Anti-mining organizer Marcelo Rivera has been missing since June 18, community members in San Isidro, El Salvador have reported. Rivera is a leader of the movement against a Pacific Rim gold mine near his community, representative of the community organization Amigos De San Isidro Cabañas and member of the community’s Board of Directors for the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) party.

Community members have begun staging protests demanding that the government act

Political murders and disappearances have been on the rise in El Salvador, an enduring legacy of violence from the country’s civil war.

If you have any information, please contact ASIC immediately at asic.org@gmail.com.

UPDATE (June 28 2009): Pacific Rim has been exploring for gold in the El Dorado mine located in Cabañas and is currently suing El Salvador under the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) because the government has refused to grant the company permits to begin gold mining extraction.

Open Pit Mine in Panama