IRTF News

Hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans still lack access to potable water in their homes and many more go days without water due to existing scarcity and contamination of rivers, lakes, and streams—all of which would be exacerbated by renewed mining operations, now allowable due to the government’s repeal of its ban on large-scale metallic mining in December 2024. Since that time, the government has increased its use of the penal system to persecute those who peacefully exercise their right to organize for environmental protections of the nation’s drinking water.

Since December 2024, Catholic and Protestant churches and faith-based civic organizations have been mobilizing their opposition to the repeal. In March 2025, the archbishop of San Salvador presented petitions signed by 150,000 people urging repeal of the December 2024 law. In May, the Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church in El Salvador reiterated its opposition to metallic mining in a pastoral letter, emphasizing that access to water is a fundamental human right and a shared inheritance entrusted to all people by God.

We echo the popular social movement in El Salvdaor—backed by church leaders—and urge that the government:

(1) reinstate the ban on metallic mining

(2) heed the call of church leaders and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor to  end the persecution and criminalization of those defending the right to clean water

(3) drop all criminal charges against water defenders and human rights lawyer

Dear RRN member:

During the 2023 presidential election season, grassroots organizations called for a National Strike in Guatemala. Indigenous leaders played a major role in organizing protests to protect voters’ rights and demanded the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras (sanctioned by the US for her corruption). The Kaqchikel authority of Sololá was one of the first to organize, participating in a protest in front of the Public Ministry (MP) that would create a domino effect throughout the country.

On August 23, 2025, Esteban Toc Tzoy, the former deputy mayor of the Kaqchikel Indigenous Municipality of Sololá, was arrested while driving to a medical appointment. His arrest follows that of fellow Indigenous leaders Héctor Cháclan and Luis Pacheco from the 48 Cantons of Totonicapán, who were arrested in April and remain in pretrial detention on similar charges (cf our letter of 04 MAY 2025). Indigenous authorities believe Toc Tzoy’s arrest and criminalization is an act of retaliation for having filed a legal complaint demanding Porras’ resignation. After an initial hearing on September 5, Toc Tzoy was granted conditional release (placed under house arrest), yet he remains unjustly indicted for terrorism among other crimes.

The use of anti-terrorism laws to criminalize Indigenous leaders for protesting injustice has become a common tactic employed by Guatemala’s Public Ministry. We are urging that authorities follow the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee relating to the use of terrorism charges and guarantee due process and integrity in Toc Tzoy’s case.