“God placed a gigantic treasure under our feet.” This is how the top leader of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, referred to the recent gold deposit discovered in the small Central American country. An untapped quarry that It could contain about 50 million ounces, which would be the equivalent of 131.5 million dollars.
However, the irony was that this new discovery was made in the first country that prohibited mining exploitation by law. A decision voted in 2017 with 69 votes in favor of Salvadoran parliamentarians and none against (or abstention) and that turned El Salvador into a pioneering country in search for new sustainable mining exploitation modelsas is already practiced by others such as Norway, which prioritizes the revitalization of its rivers, lakes, forests and natural environment.
From ‘no to ‘yes’
However, from the first moment, Bukele announced the Government’s intention to repeal this “absurd” law to allow gold exploitation completely, and that has been the case. On December 23, and as a New Year’s gift, Congress approved the General Metallic Mining Law by which the activity of the sector is permitted again.
“If we make responsible exploitation of our natural resources, we can change the economy of El Salvador overnight.”
The new measure, which contains 35 items, It was approved with the votes of 57 deputies out of 60 in Congress and annuls the Metallic Mining Prohibition Law, approved in March 2017.
In his articles, he establishes that it will be the State “the only one authorized to exploit, attract and process” said wealth, but may do so through “institutions specifically created” for this purpose or “companies in which it has a shareholding.”
However, some divisions of Salvadoran society are already calling for the repeal of the new law. The endorsement of the regulations, proposed by the Bukele Government, has been approved despite the rejection of environmentalistscommunity organizations, the Catholic Church and universities for the impact that this practice would have on the deteriorated Salvadoran environment
Health effects
On the one hand, the Catholic priests of El Salvador requested the veto after considering that “the main concern of the Coopesa priests is the impact that mining extraction will have on water and all types of animal and plant life.”
“With Pope Francis we consider that ‘access to safe and drinkable water is a basic human right.’‘fundamental and universal, because it determines the survival of people, and therefore is a condition for the exercise of other human rights’,” they noted.
They also called “on evangelical pastors, religious leaders, faithful in general and people of good heart, to defend life by creatively seeking forms of organization, awareness and resistance” and “to speak out energetically so that the President of the Republic vetoes said Law.”
“Catholic deputies should not renounce their Christian identity and can apply, as Monsignor Romero did, conscientious objection to a law that violates their principles,” the religious maintained, adding that “Economic development is important for our society, but not at the expense of the health and lives of citizens.”
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