Civil society groups worldwide that support Salvadoran communities and organizations working on mining and environmental issues cheered today’s decision by the ICSID tribunal that Pacific Rim/OceanaGold’s $250 million lawsuit against El Salvador is without merit.  In a ruling released today, the investment tribunal rejected the company’s claims and ordered it to pay $8 million in legal fees and costs to the government of El Salvador...“The fact that Pac Rim – now OceanaGold – could sue El Salvador, when it has never had a licence to operate, is an abuse of process”...“By allowing transnational companies to blackmail governments to try to force them to adopt policies that favor corporations, investor-state arbitration undermines democracy in El Salvador and around the world,”...“Regardless of the outcome, the arbitration has had a chilling effect on the development and implementation of public policy necessary to protect the environment and the human right to water”...“What we have now is a clear example of what is wrong with investor-state-dispute-settlement clauses"..."Let us be clear: El Salvador has not ‘won’ anything in this arbitration. El Salvador had to pay more than $12 million just to defend itself..."