The Attorney General’s Office argued that the murders happened as a result of “family disputes”, ruling out the possibility that the people killed in Trinidad and other municipalities of Cabañas had been persecuted because of their activities of opposition to Canadian mining corporation Pacific Rim.

The Special Court of El Salvador sentenced six defendants in the case. Several other were not convicted, even the people who were accused of being the masterminds.

For this reason, the Environmental Committee of Cabañas and CESTA organized a press conference on April 16 in El Salvador to express their dissatisfaction with the ruling. The chair of CESTA, Ricardo Navarro, the chair of the Environmental Committee of Cabañas, Francisco Pineda and Santos Aguilar, the brother of one of the victims spoke at the press conference.

Pineda does not believe that the murders in Cabañas can be explained as “family disputes”. These conflicts already existed before Pacific Rim arrived in the area but people were not killed for that reason, reports Co Latino newspaper.

Meanwhile, Navarro said that Pacific Rim has at least some “moral responsibility” for the murders. “Perhaps even more than that”, he said “and that’s what the Attorney General should investigate”.