San Salvador, June 11 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The first ever Citizen Observatory for El Salvador was created on Monday by around 50 farm associations from the coffee region of Usulutan in an effort “to defend the environment against impunity” they claim multinational companies enjoy when operating in the country.

“(We’ve gone from) being the victims of our poverty to the protagonists of our change,” stated farm leader and member of the Observatory, German Melendez.

The organizations represent about 30,000 farmers with their families living in the region. “In the past, they used to tell us the winter was bad because God wanted it, and we bent our heads down. Now we don't. What is ending our lives are the ill practices of multinationals,” he added.

In less than four years,“we have managed to paralyze the activity of three companies, initiate the creation of an environment agency in each city hall, and above all, create a strong link between all of them,” the activist added. “Mentalities could finally change after years of training and meetings.” More than of 75 percent of the land in Usulutan belongs to big coffee farmers. In the municipality of Berlin, a two-years mobilization of local farms managed to halt the activities of the Alubia company, which was selling bottled water from a natural spring near the houses of 97 families.

“In this area, without water we are dead,” said leader of the Observatory Gregorio Flores. Yet, after two years of constant mobilization, despite alleged death threats and lawsuits to activists from the company, the city hall finally signed an agreement to prohibit the creation of new wells in the future.