WEBVTT - In El Salvador a Cold Case Murder Has Become a Weapon for Silencing Environmental Activists 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.400 Videlino Morales is in her fifties. She's soft spoken and welcoming. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.160 She is the last person you'd expect would need to 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:21.079 say the words we are not terrorists. Bavidelina is a 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:25.360 president of the Association Royo Economical Associate or adis a 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:30.080 community based organization in Salor that carries out educational, environmental 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.840 and cultural projects. The group became nationally famous for sunning 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:38.440 the alarm over mining projects that threatened reverse. In twenty seventeen, 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.320 the years of organizing helped secure a huge win. The 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:44.080 government of Asaur became the first country in the world 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:48.240 to ban mining. Today, Naibukeli, a man who likes to 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.400 call himself the coolest dictator in the world, wants to 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.440 reverse that ban, but first he needs to discredit the 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.320 activists who fought for it, and he's gone about it 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.600 in a strange way, accusing five leaders an adis of 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:05.080 a decade's old murder. Over the past year, Videlina has 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.039 been fighting on their behalf, touring radio stations and TV 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.960 channels to explain that these accusations are part of a 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.560 smear campaign meant to weaken the environmental movement. 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:15.720 A stay. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:23.440 Organization all along We have fought this fight as communities, 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:27.399 as organizations that believe in our efforts, that believe in 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.800 the innocence of our comrades, and that know that first 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.199 of all God and then this Salvadoran justice system will 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.560 set them free. Because this case is manufactured. You can 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.720 see it is a case with so many irregularities. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.240 The charges go back to ol Salvador's bloody civil war, 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:49.120 when violence toured through the country and experienced. Videlina remembers well. 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.200 She was born and raised on the border between Hoduras 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.000 and Salor. In nineteen eighty, war broke out in between 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.960 the US back to military dictatorship and the Frente Ferround 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:04.800 Marti Praira the fm elen, a Marxist gorilla group. To 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.920 crush the insurgency, the army launched a terror campaign in 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.720 the north of the country where the guerrilla forces had 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:15.520 their camps. Civilians were considered gorilla collaborators and became targets 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.000 for the army and paramilitary groups. A series of massacres 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.000 occurred in the Caabayas region, killing hundreds of unarmed men, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.200 women and children. Several thousand survivors crossed the Lampa River 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:31.520 and took refuge in Honduras yegarum Los. 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:36.120 I witnessed refugees arriving at Los Hernandez naked because they 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.280 were fleeing. 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.680 With Allina was fourteen when she saw the refugees crossing 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:44.359 the river Cerca and ferente la casa mi padres installarum 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.680 campamento parasanar. 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.640 Near my parents' house. They set up a camp to 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.600 treat the wounded. So I also saw how many people 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.680 arrived wounded. Some had gotten lost in the mountains because 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.200 from the Rio Olympa to Los Rnandez it's not an 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.120 hour's walk, and people got lost. The Anduran army also 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:07.399 participated in the massacre. The Limpa River massacre was supported 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.240 by both the Duran and Salvadoran armies. 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.359 As part of a local Catholic group, she helped assist 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.520 the refugees as they settled in a camp called. 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.520 One of the things I did was run errands. They 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.600 would send us to the town to buy food, bread, 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.200 any kind of food we could get for the people there, 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:36.120 and I helped. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.720 That's how she got in contact with one of the 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.280 insurgency groups that had a strong presence in the camp. 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.360 This is how my awareness began to grow. During those 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.080 years eighty one to eighty eight, I went from being 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.640 a young girl to my life taking a turn. Got 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:01.760 together with the father of my children. He was a 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.680 friend and he was part of the Gorilla Army. I 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.720 was eighteen when I got together with. 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:08.840 In a c. 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.160 In nineteen eighty seven, groups of refugees started moving back 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.200 to as. Many of them resettled in Santa Marta, one 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.120 of the communities that had abandoned when they fled to Honduras. 