El Salvador’s Metal Mining Ban Repealed by Legislature
In a notable victory for El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has humorously branded himself as “the world’s coolest dictator,” the nation’s Legislative Assembly rescinded the ban on metal mining established in 2017. This decision was made this past Monday.
Since his inauguration in 2019, Bukele has been a staunch advocate for overturning this ban. Despite constitutional restrictions against serving consecutive terms, he secured re-election in February after his party, Nueva Ideas (New Ideas), orchestrated a purge of the judiciary.
The Financial Times covered the recent legislative reversal, stating, “Bukele’s party, along with its allies, possess 57 out of the 60 seats in the legislature, and it was these 57 votes that successfully repealed the mining ban, simultaneously granting exclusive mining rights to the Salvadoran government.”
The British newspaper further elaborated:
Bukele believes that El Salvador is atop gold reserves that could be worth up to $3 trillion, based on an undisclosed study. However, this claim is met with skepticism by several experts.
Exploration has been minimal in El Salvador. Before the ban, El Dorado was the most developed among over two dozen exploration endeavors. It was thought to contain about 1.4 million ounces of gold, valued at approximately $3.6 billion today, not accounting for production costs.
The gold belt in El Salvador stretches across its northern regions and the Lempa River watershed, which is a critical water source for this small, densely populated nation.
Earlier this month, the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) issued a statement alerting that “the 2017 ban on metallic mining, which enjoyed broad support, its repeal could spell a death sentence for El Salvador, a country already dealing with limited water resources, much of which is contaminated.”
IPS further noted, “The original ban was unanimously passed by a 70-0 vote in the Legislative Assembly in 2017, following a decade-long effort to prioritize human life over the profit motives of international mining firms. This movement garnered support from various civil society groups, educational entities, certain business sectors, a range of political legislators and ministers, as well as two archbishops, convinced by the overwhelming evidence of the adverse effects of gold mining and the harmful impacts of the cyanide used in the process.”
The campaign also witnessed the tragic loss of several revered water defender activists in Cabañas, including Marcelo Rivera, Ramiro Rivera, student Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, and Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto. Sorto, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her murder, was killed in an attack that also injured her 2-year-old child.
The IPS released its statement in response to a November 26 court decision ordering a retrial for the “Santa Marta Five,” members of the Economic and Social Development Association of Santa Marta (ADES) who are recognized water defenders—Miguel Ángel Gámez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Teodoro Antonio Pacheco, and Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega. This development was strongly condemned by the group.
Following the repeal of the mining ban, ADES vehemently criticized the decision on social media, describing it as “the most significant assault on water, health, and life in El Salvador,” highlighting widespread opposition from religious groups, academic institutions, social organizations, and the general populace.
Members of the Salvadoran community also congregated outside the Legislative Assembly to protest the decision on Monday.
Luis Gonzalez, one of the environmental activists present, expressed to Reuters, “We are against metal mining because it has been scientifically and technically proven to be unsustainable in our country.”
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