This March 11 marks 14 months since the capture of five environmental leaders from the Santa Marta Community and ADES in San Isidro, Cabañas. The community denounces a “judicial persecution” without evidence and demands his freedom.
In the early morning of January 11, 2023, Miguel Ángel Gómez, Alejandro Laínez García, Pedro Antonio Rivas Laínez, Saúl Agustín Rivas Ortega and Teodoro Antonio Pacheco were captured by a police-military operation. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses them of an alleged event that occurred during the armed conflict, based on a witness with contradictory testimony and an exhumation that did not find bone remains.
The community and ADES maintain that environmentalists are victims of a «manipulation and instrumentalization of the judicial system» to criminalize the defense of the environment and reactivate metal mining in El Salvador. Despite the lack of evidence, the Prosecutor’s Office has presented a new accusation and the preliminary hearing has been scheduled for April 3.
The Santa Marta Community and ADES demand that the Court of Second Instance of Sensuntepeque decree the definitive dismissal of the case due to lack of evidence and the immediate release of the five leaders. They call on social organizations, activists and environmental defenders to join and demand the freedom of environmentalists. «It is time to raise our voices for justice and the defense of water and life»they expressed.
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