The ACT Alliance El Salvador Forum backs and supports the Water Forum and the Salvemos Valle El Ángel Collective, communities, and rural water boards in their request for preventative measures against the Salvadoran State for failing to protect the human rights to a healthy environment, water, life, personal integrity, and others before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
Due to the illegality of the Ciudad Valle El Ángel urban development project and others in the entire northern fringe of the San Salvador Volcano and the seriousness of the damage caused by these projects to the environment and to the communities that reside there, the Churches and member organizations of the El Salvador Forum of the ACT Alliance have carried out prophetic, legal and political actions before the different instances that make up the Salvadoran legal system, with the purpose of announcing, alerting, denouncing and, finally, protecting the aquifers of the Chacalapa River, Valle El Ángel , Rio San Antonio and del Playón in San Juan Opico.
To date, legal-political actions have been carried out in instances such as the Environmental Chamber, investigation notices before the Attorney General, complaints before the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), letters to the Council of Mayors of the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador (COAMSS), complaints to the Municipalities of Nejapa, Apopa, Quezaltepeque, San Juan Opico; letters to the National Administration of Aqueducts and Sewers (ANDA), unconstitutionality claims and writ of protection filed by El Foro del Agua and El Colectivo Salvemos Valle El Ángel before the Constitutional Chamber, among others.
The El Salvador Forum and its member organizations condemn that the result of these actions has been favorable to business and economic groups and negative for the interests of the vulnerable population, particularly, considering that even though the request for amparo was admitted, the constitutional court did not decree the precautionary measures that the communities requested. An example of this was the resolution of November 5, 2021, issued by the Constitutional Chamber, where it notified the organizations of the admission of the amparo claim, favoring large extractive urban planning companies, so that they could continue with the work of their projects.
As the El Salvador Forum, we accompany and support the request for precautionary measures that the Water Forum and the Salvemos Valle El Ángel Collective have presented to the IACHR, a request that has a deeply human, Christian and citizen character, but above all of maximum urgency given the situation of irreparable damage due to the progress of various projects carried out in the territory, such as: 1. Ciudad Valle el Ángel urban project; 2. Valle Dulce urban project; 3. Project Center for Adoration of the Virgin of Fatima; 4. Paseo del Prado Urban Project -Phase III; 5. Expansion of Integration Plaza; and 6. Roundabout integration overpass.
The El Salvador Forum of the ACT Alliance requests that the environmental permits for the six projects listed in this statement be suspended. It also pledges to keep spreading the good news and condemning actions that harm families’ livelihoods, agro-industrial activities, agriculturally productive soils, and the replenishment of aquifers that are essential to life.
