About a thousand people protested in San Salvador this Sunday, January 19, against the General Law of Metallic Mining, which was approved on Dec. 23, 2024, in haste and without debate. This protest was the largest against the law since it was announced by de facto President Nayib Bukele in November. During the rally, the Catholic Church and the organization Cristosal circulated sheets for attendees to sign a petition for the repeal of the law. Cristosal has announced the filing of a lawsuit for unconstitutionality of the law.
The sit-in was convened in early January on TikTok and in Facebook groups where memes unrelated to political issues are posted. Protestors gathered along the façade of the National Library of El Salvador, a building that the government has used visually as a symbol of progress. University students, senior citizens, environmentalists, and members of feminist and LGBTIQ+ organizations attended. Environmental leaders from Cabañas also came. Cabañas has become an icon of the anti-mining struggle that pushed for the mining ban passed unanimously in the Legislative Assembly in 2017. Ricardo Navarro, a historic environmental leader, said it was a day of hope because the youth had turned out and called for the formation of a national youth coordination. A Central American University (UCA) poll in December revealed that 59 percent of Salvadorans believe the country is not suitable for metal mining. Demonstrators chanted anti-Bukele slogans: At one point they jumped and called out, “Whoever does not jump is Bukelista.”
A group of policemen observed the activity and took pictures from the corner of the library, in front of the National Palace. But the sit-in ended without incident around noon. Government spokespersons mocked the protest. Congresswoman Alexia Rivas, of the ruling party Nuevas Ideas, published on X a photo of a cycling race organized by the government that was held this same Sunday and wrote: “When a bike ride draws a bigger crowd, I rest my case.” Then, Rivas acknowledged the diversity of the march in a message apparently addressed to the religious: “What hurts most is to see them with a pro-abortion NGO... but that does not outrage them and for that they do not collect signatures.” An advisor to the official party, Silvio Aquino, also chimed in online: “The same crowd in the same failed marches. For now we will have to put up with them a little in these networks,” he wrote. “Patience and trust. What is coming is really big.”
