By Kevin McCauley
Pacific Rim Mining Corp., which has been involved in a long-running legal squabble with El Salvador over its flagship El Dorado gold property, has hired the firm of veteran politico Otto Reich for input on foreign trade and investment issues.
Human rights and environmentalists have alleged abuses at the El Dorado project, which has held up the permitting process.
Pacific Rim denies the charges and claims its desired expansion at El Dorado could add 700 much needed jobs in the impoverished Central American country.
The case is now before the International Centre for Settlement of International Disputes, a D.C.-based arm of the World Bank.
Reich served in the Reagan and both Bush administrations in the capacity of assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he was responsible for economic aid to Latin American and the Caribbean; ambassador to Venezuela, and special envoy to the western hemisphere.
Vancouver-headquartered Pacific Rim also has a stake in the Hog Ranch gold mine in Nevada. |