A group of environmental organizations demanded that the governments of Guatemala and El Salvador stop the Cerro Blanco mining projectwhich threatens to contaminate the Lempa River, the longest in Central America.
Within the framework of World Earth Day, which is celebrated this April 22, the Roundtable Against Metal Mining in El Salvador pointed out that the Central American region has 23 international basins, which connect 40% of the territory, and currently They have identified 50 areas of mining interest in these shared basins.
“The most advanced project that threatens to contaminate the Lempa River basin is the Cerro Blanco mine, owned by the Canadian company Bluestone Resources. (…) environmental organizations alert the authorities that open pit mining is one of the most polluting industries on the planet and lethal to human health,” they said in a statement.
The Cerro Blanco mine is located 5 kilometers from the town of Asunción Mita in Guatemala and 15 kilometers from the border with El Salvador. For 24 years, the intention to extract gold and silver underground was unsuccessful.
For this reason, the company in charge processed a new exploitation permit in 2017, this time using the open-air method.
Five days before ending his mandate, the government of Alejandro Giammattei authorized exploitation under this method, something that the new government of Bernardo Arévalo seeks to reverse.
“The current position of the Ministry of the Environment is to seek the annulment of the environmental instrument and therefore the environmental license of the Cerro Blanco mining project,” said Vice Minister of the Environment, José Rodas, in a meeting in the Guatemalan Congress.
According to the official, they are evaluating the technical documents that were presented for the implementation of the mining project.
El Salvador, whose position had been distant from the issue, spoke out on January 24 when the company was authorized to open pit extraction.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Alexandra Hill, expressed to the Guatemalan ambassador to El Salvador, Rubén Estuardo Nájera, “the high concern” of his government around the mining project, and committed to increasing bilateral dialogue.
Several environmental organizations held an aquatic protest on April 19, on the border of Lake Güija, in El Salvador.
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