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.840 Although the military scorched earth campaigns were mostly over by then, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.480 the war was still raging and the refugees still feared 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:33.360 the army's operations. It made people paranoid about infiltrators and spies. 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:39.039 That's when a murder took place in Santa Marta. The 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.120 rumor spread that a woman named Maria inz Obarenga was 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:45.120 an army informant. One night, goerrilla fighters dragged her out 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.200 of her house in front of her children and took 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.680 her to an unknown place where she was shot and buried. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.280 Her body was never found. Three decades later, that murder 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.280 would be used by prosecutors to target anti mining activists 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:02.240 and the organization Videlia represents. As land defenders around the 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.479 world know very well, an unsolved criminal case can easily 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.480 become a tool for repressive government to attack its opponents 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.719 and destroy their reputations. When the state watched a crusher movement, 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.640 it can make any accusation stick. That's our story today. 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.159 After this quick break, Ami Senia Funez and this is 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:37.120 drilled with Elna wasn't in Santa Marta when Maria Averrenga 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.200 was murdered. She didn't move there until nineteen ninety six, 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.080 but she still lives there today. Santa Marta is in 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:47.320 the northern department of Gavagnas, about four hours from the 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:51.560 capital Sanslo. It's a town made of scattered houses in 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.840 a deep valley along dirt roads that cars can barely 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.040 get down in the raining season. At the center of 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.279 the community, there's a small church, a soccer field, a 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.760 basketball court, and a tiny pizza joint. On the hills 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:09.880 surrounding Santa Marta, small farmers grow corn, beans, cassava, and vegetables, 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.719 and the community keeps a conservation area covered by a 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.240 thick forest. During her first years there, Viderino was a 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:19.800 stay at home mom, taking care of her five children, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.760 but as they grew older, she got restless. She felt 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.800 she wasn't doing anything for her community. That's when she 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.960 got in contact with Antonio Pacheco, also known as Chico, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:31.200 the director of ADDIS. 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:38.360 Siko Yoaki San, I. 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.280 Feel like I'm doing nothing here. Is there a possibility 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.680 you didn't involve me in any action? 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.760 Antonio Pacheco had been an area commander of the Gorilla forces. 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.520 He wasn't from Santa Marta, but he decided to stay 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.520 there at the end of the war when the insurgents 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:56.480 handed over their weapons. He created ADIS because the community 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.880 was getting almost no support from the state. The organization 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.960 provide education for the children, built the town's water supply network, 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.799 and ran agriculture programs. It also launched a community radio 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:21.200 station called Radio Victoria. Over the years, Alas got larger 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.600 and started operating in other parts of the country too. 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.760 The organization moved its offices closer to Sin Sun Depeke, 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:30.720 the largest city in Gangs. Antonio Pacheco came to talk 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:31.400 to with Elina. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.040 He said, there's a problem here that is really worrying me. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:39.880 And we have to tackle that. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.880 A Canadian company called Pacific grim was prospecting for gold 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:47.480 in the region. He asked her to investigate was it 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.080 true that mining was a once in a lifetime opportunity 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.480 to bring prosperity to Kwangas or was it a threat 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.800 to the water resources and the environment as some people 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:56.560 were saying. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.520 Okay, I don't know anything about mining. 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.720 Viderina wasn't sure she had the background to address the issue, 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:09.520 but she started learning about mining in the early two thousands. 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.560 Are like a lot of other Central American countries, looking 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:16.040 to attract multi national mining companies, set new laws that 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:20.240 made it attractive to investors. They promised little environmental oversight, 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.600 cheap labor, and big tax breaks. Companies could pay royalties 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.600 as low as one or two percent gold, silver, and 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.960 nico companies, most of them Canadian, rushed in in two thousand. