el salvador: fostering community resistance to corporate exploitation
El Salvador’s history is a paradoxical one, filled with struggle and hope. After 12 years of brutal civil war ending with the 1992 Peace Agreements, and with major inequalities between rich and poor, El Salvador nonetheless persists with a neoliberal agenda at the expense of social policies. This has promoted privatization, dollarization, free trade agreements, transnational corporate (TNC) control over electricity supply, pension funds and phone services, and worsening social and ecological conflicts. Plan Puebla Panamá further entails mega-projects which will tap out the country’s remaining natural resources.
To help counter these forces, Friends of the Earth El Salvador / CESTA began a public awareness-raising program to expose how vested interests working with TNC projects will have major consequences for El Salvadorians and their environment. At the same time, FoE El Salvador aims to support community’s struggles and to influence government decision making.
what happened: FoE El Salvador began a campaign to inform the public about TNCs operating in their country. This includes the corporations’ plans, projects, areas of operation, and the social-ecological impacts they generate. The campaign produced a series of educational materials, including a poster on corporate tourism, radio programs on mining and food sovereignty, and two public forums on corporate investments, which drew hundreds of participants. Five press conferences were organized, each receiving coverage from about eight media outlets, and participation in 10 radio and TV programs allowed the group to air concerns on corporate trade and planned mega-projects.
During a visit of the international Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group), FoE El Salvador organised seminars, meetings with San Salvador’s municipal government, Parliament, and other NGOs, to expose the power of TNCs in the agri-food sector.
FoE El Salvador also strengthened the capacity of communities, including those in Sitio del Niño, La Unión, Carolina and San Antonio El Mosco, to address current and future environmental conflicts. Sitio Del Niño has been affected by lead contamination, recently detected in 45 out of 234 children, in addition to 80 more who were previously identified. The population manifests health problems including high incidence of leukaemia and various other types of cancer, kidney disease and anaemia.
As for the Carolina and San Antonio El Mosco communities, they continue to oppose the mega dam El Chaparral, which would displace many peasant families, and cause numerous other social and ecological impacts.
In the department of La Unión, local communities are opposing a coal power plant planned by the US transnational AES (which owns four of El Salvador’s five energy supply companies) and a gas power plant planned by Cutuco Energy. Both plants will contribute to climate change, and will most likely generate health problems. FoE El Salvador has assisted these communities to organize two National Forums on environmental conflicts, which exposed the communities’ plights and demands to participants, the media, and to the Human Rights Attorney. FoE El Salvador also supported a demonstration to pressure authorities to take action.
Another area of work has been strengthening local economies through sustainable production systems and fair trade initiatives. Agro-ecological systems were developed as an alternative to industrialized, corporate-controlled agriculture, and hand-crafted products were promoted, reflecting the belief that stronger local economies will better resist corporate trade.
Other such actions included demanding the Consumer Protection Law be enforced; a forum on the right to food and agro-fuels’ impacts on food sovereignty; and a festival to promote the exchange of local seeds.
what is changing: FoE El Salvador’s intervention allowed affected communities to better consolidate their organization and actions. One flow-on effect was the closure of a battery factory which polluted Sitio del Niño with lead. As for awareness-raising initiatives, the growing opposition of Carolina and San Antonio El Mosco communities delayed the construction work of El Chaparral hydroelectric dam, and the same result was seen in La Union department for the AES and Cutuco Energy projects. Local initiatives and struggles also gained worldwide coverage though Real World Radio, and were promoted through the internet.
what we learned: People who are better informed about mega-projects’ impacts, and the corporate interests behind them, become better citizens in that they can actively engage in public debates and press conferences, and apply pressure to the government. Such people are able to question development models which centre on profits and undermine peoples' rights.
Indeed, raising public awareness about the importance of defending territories and livelihoods has “very significant results,” according to the José Simeón Cañas University. Its research showed that 80 percent of the population opposes mining development, the positive outcomes of some struggles against TNC projects, and local initiatives for sustainable production systems and fair trade.
what next: For the remainder of this five-year project on Corporations and International Trade (2006 -2010), FoE El Salvador will focus on as-yet unachieved goals. This includes drafting a plan for political-ecological advocacy and education; engaging local governments in affected communities and fostering their understanding of grassroots struggles; improving coordination with the Trade and Environmental Sustainability campaign, and strengthening campaigns which promote consumption of ecological products. One specific goal is to strengthen the “Central America is Not for Sale” regional campaign.
with thanks to our funders: the swedish society for nature conservation.
