environmental activist in Cabañas department, who was shot on the back and killed. The activist, Dora Santos Sorto Rodriguez, was pregnant and she was carrying a child in her arms when she was killed in Trinidad community. The child was uninjured.

This was not an isolated incident, but a new chapter in a series of killings in that Salvadorean region throughout the year, after a leading activist against mining megaprojects, Marcelo Rivera, was killed in mid 2009 – despite he had police “custody” ordered by a court after a previous attempt against his life.

On December 20th, Ramiro River, member of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas (CAC) is another one in the list of people murdered by the invisible -yet ’efficient- hand of mining.

In Cabañas and in Trinidad in particular, none in the community doubts that these selective crimes were ordered by Pacific Rim.

In fact, during the burial of Dora Santos, the priest Valentin Arias represented everyone by pointing at the company as responsible for the blood bath: “Greed and ambition for gold is the cause for these evils. We are not here to calm the conscience, we are here to raise awareness, to strengthen the community organization and to demand that this company finally leaves this community, because wherever it goes it will cause damage, we want it out of Cabañas, out of El Salvador and of the world”.

Real World Radio interviewed Jose Acosta, of CESTA Friends of the Earth El Salvador, who expressed deep indignation in the community, that far from turning into fear is translated into a stronger resistance to mining projects and its awful consequences.

“The people do not trust the institutions like the police and the judiciary anymore. They have failed to play a role to avoid these crimes and that is extremely worrying”, said Acosta.

Photo: http://elojodelarazon.blogspot.com/