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.480 The San Martin mines are operating on Duras and in 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.080 two thousand and five the Marlin mine opened in Guatemala. 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.000 Here's a promotional video the Canadian mining company Gold Corps 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.319 made about how great it is to mine and Guatemala. 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:51.720 Mister x tensumed territorial Meinos de luno forcino toorio nacional. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:58.440 Vasodi Murvasa. 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.120 In Nicaraiwa. The autocratic government of Daniel Rodega became a 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.600 major asset for transnational mining companies. Even the environmentally frontly 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.400 Costa Rica was eager to dig into its mountains before 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.120 backtracking and declaring a ban on open pit mining in 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:21.560 twenty ten. Esalor was no exception. Pacific Grim purchased land 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.680 and drilled for samples. They decided to start their gold 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.720 operation on a thirteen square kilometers site in Sane Sidro. 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.439 The mayor and regional politicians were vocal supporters of the mine. 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.760 Midelina met with environmental organizations in San Salvor. She talked 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.199 with experts. She went with other community members of the 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.240 Vaya Assyria in Honduras, where Gold Corp was running a 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:42.880 large open pit gold mine. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:46.760 Yes Endolo. That then don't safer. 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.160 And that's how we've been expanding since two thousand and six, 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:54.559 creating a network across communities. We went to Syria Valley 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.680 because of the water scarcity, noise and damaged homes there, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.360 people were shocked. They raised awareness and. 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:12.280 Mobilized via made uper Mind. Gold mines were a major 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.840 threat to the whole region. Mining operations sucked up water 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.400 resources in a place where access to clean water was 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:22.080 already a problem. They used dangerous chemicals like cyanai to 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.640 separate the gold from the rock. If a sinide spill occurred, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.360 it's a threatened the Lampa River, which provides sixty percent 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.360 of the water resources of Alsalvador. Mining companies, as she 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.240 would soon discover, were bad for communities too, dividing the 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:43.040 population and bringing in social unrest, violence and death. Opposition 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.840 started to mount against specific rim A. This and other 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:50.320 organizations mobilized people in cabanas. The organized forums where the 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:54.360 company experts were asked tough questions by local people. Santa 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.280 Marta and other communities came to Sant Salor to protest 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.320 in the mining company pushed back. 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.760 We would station ourselves in san at different ministries, the 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.360 Ministry of Environment in front of the President's house too, 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.640 with a lot of fear because if they caught us, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:16.920 they would arrest us and throw us in prison. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.640 A major tool of the resistance against mining companies was 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:30.320 Radio Victoria, Santa MARTA's community radio station. Its mix of music, 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.000 news and commentary, and it's a large network of local 0:11:33.040 --> 0:12:02.319 correspondence gave the radio station a large audience across going yes. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.480 Depart, I mean oh yes. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.440 Rodya Victoria was one of Alis's main projects at the 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:06.080 end of the war. 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.920 That was nineteen ninety three when we first went on 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:11.800 the air and when we moved up to Victoria. 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.679 This is Christina Starr. She's from Charlotte, North Carolina. Her 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.040 real name is Wendy Wallace, but everyone in Santa Marta 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.360 knows her as Christina, a name she has used since 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.240 the war. In nineteen eighty eight, she came to a 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.320 sab to work at a trade union federation in Santaelo. 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.680 The war was raging, and a year later, a death 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.880 squad detonated a bomb in the offices where she worked. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:39.680 The attack killed ten unionists and wounded forty others. Christina 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.400 was lucky she had left the cafeteria where the bomb 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:47.040 exploded minutes earlier. Shortly after that experience, she joined the 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.160 insurgency and became part of a propaganda unit, filming some 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:54.120 of the gorilla's actions. In nineteen ninety one, she settled 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.360 in Santa Marta, and at the end of the war 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.839 she decided to stay. Because of her communications background. Others 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:02.680 asked her to help create Drodia Victoria. 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:08.040 Mostly my role has been to look for support for the. 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:10.600 Projects that we have. 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.480 I was never at the radio full time, but as 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.520 part of the coordinating team, so we had a collective 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.200 that ran the radio and basically accompanying. You know, I 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.480 never wanted to be two hands on because I didn't 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.080 want to be the green that runs the radio. 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.800 From the beginning, Rodia Victoria became the voice of the 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.760 anti mining front. Rodia Victoria explained the dangers of mining 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.920 to his listeners by pointing to the environmental and social 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:42.200 costs of the industry. It disrupted Pacific Rome's communication campaign. 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:51.240 It's that condition de terminian he induststructivatales, brecio, simbia, bles economica, 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.400 so emb and talmente. 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:58.640 Public opinion turned against mining. But soon enough the threats began. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.800 The radio hosts received warning calls and their cell phones. 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:08.400 The language was very much like gang members, you know, 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.480 some of the terms they used and they were very vulgar. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:17.720 So the assumption was that they were getting money channels 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.320 to them to carry out these threats. 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.360 This wasn't a small thing since the gangs in a 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:29.080 Cubode were known for their cruelty. Then the killing started. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:34.800 First there was Marcello Rivera, a teacher, community leader and environmentalist. 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:37.120 He had been one of the first to sound the 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.000 alarm bell when Pacific Rim began prospecting in the region. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:46.040 You know, he was a performer and he would come 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.200 to our We would have these community arts festivals for 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.160 our anniversary and he would always come, and he was 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:54.360 pretty close to us. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.560 Riveta was tortured before he was killed, and his body 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.080 was thrown into a well. This had a huge impact 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:04.320 on those who were opposing the mining project. 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.200 And then the death threats said you know you better 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.960 shut up. Are the same thing that happened to Marcella 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:10.840 will happened to you. 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.760 Later that year, two other activists, Ramiro Riverra and Dora 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:16.920 Soortor gunn down. 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:21.080 We begin today with Elsalvador, where, for the second time 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.200 in a week of prominent anti gold mining activists has 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:28.360 been assassinated. On Saturday, thirty two year old Dora Alicia 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:32.000 Esino Soorto was shot dead near her home. She was 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:36.040 eight months pregnant carrying her two year old son. Soorto 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:39.040 and her husband were both active members of the Cabanas 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.200 Environment Committee, which is campaigned against the reopening of a 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:46.360 gold mine owned by the Vancouver based Pacific Rim Mining Company. 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.000 Last week, Ramiro Rivera Gomez, the vice president of the 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:53.680 Cabanas Environment Committee, was shot dead by heavily armed men 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.600 despite having been under twenty four hour police protection. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.960 Meanwhile, the death threats against Radio Victoria staff kept coming. 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:04.360 People would bang the doors at their homes at night 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.760 and caught guns, and I was scared. 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.600 I was really scared, and you know, I didn't know 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.000 if we should shut down the radio or what we 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:17.600 should do. But you know, people at the radio said, 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:18.840 this is our only weapon. 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:19.560 For us. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.680 To stay on the air is the only way we 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.600 can resist this, and that's what we're going to do. 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.760 One day, Christina talked to one of the radio hosts, 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.560 a young man called Oscar. 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.320 And I said, Oscar, aren't you afraid? Aren't you scared? 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.720 And he went yeah. But you know, once you dedicate 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:42.480 so much of your life to something, it's your life, 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:47.360 and to not do that is to kind of lose 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:52.320 your life. So you know, this is what's important, and 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:53.600 this is what we have to do. 