Photo of degraded watershed in San Salvador, El Salvador, which causes runoff and erosion during heavy rainfall and increase ground water recharge by CityAdapt courtesy of the UNEP via flickr.
El Salvador: Yes to Life, No to Mining Campaign
On March 18, church leaders in El Salvador presented 150,000 signatures of citizens to the Legislative Assembly on March 18, urging the restoration of the metal mining ban.
The “Yes to Life, No to Mining” campaign opposes the recent law overturning the ban, primarily due to fears that mining will contaminate the country’s largest water source, an area that begins in the northern part of the country and connects to the Lempa River.
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban metal mining. When the Legislative Assembly overturned the ban in 2024, the country’s bishops stated: “It is an action that contravenes the will of the people and ignores the victory achieved in 2017, when a law banning mining was passed to protect the life and health of our nation.”
Opposition to the law does not come solely from the Catholic Church. Environmentalists, students, local and national organizations, as well as various other Christian churches have joined their voices in calling on the authorities to reverse the 2024 decision. A December 2024 opinion poll conducted by the Jesuit University of Central America found that the majority of Salvadorans say the country is “not suitable” for mining and oppose it.
Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador told reporters at the delivery of the petition signatures:
“We are not motivated by political or economic power, nor by the interests of large capitalists inside or outside the country. We do this for the common good, for the most vulnerable. We know that mining would bring irreparable harm to a country as small and populous as ours. That’s why we act together with the people and with all those who have wanted to join us, regardless of religion. We have faith that we will be heard. We don’t know what will happen, but we trust in God. That’s why we have also held days of prayer and fasting, and we will continue forward.”
Describing the demonstration and petition delivery as a “pastoral and moral act,” the archbishop said they were there to offer a “peaceful and humble, but firm” call and warning about the harm that mining would cause to the country.
After the presentation of the signatures, the bishops visited the tomb of Saint Oscar Romero to ask for his intercession.