Weekly Report - 10 January 2008 (ISSN 1741-7422)

EL SALVADOR | Church denounces mining. The Roman Catholic Church has launched a fierce attack against a proposed reform of the mining law, put forward by the right-wing Partido de Conciliación Nacional (PCN), which is designed to open up the mining sector to increased foreign investment. Fespad, a non-governmental human-rights organisation, sent the legislative assembly another proposal to outlaw mining in El Salvador. Gregorio Rosa Chávez , the auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, insisted that the country was too over-populated for mining to be viable. At least two Canadian companies have reportedly proposed exploring for gold in the north of the country. Chávez said that Archbishop Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, who has a BA in chemistry, explained that the cyanide used to dissolve gold from finely crushed ore would contaminate the water supply in the north, which feeds the rest of the country.

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