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.800 The three murders were never thoroughly investigated, but for the activists, 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:00.800 there was no doubt that they were the result of 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.040 the anti mining protests. Despite the threats and the killings, 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.800 the environmental defenders kept going. They brought on board new allies, 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:14.200 including Ancelo's archbishop, prominent churchmen. Monseigneur Sin Sakaye was also 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.880 a chemist, and he worried that the use of cyanide 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:20.760 by mining companies could cause a major environmental disaster. They 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.600 also convinced both right wing and left wing politicians to 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.320 join them. In two thousand and eight, the government decided 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.520 to stop approving permits for new mines. It wasn't a 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.760 ban yet, but President Andonio Saka said he wanted to 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.399 better understand the impact gold mining was having on the 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:41.000 country's water sources before proving any more permits. Pacific RIM 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.280 followed a complaint against also using a legal tool known 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:48.920 as investors State dispute settlement. We've covered this many times 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.679 and drilled but it's a quasi legal system that is 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:56.160 meant to protect companies from governments and enforce free trade agreements. 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.479 In practice, what it does is help companies scare governments 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.720 away from a environmental and human rights legislation and push 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:08.400 forward harmful projects. Even activist pressure works and governments reject them. 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.879 The Pacific Room claimed that in Salor, by not allowing 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.400 it to move forward with its gold mine, had violated 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.320 its rights. The company asked for three hundred and fifty 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.120 million dollars to cover the revenue it was losing as 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:25.240 a result of the government's refusal to grant its permits. This, 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.600 of course, did nothing for Pacific Room's popularity in Ossalo. 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:33.359 In twenty sixteen, the tribunal made a rare ruling against 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.840 the company, and Esalor won the dispute, but not before 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.399 spending millions fighting it. Twenty seventeen marked the end of 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:46.520 the struggle an unprecedented decision, Esalor's government approved a law 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:53.760 that banned all mining for medals in Essalor well via 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:55.360 historico hiero. 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:05.199 Derobizio metali normlo exploras. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:11.400 Ter The decision was unanimous. Midelina still can't believe it. 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:15.840 The wameuerdo. 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:19.600 This was such a marvelous thing that when I remember 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.840 it for me and sina la piel, as we say 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.119 in Salvo in English, we might say it gives me chills. 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.879 But if mining companies have learned anything in their dealings 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:34.959 with Latin American countries, it's patient If political circumstances are 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.959 not in your favor at first, don't worry. That might 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.960 change sooner than you think. In Esalor, it took only 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:43.280 two years. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:49.479 Thirty seven year old Naibu Kelly entered San Salvador's Convention Center, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:53.120 a main voting station, a few hours later than planned 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:57.760 to cast his ballot. He brought all the confidence, swagger, 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:01.639 and even the black leather jack backet of a rock star. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.560 In twenty nineteen, an outsider candidate called Naib Bukeley won 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.479 the elections with an absolute majority. He rocked the country 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.240 as no one had done since the war. He assumed 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.359 leadership in a country dominated by two violent gangs, the 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:23.119 Marasoba Rucha and Barrio Yaesiocho, controlled entire neighborhoods in rural communities. 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.160 For years, they made us one of the most dangerous 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:32.159 countries in the world. Ordinary Salvadorians lived in fear of 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.000 leaving their homes every day. Hundreds were killed every year 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.880 for the crime of coming from a neighborhood controlled by 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:43.280 a rival gang. Every business, no matter the size, was 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:47.720 burdened with huge protection payments to the gangs. In twenty fifteen, 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:51.920 the most violent year, more than six thousand people were murdered, 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:56.280 more than any year during the civil war. In the beginning, 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.439 Naibukeli did what his predecessors had tried before him, sided 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:04.399 the gangs in return for prison privileges. The gangs agreed 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:07.480 to decrease the murder rate, but they soon started asking 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.880 for more. To pressure the government, one of the two 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.080 main gangs went on a killing spree, assassinating close to 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:19.040 one hundred innocent people in three days. Bokley changed his 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.040 strategy immediately. 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:23.639 Tonight. 