Salvadoran Mining, Redux

(bells ringing) Good afternoon surfers. The tide is high and we are holding on here at Surf City. I am your host, Valerija Vega. We actually recorded this episode a few hours away from the beach this time, high up in the mountains of Coagius. In it, we talked to a young anti-mining activist that grew up in the community of San Pemartam, which if you've been paying attention to Salvador news, you might associate with the topic of mining. In Subbelow itself has a very gnarly history with this model of resource extraction, becoming the first country to ban metal mining in 2017 after more than a decade of struggle, all of it based in San Pemartam. For many years in the mid-2000s, this town of former wartime refugees and this fact will become relevant a little bit later. They fought off a Canadian gold mining company, Pacific Rim, later, Oceana Gold, preventing it from establishing an open pit mine in the area. That struggle, unfortunately, caused a good number of lives and ended up with Oceana Gold suing the entire country of its at-balowed for millions of dollars in lost profits. Fortunately for us, total wipeout for the Canadians. Santa Marta is once again in the news for mining because of the 2023 arrests of the Santa Marta V, prominent local environmental activists charged with alleged war crimes. At their trial, all the evidence presented against them was essentially hearsay, since the excavators digging at the site where the body of the victim was supposedly buried came up with nothing. So in October of 2024, these elderly community leaders were found innocent and the government immediately scheduled a retrial. Two months later, before the next trial could begin, in Tadbalo's historic anti-mining law was repealed after Bukhile tweeted about the country's gold reserves, "Esterriqueza, dada por Dios, puede ser aproecar." So we're talking to Cruz in the aftermath of all this mess, and they got between knowing that mining companies will once again be invading her neighborhood and the beginning of excavation itself. Why is she worried? Why should you be? Let's find out. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Ester. - Ester. - We are coming to you live from Surf City, and we have a very special guest today to talk to us about how Surf City can continue on into the future, and many other things to do with El Salvador's natural resources. We are talking to Cruz. Who's here to say a few things about mining? Hi, Cruz. - How's it going? - Okay, how are you? - Doing pretty well. Thank you for having me here. - Oh, so happy. I'm so happy that we get to do this. Cruz, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you have a lot to say about mining in Enzempo. - As you said, my name is Cruz, and I live in Santa Marta, this community in North El Salvador, which I'm sure many of the people that is listening to these podcasts have heard about before, which has a lot of record against mining, and I've been involved with that anti-mining movement, the ways that it's been possible to me. - How has mining affected, mining or anti-mining affected you as someone from Santa Marta? Well, personally, I feel scared and afraid about a project like that to take place in Enzempo. Since we have very limited sources, like water, lands and stuff, and it is scary to think that such invasive projects can take our water, searches, displace thousands of families, communities from their houses, their lands. - Yeah, I know in that this administration, because administration is currently repressing all the anti-movement activism and how they are targeting youth, environmentalist, community organizers, everyone that has something to say against mining has been repressed, incarcerated, or persecuted in many different ways. Can you give us some examples like who has been repressed and why? For this administration, everyone that has something to say against their script, like mining, its safe, mining will bring a lot of employment and development for Salvador. Everyone that says something against that, is like for this administration, is like they have to silent that. So basically the media that is controlled for this government, that's what they're saying. Like what mining is bringing for Salvador is development, is economical growth. And versus that is the other journalist, the ones that are compromised with the communities, and they're saying the other side of the truth, which is know what mining is going to bring to communities to the people in that lands is just destruction. It's just water contaminated by mercury, by sea and rural. - Sea and night. - And also they've been saying how these will give opportunities, employment opportunities for people, which is true but also at what cost, that will just give severe illness to everyone that gets involved with mining and that type of jobs. And I'm sure that what they will pay to these people will be a misery compared to the destruction that we're doing to their bodies. So saying that allowed, posting that on social media, it's scary. And everyone that does it is like with a lot of courage because there is a record of persecution to anti-mining organizations and even people in particular, like the environmentalist and community organizers from Santa Marta. Like I'm sure some of you have heard about it. The five of Santa Marta who were incarcerated back in 2023. This fake case that they created about a killed person about more than 30 years ago in the war times. And now they're trying to, according to their script is like bringing justice. But in reality, what they want is to silence that voices that are saying that mining is not safe, is not sustainable. That whole situation feels a little crazy to me, right? Because if they're persecuting environmental activists, why are they choosing to do it that way? Why persecut environmental activists with a war crime? The way that we could put this together is not a political case because they're not persecuting to, I mean, five killers and bring up justice. They're persecuting five environmentalists from Cabañas, from Santa Marta and Addes and those people are also five recognized community organizers that have a long trajectory in the defense of water, in the defense of Rio Lempa, even back like 20 years ago in, I mean, yeah, 2004, when Pacific wind was trying to get their permits to exploit mining in San Isidro, Cabañas. So they have target this people from long ago. And just in 2022, when Addes and other organizations made it public that book hell as administrations had the intentions to reopen mining, that's when they create this case and like, no, we have to stop this right now before everybody, like the whole country knows that our actual intentions are to reopen mining and bring our friends from the big companies to attract gold and sailor. - So for folks who are listening who might not know, this had been the claim of the community for quite some time, right? - Yes. - That people were being persecuted for their environmental activism and not for their activities during the war. - Exactly. - These folks were exonerated, they were found innocent in October of last year, right? - Yeah. - And then the government was immediately like, we're appealing. And right when they said that, like a month or two later, they're like, and mining is legal once more in El Salvador. So the time seems a little creepy to me. Right, exactly. Yeah. It was like their whole show was fading and they have to come up and say the truth. Here, this is what we want. So it was too. I was like super mad and like. I couldn't believe because we were celebrating when the curts say like, "Okay, you're free. The five are free." And the whole community, the whole environmentalist movement in El Salvador and outside everyone, the international solidarity would celebrate in that. And just five days later, the fiscal year will not recognize that and they were appealing. Which is totally illegal because that's not the process that you should follow. And now the five are facing another trial, which is against the rule. Like, that's not how the legal process should go. People should not be going to trial twice for the same crime if that's what they're persecuting for. But now that's where we're facing again. And it's not just the five of us on Tammarta all over the country. Other environmentalists and community organizers are facing the same persecution, intimidation. And they've been intimidating the families of the lawyers that are defending other environmentalists. And it's still scary for everyone to raise up their voice and say what they know and the true information about mining. A recent example of the criminalization of environmental activism are the May 2025 arrests of Alejandra Enriquez, a lawyer, and Jose Angel Pérez, a local pastor, who were both accompanying an overnight vigil led by 300 Campesino families of the Coperativa El Bosque, protesting their displacement at the hands of a new logging and development project, coincidentally located just in front of Naíbukhela's gated community, instead of forcing the president to negotiate with the families. The quiet vigil attracted the Umo, the Salvadoran riot police, who broke up the event and began arresting attendees, and prompted Pérez, in a crash out over having to see poor people near his house after clocking out for the day, to begin pushing for the foreign agents law, alleging that global elites should be held responsible for financing this unrest in Enzadvalor. I know that these digital journal El Faro, or focus, La Brugula, and all of them have suffered persecution or intimidation by, at one side, the government, but somehow, is there tentacles that are touching them and scaring them to. Because those are the. some of the journalism that are paying attention to that and sharing the truth about mining and what these administrations intentions are, presenting information that otherwise the population wouldn't have access to, because the officialism wouldn't not share that. We wouldn't know that the Titan mining company from Peru have already bought land in San Isidro to. that this is following their interests and their. like their campaign to make sure that they have their spot there to exploit mining, but that's because journalists and other environmentalists, and people that are organized find that information. Otherwise, the government would not. of course, would not share that. Who else is interested in mining right now? There's a company from Peru who is buying land, do you know what else? So far, I know that this company called Titan from Peru have been approaching land owners from San Isidro and have already bought pieces of land where it's supposed to be. or it's supposed to. like gold have been find there. That's something I could confirm because I saw the articles about it, but then there's other people moving around that have the same interests, like Buchelles family or immediate families and their friends, of course, that have been around. And same as in San Isidro, people have been approaching other areas like in San Sebastien and Launion. I heard that there's military presence already there and a huge machinery which we haven't seen in like more than a decade, but now they're there and taking over the places. We're facing something scary that I'm sure that the anti-mining movement has to stay up in presence and if not, I don't think we'll be able to stop this madness. The 2017 anti-mining law was an effect until the very end of last year. Have there been any active minds at all in the country? Like is any kind of mining allowed or is it just metallic mining? Do you know? Yeah, I was there when the anti-mining law was passed. I was there. You were at the assembly? I was at the assembly. It was such an emotional moment. I remember there were so many organizations there and many other community representations. And when we hear the new that the assembly passed the law, there were tears in everyone's eyes like joy and celebrating. It was such an emotional moment because we knew that in that journey, many great environmentalists died, I mean, were killed like Marseille, Lola, Dota and others. And I was there too when in December 23rd, last year, 2024, the Buchalla assembly passed. You went to the assembly? Yeah, I