A Canadian company called Pacific Rim is seeking to exploit gold reserves in El Salvador by opening a mine that could poison the water supply for more than half the nation’s population. Four Salvadoran anti-mining activists have been assassinated during the course of the struggle over these resources. Now, Pacific Rim is suing El Salvador for up to hundreds of millions of dollars under the U.S.-Central America “Free Trade” Agreement for not approving a mining license. Since Canada isn’t part of this Agreement, Pacific Rim opened a subsidiary in Reno, Nevada.

The case will be decided soon by ICSID, a tribunal housed in the World Bank. A victory for Pacific Rim would send signals to any global corporation that it can override national environmental or labor rights regulations by opening a subsidiary in the US. We must show our opposition. For more information on this struggle, check out this article by Robin Broad and John Cavanagh, Like Water for Gold in El Salvador.

Please encourage your friends to come to the demonstration at the World Bank on Thursday at noon! Please also add your name to the SIGN-ON letter to show your solidarity with the communities of El Salvador working to prevent this proposed cyanide-leach gold mining project.