Catholics in El Salvador have criticised President Nayib Bukele’s plan to resume mining in the Central American nation, where the exploitation of metal deposits has been illegal since 2017. Source: Crux.
In a series of posts on X on November 27, Mr Bukele claimed El Salvador “potentially has the world’s gold deposits with most density per square kilometre”. He said that studies show the volume of gold under the nation’s soil may correspond to $A4.6 billion.
“Taking advantage of this wealth could transform El Salvador [by creating] thousands of quality jobs; [by financing] infrastructure throughout our country; [by boosting] the development of local economies,” he said.
Mr Bukele added that El Salvador is the only “country in the world with a total ban on metal mining, something that no other country applies,” and said that such a “wealth, given by God, can be used responsibly to bring unprecedented economic and social development to our people.”
The Church was one of the key entities behind the campaign that saw mining banned in 2017.
Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador released a statement on December 1 saying forbidding mining was “evidence of the primary value attributed by the Salvadoran people to the right to life and to health not only of the human beings but also of the animals and plants”.
Cardinal Escobar emphasised that mining would pollute the air and the water with cyanide and mercury and would increase deforestation and the erosion of the soil, causing disease and death among many communities, especially the poor.
“We hope that our authorities will reconsider and not abolish the law that prohibits mining, protecting the life and health of our people,” he said.
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Church opposes president’s plan to resume mining in El Salvador (By Eduardo Campos Lima, Crux)