Environmental Activists killed by Mining Companies in Latin America

On 26th Decem­ber, Dora Ali­cia Reci­nos Sor­to became the third vic­tim of a wave of vio­lence against envi­ron­men­tal cam­paign­ers in the Cabañas Region of El Sal­vador, where com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers are protest­ing against the re-open­ing of a Gold Mine by Cana­di­an Com­pa­ny Pacif­ic Rim.

On 26th Decem­ber, Dora Ali­cia Reci­nos Sor­to became the third vic­tim of a wave of vio­lence against envi­ron­men­tal cam­paign­ers in the Cabañas Region of El Sal­vador, where com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers are protest­ing against the re-open­ing of a Gold Mine by Cana­di­an Com­pa­ny Pacif­ic Rim.

Dora Ali­cia was a mem­ber of the Cabañas Envi­ron­men­tal Com­mit­tee, and had been active in oppos­ing the mine. She was eight months preg­nant when she was shot dead, and her two year old son was also wound­ed in the attack.

Her mur­der comes six days after the fatal shoot­ing of Ramiro Rivera Gomez, Vice Pres­i­dent of the Cabañas Envi­ron­men­tal Com­mit­tee, who had sur­vived being shot eight times in August this year. In June, anoth­er envi­ron­men­tal cam­paign­er, Gus­ta­vo Marce­lo Rivera Moreno, had been tor­tured and killed. Many oth­er mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty have received death threats, includ­ing youth work­ers and jour­nal­ists for the local com­mu­ni­ty radio sta­tion Radio Vic­to­ria, and the local priest Father Luis Quin­tanil­la nar­row­ly escaped an attempt­ed kid­nap­ping.

In Mex­i­co, Mar­i­ano Abar­ca Rob­lero cam­paigned against the envi­ron­men­tal­ly destruc­tive open-pit Bar­i­um mine Black­fire, a World Bank project. He was shot to death on the evening of Novem­ber 27, 2009, in front of his house in Chico­muse­lo, Chi­a­pas. More details.