SOLICITUD DE PERMISO PARA PROCEDER COMO AMICI CURIAE

The document is a request and supporting brief from a coalition of Salvadoran civil society organizations (La Mesa) seeking to intervene in the Pac Rim Cayman LLC v. Republic of El Salvador arbitration. The authors argue that the claim is an abuse of process and that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction because the conflict is fundamentally a political debate about metal mining and sustainable development, not a legal dispute over a specific government measure. They highlight severe environmental risks associated with the El Dorado mine, including threats to the Lempa River basin and local aquifers, and document a pattern of violence and intimidation against anti-mining activists in El Salvador.

• The amici argue that the dispute is not a 'legal difference' under Article 25 of the ICSID Convention or a 'measure' under Article 10.1 of the CAFTA-DR, but rather a reflection of Pac Rim's dissatisfaction with El Salvador's shift toward public policies that recognize the environmental and social harms of metal mining.
• The document asserts that Pac Rim's claim constitutes an abuse of process because the company reorganized its legal structure to move from the Cayman Islands to the United States in December 2007 specifically to gain the benefits of the CAFTA-DR treaty after its environmental impact assessment (EIA) had already been rejected.
• The brief claims that the true conflict is between Pac Rim and organized local communities, and that the company is using the arbitration forum to bypass these communities, who have no standing in the proceedings.
• Technical review of the El Dorado mine's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) by Dr. Robert E. Moran found it lacked critical baseline data on water quantity and quality and failed to adequately assess the risks of rock acid drainage and seismic events.
• The proposed El Dorado mine poses significant risks to the Lempa River basin, which provides drinking water for approximately half of El Salvador's 6 million people, and threatens local aquifers through the planned use of 2 tons of cyanide per day.
• The document reports a pattern of violence against environmental defenders in El Salvador, including the torture and murder of Marcelo Rivera in June 2009, the killing of Ramiro Rivera and 13-year-old Felicita Echevarría in December 2009, and the murder of pregnant Dora Alicia Recinos Sorto on December 26, 2009.
• The amici allege that Pac Rim employed a 'divide and conquer' strategy, using intense lobbying of national officials and providing up to $1 million annually in discretionary payments to local initiatives and mayors to secure a 'social license to operate'.

APA

Orellana, M. A., Marr, A., & Gross, S. G. (2011). SOLICITUD DE PERMISO PARA PROCEDER COMO AMICI CURIAE. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/Publications/PAC_RIM_Amicus_2Mar11_Spa.pdf

Chicago

Orellana, Marcos A., Aaron Marr, and Stuart G. Gross. SOLICITUD DE PERMISO PARA PROCEDER COMO AMICI CURIAE. Center for International Environmental Law, 2011. https://www.ciel.org/Publications/PAC_RIM_Amicus_2Mar11_Spa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Orellana |first1=Marcos A. |last2=Marr |first2=Aaron |last3=Gross |first3=Stuart G. |title=SOLICITUD DE PERMISO PARA PROCEDER COMO AMICI CURIAE |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=2 March 2011 |url=https://www.ciel.org/Publications/PAC_RIM_Amicus_2Mar11_Spa.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{orellana2011solicitud, author = {Orellana, Marcos A. and Marr, Aaron and Gross, Stuart G.}, title = {{SOLICITUD DE PERMISO PARA PROCEDER COMO AMICI CURIAE}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/Publications/PAC_RIM_Amicus_2Mar11_Spa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }