Shareholders and the board of directors for a Canadian company, Pacific Rim Mining, convened their annual meeting in Vancouver, B.C., at the end of August. One of the points of order, no doubt, was Pacific Rim’s lawsuit against the government of El Salvador.
 Public opposition to mining |
What could the Salvadoran government possibly have done to this corporation?
After the election of Mauricio Funes in 2009, the government was finally held accountable to the demands of the people—one of which was strong public opposition to the exploitive gold-mining industry, which has flourished under the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Funes has welcomed the opportunity to pass a national ban on metallic mining—a process started by the Legislative Assembly.
Pacific Rim’s response to these policy changes was to open a storefront in Nevada and to use CAFTA to file a lawsuit against the Salvadoran government for hundreds of millions of dollars in “lost profits.” On Aug. 9, the World Bank approved the suit after the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes rejected the Salvadoran government’s preliminary objections to it on Aug. 3.
Funes stood firm, saying, “I will not authorize any mining exploration or exploitation project.” The people of El Salvador stand strong as well in the face of violent attacks on rural communities voicing opposition to the mines. Under CAFTA, the economy of these communities has been destroyed by the environmental destruction of the mining industry and by agro-business flooding markets and driving down prices.
The language of CAFTA, like NAFTA, ensures that the rights of private corporations to exploit and destroy are protected to the fullest, while the right to national sovereignty is swept aside. Indeed, “free trade” has been very expensive for the vast majority of the Latin American people.
Pacific Rim Mining does not own El Salvador. Corporations do not own people’s lives. The exploitation of underdeveloped countries all over the world is a symptom of imperialism. “Globalization” is just another form of neo-colonialism, which can only end with the overthrow of the capitalist system and the creation of an economy based on meeting the needs of the people.