was there too. And it was a totally different emotion, of course. So this, yeah, very devastating. And of course they did that. And this time that no one will really pay attention to it. If they would hear that, they would like, "Okay, I'll read it later." Or like, "There were more time." Because it was Christmas. And yeah, responding to the other question, I'm not sure if there's like an industrial level mining, I think, it's not. There's at least in San Sebastian and Launion. I know that there's the people that live in the surroundings, they live by, like, how would you call it? Like craft mining. So. The artisanal mining. Yeah, artisanal mining. And besides that, I'm not sure if industrial mining is happening. I will say, "It shouldn't have been because there was a law that prohibits that, the ban's it." But now we're facing the opposite. Like, it's totally allowed. And the government is requesting zeroed nothing of, like, in paperwork, they're not requesting companies for a environmental report of what impact is going to be, how they're gonna fix that, nothing like that. That law, it's like, it has a lot of emptiness in that area, because basically what they want is just to bring huge companies to feel free. Like, this is their farm, and they're free to take whatever, live in just destruction to the communities, and they will take the huge percentage of the minerals. So, what was just approved in December of last year wasn't just repealing the anti-mining law. It was creating a pro-mining law. Exactly. So, it doesn't require environmental studies or anything like that before companies can start working. I mean, they do, but it's like very minimum, I think. And it's crazy to think how the ministerio, the ambiente, will handle that, because there's a major cut to their budget this year. So, how they're gonna do that to work on that facing these huge companies that will be requesting, "Hey, we want to take your goal, your silver, whatever." And how will be this ministerio, how do you say, ministerio? The Ministry of Environment. Yeah, how they will handle all of that, because they don't have the money for a lot of employees or, like, Yeah, sign. and people that has the actual experience and knowledge for it to say like okay you're allowed or you're not you need this or you need that it's like there's no money for oversight exactly yeah what would people be mining for? is it just gold? is it just silver? what kind of resources are companies interested in? as far as I know it's mostly gold and silver that they have a dead to fly and I know Santa Marta itself, the community that you're from has a very particular and long-term history with mining, with gold mining specifically can you say a bit about what happened with the Canadian gold mining company Pacific Rim and sort of how that anti-money movement was created in the first place here well back in 2006 I was just like a 10-year-old girl but I remember that yeah like in my community we were out here about mining and with a very simple vocabulary we were told that that was not viable for any country for no one and we were all here that it was it would bring a lot of contamination because of the mercury that is used that is used to separate the mineral from the rocks and cyanide too I knew that others, the as I was saying, the economic and social development yeah I know that they were leading that movement at that point educating people, informing people about what were the consequences about mining and back in that time mining companies were here like they were already established here they had offices in San Isidro I knew that they had offices and that was Pacific Rim later Oceana gold but with Canadian capital and others in Santa Marta and later some other organizations that it organized in communities not just in cabañas but in other department those were that could also potentially happen and it created a whole movement around around the same time it was the La Mesa Nacional contra la Minería Metálica that would involve also other communities with the same eager to fight mining this is a nationwide coalition yes and ever since I remember Santa Marta and Adiz have been always in the look for that and watching every move of the government to first to bring up that law right the the item mining law that was first in the war to the first country in the war to have a lot like that something that we felt really proud to have and and then trying to protect that because we knew that not everyone not everyone that gets to power had that vision that come in vision to protect our we say Casa Comun our land our territory which is trees the rivers the creeks and everything so we knew that if someone gets to power and doesn't care about that and only cares about the economic part they will put it down and that's what happened with bouquets so we were alert and these other organizations were also alert and now I think it's the this new law that that permits mining had also bring up a wake up call in many many different spaces in in El Salvador like now you can say you can see a lot of youth that are in the call there are organizing rallies there are organizing protests and march against mining which is very like it makes me feel really excited like okay youth are awake youth are paying attention to this to this issue that would affect everyone and it's great to see young leadership in in this spaces and yeah I I heard for example last month there was two rallies in front of the national biblioteca in San Salvador and that was organized by the bosses del futuro which is a like a movement organized for mainly youth and students organizations and same like that there's a lot a lot of other organizations and communities that knowing that we have these projects in the or what is the horizon on the horizon and we have to fight and like even stronger like if we were like kind of low like like a few years ago now we have to stand up and stay like that and resist and fight because a lot like that is just bringing death is like a death sentence for a country like ours that's a pretty strong statement so why why do you say that like