El Salvador – The Churches and Mining Network demands the immediate release of Santa Marta and ADES community leaders in El Salvador
The Churches and Mining Network, a continental entity of church institutions and faith communities, express its condemnation and deep concern for the criminalisation, persecution and imprisonment of water and nature defenders in El Salvador.
We are concerned about the intolerance, authoritarianism and dangerous increase in repression that the government of President Nayib Bukele is implementing against environmental leaders.
Since January 5th of this year, five community leaders who, together with their communities, opposed a mining project under the law prohibiting metallic mining in El Salvador have remained detained. Unfortunately, this arbitrary and illegal act, condemned nationally and internationally, is not the only one. On May 17th, Manuel Gámez Morales, son of environmental defender Vidalina Morales, was arbitrarily arrested.
This arbitrary arrest takes place within the framework of the emergency regime and adds to the different attacks that human rights defenders and their families have suffered. The recent arrest of Manuel Gámez comes after Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, expressed her concern about the San Salvadoran government's arrests of environmental leaders in Santa Marta. We call on the Salvadoran government to cease this repression against those who defend nature's rights and communities' rights to live in a healthy environment.
We call on social organisations, movements, and the international community to join the campaign to release the Salvadoran environmentalists. May Santa Marta feel our solidarity and stand firm in protecting water and life.
Santa Marta is not alone!
IMMEDIATE freedom for environmentalists unjustly and
arbitrarily captured!
Stop the criminalisation of social protest!
Rejection of mining exploration and exploitation in El
Salvador!
The government must obey the Law Prohibiting Metallic
Mining in El Salvador!
Source : iglesiaymineria.org
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