More than 100 leaders from communities in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala met for the “Community Struggles for the Defense of our Land and Life” forum.

In this meeting space, the participants learned about strategies for confronting mining, shared their potable water situations in their communities, and posed possible strategies to guarantee the human right to water in our communities.

Pablo Ayala, journalist with Radio Victoria, shared an overview of the mining fight, from it’s beginnings to the approval of the law, calling for unity across borders in defense of our rights.

“The struggle calls us to all communities, understanding the particulars of every country, but also understanding that the defense of our common goods is not distinct to religion or political party,” said Pablo.

Communities from Victoria, Sensuntepeque, Guacotecti, and San Isidro in Cabañas; Suchitoto in Cuscatlán; communities south of the Cordillera del Bálsamo (in between the departments of Libertad and Sonsonate); representatives from COPINH in Honduras and the community of San Rafael Las Flores in Guatemala participated in the forum.

All of the communities are facing problems accessing water, mainly due to business interests in privatizing the resource and installing companies that promote community divisions. These factors make all the more necessary a popular articulation of human rights defense mechanisms.