what about it so by the way makes it a bad idea to start large scale mining here well let's start with the fact that El Salvador is one of the most dehydrated countries in the whole Americas more than 50% of the population receive water with the lamp over and according to a study that the water forum of the Salvador and it said that if mining were about to happen in in San Salvador it will take 22 million liters of water per second I think so let me let me go the photo of the Lagua is quoted in La Pérez de la Pica alleging that mining in San Salvador would use up 22 million liters of water a day not a second for the leaching process and more than 164 million for extraction. So Cruz was a little off the mark but those are still very scary numbers but even though if it was just for a day that's still like a lot it will take a huge orbital amount of water per second and that's already like something to be scared about there's thousands of communities all over the country that do not have water in their houses and they have to walk kilometers to get water for their basic needs. How often does that happen is that pretty normal that people have to do that. It's been like that yeah because the water system the not like the state water system doesn't really cover that need for the whole population. So instead of investing and that to make water more accessible it's like going the opposite like given to to these projects that will only live destruction so I will say like the main goal here is protecting water if we don't have water there's no life. And is it just an issue of water access are people also concerned about water contamination with metallic mining yes definitely because for as I said before for these kind of projects they need cyanide they need mercury. Why didn't they need it to process it's process that they follow in order to separate the minerals from the huge rocks and stuff. So that's just like an industry standard. Exactly and not just that minerals that's like the main ones but then there's a lot more. The problem is that they don't have a safe process to bring that water like to clean up that water again can you imagine that like it's not it's not possible. So that water that contaminated water with high like death chemics are put into the rivers back into the rivers from the rivers from many communities live from like the youth. that water for their farms, their use that water to drink to, for everything like it's their life. And then in order to make everything fun shun, in that process, as I said before, they need millions of liters of water. So that they, how do you say, as in estos oyos, profundos. They dig deep holes. They dig deep holes that would take the under water, the under, yeah, exactly. So that's destroying the, the reserves of water underground. And it's very exploited because it's like taken millions of liters of water per second, which doesn't leave enough time to the earth to replant it or recover from that. And that would be affecting other like community-generated water projects. And in all of these areas where the water public system doesn't cover their needs, they have these type of holes where they get their water. So having this mine enclosed by, it means that will kill their sources too. From what you're describing, it sounds a bit like fracking in the United States where they pull water directly out of the aquifers. And as you said, creates water scarcity for a lot of communities, but it also makes the ground very unstable. That's a big risk for an area that's as mountainous as here, right? Definitely. And I sure if this new law, I think they were saying that these would not be open, like, open-skut, yeah. But whatever the way it is, it still would be devastating, the lands, the landscapes, the water sources and channels. Can you say a bit more about the effects on public health caused by things like mercury and cyanide? What does that do to people who live in proximity to mining? I think as far as I heard, one of the most common illness would be insufficiency or renal. Can you failure? Yes, because water is contaminated and your kidneys are not processed that, but also cancer. The people in San Sebastien, they have been already experiencing that type of illness. And yes, you mentioned in the United States, like in Virginia, it's been shown how people have been affected by consuming that water that was contaminated, like maybe more than 50 years ago. And in San Sebastien, it's been like 100 years ago that mining took place there. And the remains are still there, the contamination is still there. So it's not like, okay, we get the coal, we get the silver and we'll leave this place and it will like, come on, say, say, regenerate. Regenerate, regenerate. Like itself. The human nature will come back. Exactly. It's not such a trick like that. So the contamination would remain for like centuries as we have seen. San Sebastien is a town in Laonion that had active gold mines for 100 years, from 1904 until 2006. In the 1960s, it was considered one of the most prolific mines in Central America. Today, the soil is irreversibly contaminated and the water is a copper red color, unsafe to drink. Local spend an average of 20% of their income to purchase clean water, and even so, they still suffer from gilian, berets, and drum, and chronic kidney failure. So in short, San Sebastien is kind of the poster child for why mining and inside of Laonion is a bad idea. I find this interesting because so much of what this government is banking on is tourism, right? Yeah. Playing up the beaches and the nagos and how do you think this fits in long term with having natural resources just even to visit, right? Do you think that that, how do you think that these two things work with the big plan of the government, I guess? Yeah, these reminds me of that song, the Bad Bunny song. Go see these say how white. Look at the buzzer how white. I think we are approaching something like that. Because, yeah, in every. Press conference. Press conference that Bukela has, it's always presenting the beaches like the destiny for tourism and presenting these beaches that we're