El Salvador's Catholic bishops oppose mining

The Conference of Bishops of the Roman Catholic church in El Salvador has issued a statement of opposition to gold and silver mining in the country. Citing the biblical commandment to care for creation, the bishops placed themselves squarely against mineral exploitation in El Salvador. The bishops cited as reasons for their position (a) the irreversible damages caused by mining to the environment and surrounding communities, (b) serious health problems caused by significant use of cyanide in the extraction process, (c) inevitable contamination of waters and the subsoil, (d) negative impacts on flora and fauna, and (e) the multiplication of these effects in a country as small and as densely populated as El Salvador. According to the bishops, no supposed economic benefits can compare to the value of human life impacted.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I heartily expect their Lordships will next banish roadways from the realm, on account of

(a) The irreversible damages caused by roads
(b) The serious damages caused by significant use in vehicles of oil, lead, acid, and emissions of nitrous oxides and other noxious fumes
(c) inevitable contamination of water and soils
(d) negative impacts on flora a fauna
(e) so many trucks, buses, cars and asphalt in such a tiny wee of a country!

- * -

Bunch of luddites. No wonder the Liberals ended up kicking the Church out of Spanish America soon after independence. Makes you wonder if it was wise to ever let it back in.
Anonymous said…
The Conference of Bishops in El Salvador and Archbishop Sáenz Lacalle are not at all sympathetic to liberation theology. Sáenz Lacalle is very conservative. Yet the conference took this position on mining because one assumes they recognize the very detrimental impact on people and the environment from this kind of mining, the use of cyanide, and the rights of people in the communities that would be impact by such horrendous extractive techniques.

To El-Visitador, however, all are misguided luddites.

El Visitatdor prostrating himself of the altar of the Golden Calf of free market economics has lost his soul and has as much chance of getting into heaven as a camel does in passing through the eye of a needle
Hodad said…
yes, again el visitador, how much is the CIA and the large Corporations paying you for your inane diatribes?
anonymous, it is a free socirty but there will always be uneducated,uninformed,and uncaring folks that blog,

wake up, HEMP for the salvation of American farmer,fule,clothing,paper,food,plastics, etc etc etc.

and of course NO to mining, in any country especially those with limited water resources such as ES
the blog recently on nondevelopment of rail systems is true, this should have could have would have been a very good thing for transport in ES, "such a tiny wee country"

at least finally the Catholic church seems to be looking out for the interests overall of the flock

Miners go home,you are warned

and then I will say, the Black Caucus of USA Congress is looking seriously now at the 460 million in corrupt MCC funds
Believe it! received p a personal note from Congressman Clyburn's office among other congressmen from the Carolinas
IMPEACH BUSH NOW!
Anonymous said…
"No to mining everywhere" ??? Let's not be ridiculous. I challenge anyone who's against ALL mining to do some research into how many mined products they use each day, down to the computer you're currently using to read this. Mining is a necessary evil to modern life. I'm against the gold mining in El Salvador due to the particular context of the country's ecosystem, and the fact that 90% of gold mining is for non-essential societal uses. Anyone who rides a bike, lives in a modern house, uses computers, telephones, drives a car, has fillings in their teeth, or has been to a hospital, benefits from the products of mining. Instead of being extremist and polarizing, we should work with the mining industry to create a "clean-mining" certification so that consumers can buy products from companies that are certified as being as respectful as they possibly can of the environment (there's no such thing as 100% clean mining unfortunately). This has worked wonders in the fishing and logging industries and we still have a lot of work left to do. Also, instead of buying a new gold / diamond ring for an engagement ring, reuse a family heirloom, until the diamond industry can create a certification system to ensure your money's not going to support death squads in Africa...
Anonymous said…
" Yet the conference took this position on mining because one assumes they recognize"

That's the problem. Do not assume. They took this position because of:

(a) The irreversible damages
(b) The serious health problems
(c) inevitable contamination of water and soils
(d) negative impacts on flora a fauna
(e) so much in such a tiny wee of a country!

If these poor old foggies had any logic or any logic consistency, their next step should be to banish roads, concrete, cities, industries, etc., because (a)(b)(c)(d) and (e) are common consequences of them all.

Point is, the did not do a cost-benefit analysis of change, innovation, and development. They are defending the status quo. This is why the Conservatives of the XIX century were their allies and soulmates.
Anonymous said…
El-visitador:
Me gustaría saber si usted es un “Chicago Boy”. Le digo esto porque me aparece como siempre usted habla a favor de la implementación sin límites, sin control de proteger el medioambiente y derechos laborales, y sin tomar en cuenta la soberanía de las comunidades y sus derechos para defender su moda de vida y autonomía. Siempre usted habla a favor del famoso libre mercado que realmente no exista sin excepción posiblemente en los libros de Adam Smith y como el libre mercado mejorará la vida de toda la gente. También usted tiene la opinión que personas y instutionces las cuales no apoyan el libre mercando son luddites como estas personas son niños quienes no saben lo que es mejor para ellos.

Por todo esto me da paso para preguntar si usted es “Chicago boy”
Hodad said…
anonymous, you should identify yourself with these remarks,
not against mining per se
however gold mining of course needs to be stopped
gold is evil
and to mine gold in el Salvador then we are 'en acuerdo'
it would be ruinous, however it will be stopped by whatever means
when the 6000 artesanal fishermen there are made aware of the consequences, it will be stopped
but first is stopping this MCC funds for corrupt purposes including this road to get the mining equipment in place, seems the tide is turning
Hodad said…
see 'oro verde' as they now are working on in Colombia.

as far as fillings for teeth, new 3M technology replaces all that metal
Anonymous said…
compa chico says life is more important than gold. and i think that's a beautiful truth. soy con el pueblo salvadoreno, all the way to the end.
Anonymous said…
the current mine proposed by Pacific Rim Mining underground, vein mining, something practiced safely is surronding central american communities with no impact. cyanide is an organic compound, and will be used in a closed circuit and not open to the 'environment', and its easily detoxified after use. mining jobs pay well, and provide needed tax and royalty revenue to the government. this type of mining has been done safely and environmentally responsible for decades in the usa, indeed for over 100 years. in addition the local communities support it.