# Silencing Activists: How an El Savador Cold Case Murder Became a Tool to Criminalize Activism

An episode of [Drilled](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1439735906), 17 Jul 2024, 39 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/SxlTEPDY7xDg35RXkASs/pdrl.fm/3e5572/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/9a7ab5ee-ce11-48ff-a544-b3ec00ea9b1e/1d69b345-d2cf-4f4c-bce6-b3ec00ee6751/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=7f82f371-6316-4ea6-a108-b3ec00ea9b2d

In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to pass an outright ban on mining to protect the country's water and people. Now, self-proclaimed "coolest dictator in the world" Nayib Bukele seeks to lift the ban in an effort to boost the economy, which took a major hit thanks to his embrace of Bitcoin as the national currency in 2021. The activists who helped pass the ban are standing in his way. The solution? Accuse them of a decades-old unsolved murder. Reporter Sebastian Escalon brings us this story, narrated by Yessenia Funes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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