Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In our countries, in developing countries, criminalization has become more and more of an issue in recent years. There are a number of factors that contribute to that, but with regard to criminality in Central America and El Salvador, companies have come in and used the problem o

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that's right. In our country we consider, and the population in general has expressed the idea, that mining is not viable because of its impact on natural resources. As I said earlier, El Salvador is in a very precarious environmental situation. This forces us to generate po

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would say that we could not wait to be threatened or murdered in our community before we could go ahead and denounce what was happening, because I know that in El Salvador, and I think I speak for Aleisar as well, the mining companies threaten our communities. One of the main t

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We think it is very important to listen to the population when it denounces the threats and the actions of major companies. What companies do is resort to international conventions. As you know, there was a 250 million dollars lawsuit in El Salvador against Pacific Rim. Really,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, of course. Thank you. What I was saying was that when the local population defend the land, the companies start to make demands on the state. They have tried to use trade agreements that were signed in the past to protect themselves, but we saw in response to a suit at the

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Aleisar. Good afternoon, members, friends, and parliamentary assistants. It is an honour for me to be here and to share my experiences with you. I want to talk to you about a number of violent acts and fundamental abuses of human rights in Central America and, in part