Canadian profit at the expense of human suffering : an analysis of the El Dorado mine in El Salvador

• Main Author: Angel-Mira, Jorge
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/44445

The El Dorado gold mine in Cabañas, El Salvador, is regarded as one of the most controversial mining projects in the Americas given the disastrous contaminating effects it will have on the Lempa River, the largest in the country. The role of international organizations, including the World Bank and the Canadian government, is often overlooked in this contamination process. In fact, most Canadians are unaware of their own participation in this mining project and praise extracting companies as champions for international economic development, job creation, material progress, and social programs. In this thesis, I explore the damaging implications of mining disguised as economic development. I examine how this so-called development project, rather than improving the living conditions of the people in San Isidro, is actually degrading their environment, disrupting their social fabric, bringing them illness, and even causing them death, among other calamities.