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:32.560 The crackdown on gangs intensifies in El Salvador. As these 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:38.199 images of mass arrests and police searching through homes and 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:43.280 families belongings at neighborhood checkpoints fuel concerns that human rights 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:44.439 are being violated. 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:49.639 He declared a state of emergency, suspending constitutional rights. He 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.159 empowered the authorities to arrest anyone suspected of being a 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.280 gang member. He even went on national TV and threatened 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.160 to star the detainees if the gangs tried to retaliate. 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:05.840 Oh, no, do that, and there will be no meal 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:06.840 time in the prisons. 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:07.600 One. 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:11.840 Let's see how long their home boys last in there. 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.680 Since then, more than seventy five thousand people have been 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:19.960 put in overcrowded jails. Among them are thousands of innocent people, 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:23.040 mostly young men from poor neighborhoods, with no ties to 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:27.080 the gangs. Official dulciers obtained by the newspaper at Farro 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:29.239 showed that the reason for an arrest can be as 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.679 flimsy as he looked like a gang member or he 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.479 was nervous when the police showed up. But the results 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:41.280 of this policy have been spectacular. Extortion and murders decreased dramatically. 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:43.840 The homicide rate is now one of the lowest in 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:48.160 Latin America, even lower than in the United States. Now, 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:53.080 small businesses bloom everywhere, and ordinary Salvadorians have reclaimed their streets. 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:56.320 Nor is this sense of security more obvious than in 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.399 the center of Santa l What was a maze of 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:02.320 street stamp under the tight control of the gangs has 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:06.560 become a pleasant district with walkepp plazas, fountains and street 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:11.000 performers on the Plaza Hirado Barrios in front of the 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:14.080 Metropolitan Cathedral and at the side of the National Palace. 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:17.840 A brand new library, a gift from China. Solsa is 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:21.720 now one of the landmarks of Sansabel. But in Saloo's 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:26.240 democracy has paid the price for this piece. As Naebuchill's 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:30.600 popularity skyrocketed, he took control of all the institutions. To 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:33.639 rein in the judicial system. He hand picked the Supreme 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:36.800 Court magistrates and sent a third of Osavor's judges to 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:44.560 retirement by decree. 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.560 There is talk of an authoritarian populism and a hybrid 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.919 regime that is losing the guardrails of democracy. We have 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:54.880 all governmental powers concentrated in the executive branch and specifically 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:57.439 in the president, and this makes it so that the 0:23:57.480 --> 0:23:59.480 system of checks and balances doesn't work. 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:02.959 Luis Consalez is a lawyer and activist at the Salvadorian 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.640 Ecological Unit. This environmental organization has been at the site 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:09.600 of Idelina and Alis in the fight against mining and 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:14.119 joined various other environmental fights, including the expansion of sugarcane plantations, 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:19.000 the destruction of mangroves, and deforestation. It has also denounced 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:22.960 attacks against indigenous leaders. Louis has seen firsthand how the 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.000 state of emergency, which was meant to fight gangs, has 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:29.120 been used to attack environmental activists and community. 0:24:28.720 --> 0:24:36.080 Leaders o Costria. 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:38.800 Without a doubt, and I'll give you a couple of examples. 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:41.720 Under the state of emergency, they wanted to build a 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:45.240 prison in Teotepek. There were people there working the land 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:48.600 and they expropriated it and the approach was either sell 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:51.240 it or the state will take it. And if you object, 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:54.480 remember that we are a regime. The same sort of 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:57.440 rhetoric was used against people who were organized in a 0:24:57.520 --> 0:25:01.159 labor union where they were building a new airport. Remember 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:03.720 that we are a regime. They took the vendors off 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:06.360 the street with that too. Remember we are a regime. 0:25:07.600 --> 0:25:12.119 Ila comuniaes Bisto an Asako. 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:19.080 The communities that want to say anything have been threatened 0:25:19.119 --> 0:25:22.600 with putting people in prison. Indigenous leaders we work with 0:25:22.640 --> 0:25:25.520 in Sonsnate the case of a father who was taken 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:28.840 to prison. They let him go after some time, but 0:25:28.920 --> 0:25:32.439 it was if you keep talking. We have other leaders 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:34.240 where they've captured their family members. 0:25:35.080 --> 0:25:37.840 It is on a coincidence that this repressive trend happened 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:40.159 at the same time that Bu began to look at 0:25:40.160 --> 0:25:44.080