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Foreign Policy In Focus reports A Huge Mining Conglomerate Wanted to Poison This Country's Water. After a Long Fight, They've Finally Lost.
The people of El Salvador and their international allies against irresponsible mining are celebrating a historic victory. After a long battle against global mining companies that were determined to plunder the country's natural resources for short-term profits, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly has voted to ban all metal mining projects.
The new law is aimed at protecting the Central American nation's environment and natural resources. Approved on March 29 with the support of 69 lawmakers [(out of a total of 84) from multiple parties], the law blocks all exploration, extraction, and processing of metals, whether in open pits or underground. It also prohibits the use of toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury.
[...] Despite the fact that there is a national consensus among communities, civil society organizations, government institutions, and political parties for a mining prohibition, the Australian-Canadian company OceanaGold and its subsidiaries in El Salvador have consistently attempted to slow the bill's progress and sought to gain support for their so-called "Responsible Mining" campaign.
The company launched the campaign at a fancy hotel in San Salvador after losing a $250 million lawsuit against El Salvador in October 2016. The company had filed a claim with the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), demanding compensation when the government declined to grant the firm a permit for a gold extraction project that threatened the nation's water supply. In the face of tremendous opposition from a wide range of groups inside and outside El Salvador, the ICSID tribunal ruled against the company.
[...] By voting in favor of the mining ban, these lawmakers in El Salvador have chosen water over gold, and people and the environment over corporate profits. And they showed that even a very poor country can stand up to powerful global mining firms.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:01PM (12 children)
I can't help thinking they're going to somewhat dislike the cost eschewing the use of an entire category of natural resources but it's their country and they're entitled to do what they want with it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:08PM (6 children)
I can't help thinking that one of the consequences of the government's decision here may very well be a coup against that government. The CIA has a tendency to pull things like that when Latin American governments don't do what big international conglomerates want (most recently in Honduras and quite possibly Brazil, and in El Salvador back in 1979).
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:33PM
Possibly but it could very well lead to a coup without external help as well. It's going to cost the nation a lot just not having that money rolling in then it's going to cost them again in that they'll have to import anything they were previously mining, at a premium since it's going to be well known that they have no choice but to pay. It's not difficult to get the masses thinking with their heart instead of their head but sooner or later the consequences can't be ignored anymore and people start feeling hoodwinked and getting angry.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:33PM (4 children)
Oh, a great big BULLSHIT. CIA messing around in Central American countries was always for political reasons, not the "big evil corporation" interests.
Let's take one case that we know for sure stuck a finger in the eye of the big evil corporations: Cuba. All those companies got screwed over when Castro nationalized everything. And what did we get out of that? The Bay of Pigs and 40+ years of bupkis. No clandestine CIA-backed overthrow to save the poor evil companies. No repeated attempts. Nada. Once the Soviets pulled the missiles out, there was no political reason to do any major meddling there, despite the loud and very constant complaining from the contingency of South Florida very rich Cuban expats who very much wanted Castro overthrown, the same constituency that every Florida politician to this day still kisses up to and promises how they'll be "strong" against Cuba.
(Score: 5, Informative) by butthurt on Friday April 07 2017, @01:22AM (1 child)
> CIA messing around in Central American countries was always for political reasons, not the "big evil corporation" interests.
According to the CIA (emphasis mine),
Guatemala is a perfect example. Following its 1944 revolution, which brought democratically elected leftist governments to power, this Central American government faced an increasingly hostile neighbor to the north, the United States. Guatemala's treatment of US-based corporations, especially the United Fruit Company, in expropriating land and other assets, did nothing to improve relations. Elites in Guatemala helped persuade US journalists and members of Congress, not to mention the executive branch, that their government was veering further and further leftward toward Communism in the early 1950s.
-- https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no5/html/v44i5a03p.htm [cia.gov]
From an academic source:
When Jacabo Arbenz implemented land reform under Decree 900, over 400,000 acres of UFCO land was expropriated. All the land was uncultivated, so the expropriations had no effect on UFCO’s production. However, UFCO had been in the habit of grossly underestimating the value of its lands to avoid taxes. As a result, the Arbenz government granted UFCO 1.2 million as compensation for lands UFCO valued at over 16 million. This discrepancy caused UFCO to appeal to the U.S. government for intervention and launch an all out propaganda war against the Arbenz regime. UFCO hired Edward Bernays, a prominent public relations man with numerous ties to American politics and media, to produce this propaganda. This included paying for reporters to travel to Guatemala on “fact finding missions” and then exposing them to staged events showing the onslaught of communism in the country. The UFCO also produced a great amount of unfounded literature detailing the supposed communist infiltration of the Arbenz regime. This literature was then circulated to influential politicians and opinion leaders.
-- http://revolutions.truman.edu/guatemala/united%20fruit,%20the%20cia,%20and%20counter%20revolution.htm [truman.edu]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:19AM
Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, Ret. in his book "War is a Racket" confirmed [wikiquote.org] that USA.mil exists for the purpose of Mercantilism.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday April 07 2017, @03:06AM
Umm, no, actually: Fidel Castro probably is the world record holder in surviving assassination attempts, which are known to have continued until at least the Clinton administration. Plus 40+ years of economic sanctions. And that's just the stuff we know about.
And I should point out that when it comes to foreign policy, the political interests of the United States are frequently determined to be the same thing as what's good for American-based businesses.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday April 07 2017, @05:21AM
> No clandestine CIA-backed overthrow [of Fidel Castro] to save the poor evil companies. No repeated attempts. Nada.
The CIA did endeavour to kill Mr. Castro.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro [wikipedia.org]
http://mentalfloss.com/article/30010/10-ways-cia-tried-kill-castro [mentalfloss.com]
Someone wrote a book about the subject; a CIA scholar reviewed it.
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol49no4/Castro_Obsession_10.htm [cia.gov]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:36PM (3 children)
Something about having drinkable water is kind of nice. I mean, great if mining companies give a few jobs? But kinda nicer for everyone to not be poisoning themselves, with a lower GDP.
Would *you* take $1,000/year to drink tap water with mercury and cyanide? No? Because the locals were never going to get that much from this mining operation...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 06 2017, @10:46PM (2 children)
No, but I'd spend half of it on bottled water and not give a shit what came out of the tap as long as it was safe to shower in.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @04:07PM (1 child)
I don't think mercury and cyanide are safe to shower in :/
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday April 07 2017, @04:53PM
Depends on the concentrations, I expect.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @08:16AM
"And they showed that even a very poor country can stay poor."