already pretty visited by tourism. Now they're introducing it like the Bitcoin city or beach and then they're renaming these places with their brand. Surf city. Surf city. Yeah, like why? Yeah, everything is like becoming their brand kind of and I think it's not a sustainable way to make tourism. It's not sustainable because like for example, El Tunko that now is surf city, they didn't even have running water before that or a actual like hospital schools and still I was there like not in El Tunko but close by and I was at this restaurant and I asked for the bathroom and they said oh it's not working and I was like why? There's no water. It's been like three days and we don't have water. And I was like really and then how these hotels work and they said they bring these huge pipes and. Yeah, the big water trucks. Yes and they fill up their tanks and these huge pipes they're talking about are the Coca-Cola pipes. Like a La Constancia. La Constancia. Wow. So it's a whole market and all like privatization of everything there and I don't think that it's representing a way to solve the needs that El Salvo other population needs. Because that sounds kind of what they're banking on right? Exactly. Except if we have much less water and our water is more contaminated and the government is not investing in say water filtration plants and improving access and you know expanding the thwerias and da da da da. It sounds like what they're doing is leaving it in the hands of people like Coca-Cola or La Constancia or Avocarista or whatever to be the ones to meet that need. Exactly. And it's very centralized because right now if you put in Google which place is to visit in El Salvo, it will already say just beach and it will be like the ones in the more like oxidant area where they have more control and where all these like international or like foreigners, investors are taking place and privatizing that area. But they will not talk about that much of other places like the mountains in Chalate Nango or other areas that are ruled by communities or community organizations that are also struggling to like keep up their business with like small places that had a lot also to share. But it's just what the government says like this is the way to make tourism in El Salvo because they have control over that area to like what people can see or experience in the country. So you said something to me very interesting when before we started recording which was how do you know all this stuff and it's because you're doing like a whole thesis about water, right? Can you say more about your own research and what you're interested in? Well, I think living in Santa Marta I just get like naturally I get informed about everything and also not just like that but being a person that cares about the environmental issues I think then you get to inform yourself with a lot of different searches and yeah, I'm recently starting writing my thesis for my university. And I am interested in writing the role of women in defending and protecting the Lempah River, not just in El Salvador, but Honduras and Guatemala, because it happens to be that the causes of Lempah are in the three countries. And it happens that in the three countries mining is about to happen or is happening already, like in Guatemala and Honduras. Like in the watersheds of the Lempah River? Exactly. And I saw this book or was it an article that said the anti-mining movement has a face of women. A lot of the spaces have been around, mostly women that are putting up their voices and giving their time and passion to investigate and show up to themselves to the rallies, to the march. And you will see in the pictures as mostly women. I mean, it's great, but also we need the whole country to come up together and defend our house or house that is this land. Why women? Why do you think it's mostly women that you see at the forefront of these anti-mining or sorry pro-water movements? I think there's a basic need and a lot of the country side, like the rural communities, women are the ones that experience the lack of water the most. Like if there's no water at home, they are the ones that are left in charge to bring water to the house, to wash the beaches, to wash the clothes, to have water to drink. So they are the ones that have to walk kilometers to get water from a creek. And we're not talking about clean and processed water from a creek or from a river or from an apostle. And I think, yeah, there's a, there it has a direct impact in women's life. And I think that's one of the reasons that women will come up the most, but also in a lot of the organizations that I've been in contact with, women are the ones that are leading these organizations. It's like that. Have you been surprised with this new pro-mining law? The kinds of people that have started going to rallies or the kinds of people that have started speaking out on social media? Like do you think that the country itself is a lot more concerned about mining now or do you think it's about the same? I will say so. Yeah, because it was true that as soon as the new law was passed, there was a huge rejection. And the government realized like, okay, we fucked up with this. Like people doesn't want mining. And I think this is the first time that there's like a common page where everyone, no matter which party you support, is not about parties. It's like about your health, your water, your, your lands. There's no like party, like political associations is about our lives and lands. And I think this issue brings up a lot of people together to defend and protest about mining. Yeah, I was, I'm asking because I just saw a survey asking people if they feel like El Salvador is an appropriate country for mining. And almost 60% says no, which is kind of surprising because I feel like the government's approval rating is like around 60%. Yeah, that's the, the UCA. Yeah, yeah, it was quite interesting to see that. And I mean, it's great that people have, I've given themselves the chance to, to read or hear a different story, different than what Buchilles has been saying. And, and participated this type in this type of, how do