On January 11, 2023, the Salvadoran Attorney General charged five renowned water defenders from the community of Santa Marta and the Association for Social and Economic Development of El Salvador (ADES) with an alleged crime committed 35 years ago during that country’s 12-year civil war.

Soon after their detention, members of the Santa Marta community accompanied by environmental organizations denounced that these detentions were not intended to bring justice to victims of the war. Instead, the attorney general was pursuing spurious charges against ex-guerrilla combatants who had become prominent water defenders that led the fight which prohibited metals mining in El Salvador in 2017.

In October 2024, after a long legal defense campaign that denounced a series of irregularities with the proceedings, a tribunal in the district of Sensuntepeque declared the five water defenders innocent. The ruling confirmed that the Attorney General had not provided evidence of the existence of a crime. However, the ruling was overturned a month later by a Criminal Appeals Chamber who ordered retrial.

International Allies Against Mining is a coalition of organizations from the US, Canada and Australia that have carried out research and advocacy with civil society organizations in El Salvador in their fight to protect their scarce water resources. Since January 2023, International Allies has provided accompaniment to the community of Santa Marta in their pursuit of justice for their water defenders.

For further information please contact:

John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, johnc@ips-dc.org, (202) 297-4823
Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies, olivia@ips-dc.org
Manuel Perez Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies, manuel@ips-dc.org