ADES Santa Marta - March promoted by the Catholic Church pushes deputies to commit to approving the anti-mining law before Semana Santa

Published: March 11 2017

Environmental organizations together with hundreds of people, accompanied the Catholic Church to the Legislative Assembly to demand a law that prohibits metallic mining.

The Archbishop of San Salvador, Monseñor Escobar Alas, at the head of the mobilization, delivered a petition with 30,500 signatures to the Legislative Assembly, demanding the prohibition on mining. “This is a historic day where the church comes graciously to make a request on behalf of the Salvadoran people…. They have the will to approve, hopefully unanimously, the mining prohibition in our country,” said Monseñor Escobar Ala

The President of the Legislative Assembly, Guillermo Gallegos, along with ARENA deputy René Portillo Cuadra and Representative Norma Guevara from the FMLN, committed publicly to obey the people’s order and begin in the next few days the discussion about the proposal for the law to prohibit metallic mining.

The Archbishop said he was expressing the sentiment and will of the people. “We are worried about the threat of mining, being that our country is so small and so populated, it would be fatal,” he added.

Leadership organization and incidence

Throughout 23 years of community work, ADES Santa Marta has been accompanied by organizations, churches, national and international social groups, with whom, through cooperation and strategic partnerships, we have been able to carry out our community development initiatives.

The fields in which we have focused the most are education, community organizing and popular communication, solidarity economics, health, and organic agriculture.

Esther Ávalos Mesa

Invitation to the Utopia

I couldn’t avoid it. The famous words of Galeano were frolicking in my memory this Sunday as I attended the impressive Utopia Festival, brought to life by the Asociación de Desarrollo Económico y Social Santa Marta (ADES) and carried out by the youth from Cabañas and Cuscatlán. It took place in the Santa Marta Community Center.

Leadership, organization and incidence

Promote inclusive and horizontal leadership, with an emphasis on women and youth, that strengthen community organization. • Promote processes of political incidence, vindication of human rights and defense of the territories, in alliance with social movements.

Food sovereignty and agroecology

Promote the adoption of an agroecological model that contributes to the achievement of sustainable local agricultural systems that optimize and stabilize production, as the basis of food sovereignty.

Comprehensive water and sanitation management

Strengthen community participation in improving water and sanitation management, contributing to the exercise of the human right to water.