you call it? Enquastas? Yeah, surveys. Service. Just for Fanzis, I want you to, if you want to read this out loud into the microphone, but I was really struck by this comment on, I think it was Leppett and Sagadapica or really, really one of those, you know, publishing a news story about how the mining law was approved. And there was so much fighting happening in the comments. And I don't know, this one really stuck out to me and I feel like it's really emblematic of how people are more or less feeling, right? This is a guy who, well, whatever, you'll read it, you'll read it. Let me see. It says, very disappointed Mr. President, but I'm not going to say whatever I think because I'm very thankful for what you've done for this project. But I will say something. I hope that at the very end, you come to your senses and act that it's only the wise who works correct. Don't erase what you're left hand. Why, your right hand is working on it and vice versa. As for me, you'll always have my respect. Yeah, it's like in the way of like, we support you, but also freeze, make sure like you're doing the right thing. Like this is not something that we support. Yeah, this feels very to me like Trump voters currently in the United States who have gotten fired from their jobs. I voted for you three times. I think you're so smart. I think what you're doing is great for this country, but please recognize that this was a stupid move and I feel that you know better. You know, it's still like a lot of faith in the government, but also like you fucked up. Yeah, you fucked up. Yeah, that's a lot of the comments that we've been seeing lately, which is, I mean, hold it, keep it. When it's time to vote, kick out the smell. Because if they didn't care at all, approving a lot like this, which is again like death sentence. Imagine what else they can do. Like now with that majority of the assembly and now they they have changed the constitution. Like they can basically perpetuate itself in the power for decades if they want. We're not really yet. I mean, there's still time to change something and kick out these people out and do something better for our country. And I think mine in thing and everybody's had like these governments not caring about our needs and they're saying like we need development. They're investing in that, but they're doing major cuts in the national budget to education system, the health system. So how like it's a contradictory speech. And people are paying attention to that. And that's a lot because of mine and have bring up that type of like comments in there in the same social media as of the country. I can at least that would never say something serious about it. Like it's always joking about every rally. They go and take a picture like the earliest part of the rally and they're like, yeah, they're joking about it. Like, oh, look at that. It didn't work. And these like 10 people are the ones that are against mining, which in reality like they were just there early. But these are the social media that now people are also doing a different, they're commenting differently versus like what like before this new law. Everything was like a man to everything like Bukheli will post a man and a man and now like I've been seeing a lot of comments that said no mining and we support you and we carry you. We love you, president, but no mining. So I hope that people would not forget this because it's easy to forget how much damage those administrations have been doing to our country. And by the time that elections come like a lot of this is forgotten and tricks like that thing that Bukheli did at the beginning of the year like, okay, we'll pay your bills for this month. It's like right after they approve that law like, okay, let me let me please you. We'll pay your bills this month. So then people will like forget like you did this atrocity, but no people are really like understood that that was their trick. And like yes, they will do stuff like that by the time of the elections. So I hope people keep this in their head and also show up to marches to rallies to everything that the neither presence there and yes. stand up and no mining in El Salvador. Thank you so much, Cruz. This is so informative and also very energizing. So I appreciate you being on the podcast today. I mean, it's always great to know that this information will blend to people that probably have hear little or nothing about it, or have missed conceptions about it. Probably people will just heard the other version of what mining will bring up to El Salvador. And yeah, I'm always pleased to share what I know. You feel it's little. Yeah. No, I appreciate you so much for sharing your knowledge and definitely encouraging the sinners to keep informed about this issue, because if you still want to keep visiting the Madhya Bhatya or whatever, you should be able to do it without having a drink side night. Exactly. No mining. No mining. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] The Santa Marta 5 were again found not guilty on all charges during their second trial in September of last year. However, to avoid what they felt was an unjust double jeopardy, the five refused to ever appear in court. That same month, Alejandro and Jose Angel were released on parole after pleading guilty to the charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. So far, about three different mining corporations have registered and installed by the Law since mining was reinstated at the end of 2024. In addition to Tithen, who already owns land and going yes. The new law, however, only allows the Salvadoran government to begin exploiting mines. So we might take the stilly in exploitation as a sign that negotiations over possible private public partnerships are still ongoing. Why go this route instead of just auctioning off mines to the highest bidder? Tune in next time, surfers, to learn about why the Salvadoran government is so cash-strapped. And just how coped to the Salvadoran economy really is. Are the musicist things to the talents of Raco Cuesanova, George Viero, and Guilla? Salud. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]