Campaigns

The Mesa Announces its New Elections Campaign

In light of the upcoming elections and the fact that the bill to ban mining is still stuck in the Legislative Assembly, the Mesa, together with other environmental coalitions, has publicly announced its new campaign to pressure decision makers.  It will be calling on voters not to vote for candidates who don’t support and promote the anti-mining ban in the upcoming March midterm elections. 

The Mesa unveiled this new strategy during a protest in front of the Legislative Assembly in December.  The activity was organized in conjunction with other organizations that are also waiting for the Legislative Assembly to consider and approve their proposed legislation, including the Ombudsman for Human Rights’ Office, the National Water Forum, organizations working on natural disaster mitigation and others.(click on title to read more)

 

The Mesa also submitted a formal correspondence to the Legislative Assembly asking that the mining ban be moved out of committee and passed by the plenary.  Because the plenary only meets on Wednesdays, it will be read in full during the next session.

The full press release presented during the activity is below. 
 

ENVIORNEMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON VOTERS TO SUPPORT CANDIDATES THAT PROMOTE PLATFORMS WHICH FAVOR ENVIORNMENTAL SUSTAINABILY

The organizations of the Environmental Alliance of El Salvador, representing the National Roundtable against Metallic Mining, the Permanent Roundtable for Natural Disaster Mitigation, and the National Water Forum, deeply worried by the conditions of vulnerability and environmental degradation and also dissatisfied with the stagnation of constitutional reforms and bills presented in recent years, state that:

As the environmental movement we are alarmed by the high levels of vulnerability in our country and we consider it to be an unjustifiable issue that the fundamental right of the population to water and food has not been recognized through legislation.  It is equally worrisome that metallic mining has still not been banned and that the indigenous people still have not had their rights constitutionally recognized.  The demands that we are making in front of the Legislative Assembly today are all part of the same call to build a model of sustainability in El Salvador, which guarantees the fundamental right to water, sustenance, land, Salvadoran culture and that a public policy is promoted that allows for a more equal and democratic development for the majority of people.  It’s worrisome that weather phenomena called 12E has shown the dangerous vulnerability of our country and national leaders haven’t learned the lessons that could avoid deaths more caused by natural disasters and the millions of dollars of damage to infrastructure.  

As members of the environmental movement for sustainability, in the context of the electoral campaign that has already begun, beginning today we will be calling on the Salvadoran population to NOT VOTE for candidates that don’t commit to and promote a sustainability agenda and today we have come to remind the representatives to the Legislative Assembly that they should reinitiate the process for approving the bills that have already been presented.  We demand that the Law to Ban Metallic Mining, the General Water Law, the Potable Subsector Water Law, the Civil Protection Law,  and the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Law all be discussed and approved.  And our stance will be that the Legislative Assembly representatives that don’t commit to and promote our agenda of sustainability, will be turning their back on the most vulnerable and excluded populations, that are the majority of this country.  These candidates therefore won’t enjoy the support and recognition of the voters in the upcoming elections.

Representatives re-initiate and promote the proposals the favor sustainability in El Salvador!