Salvadorans protest Crowel and Moring LLP for role in mining lawsuit
On May 27, protesters arrived at the law offices of Crowel and Moring LLP. This law firm is representing Pacific Rim, a mining corporation which has been prevented from strip mining for gold in El Salvador and poisoning an entire village. Pacific Rim’s El Dorado mine has been STOPPED by a grassroots campaign that forced the government to deny their environmental permit.
Now, they are suing the government of El Salvador for “lost profits”-and using the same law firm as BLACKWATER to do so! That’s right-the same scumbags Blackwater goes to when they need mercenaries of their own.
A number of speakers from El Salvador spoke on the utter destruction that Pacific Rim’s proposed gold mine would have brought. First of all, this was to be an open pit mine, that is a strip mine, not a tunnel. Ask anyone is West Virginia what kind of damage THAT can do! Second of all, as one speaker pointed out, the same rocks that bear gold also bear other heavy metals-including highly toxic ones like lead and cadmium. Worst of all, cyanide is used to separate gold from rocks and other metals-and gold mines are notorious for deadly cyanide runoff.
People have died in El Salvador stopping Pacific Rim from mining, anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera and Dora “Alicia” Sorto Recinos, less than a week apart.
Finally, after an all-out campaign of both direct action and political action, the Salvadoran government refused to issue the environmental permits required for the mine.
With the “El Dorado” mine stopped dead in it’s tracks, Pacific Rim has hired some muscle for a CAFTA lawsuit in a so-called “court” run by the World Bank. In fact, they hired the same courtroom mercenaries Blackwater hired- Crowel and Moring, as in Crowel and Moron!
Therefore, protests such as this one represent the next stage in the defense of El Salvador against Pacific Rim’s robber barons. Just as Blackwater’s gunmen would not be allowed to rob El Salvador, so their lawyers working on behalf of Pacific Rim won’t be allowed to either!
Here’s what gold mining does!
These suits are empty and entirely without merit…
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