Hi there,

The media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth. Instead, all too often, it’s wielded as a weapon of war. That's why we have to take the media back. Thanks to a group of generous donors, all donations made today will be DOUBLED, which means your $15 gift is worth $30. With your contribution, we can continue to go to where the silence is, to bring you the voices of the silenced majority – those calling for peace in a time of war, demanding action on the climate catastrophe and advocating for racial and economic justice. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much!

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Salvadoran Activist Killed After Protesting Mining Project

HeadlineJun 23, 2011

In El Salvador, an environmental activist has been killed after speaking out against a mining project in a northern region. Juan Francisco Duran Ayala is the latest in a string of activists to be killed after denouncing the Canadian gold mining company, Pacific Rim, in its efforts to mine the area of Cabañas. A community youth radio station, Radio Victoria, has also received repeated death threats for covering the story. Lisa Fuller represents the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador.

Lisa Fuller: “Obviously, Pacific Rim, the gold mining company, has a stake in the matter, but also this area is controlled by the right wing, and the local mayors have been promoting the mining project, as well. And community members say that the local mayors have ties to organized crime and that they, in fact, are part of this campaign of violent attacks to destroy the opposition. Furthermore, the attorney general is contributing to this wave of violence by refusing to investigate who is behind these attacks against the social movement in Cabañas.”

Residents fear cyanide used to extract gold in the area could contaminate the local water supply and farmland.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top