A conflict over gold mining in El Salvador reveals that Cafta [Central American Free Trade Agreement] and similar deals may enable private firms to circumvent environmental laws….Vancouver-based Pacific Rim company says it has discovered gold deposits in El Salvador and wants to extract them…[El Salvador] did not accept Pacific Rim's environmental impact statement…Pacific Rim filed a claim under a provision in Cafta…to take El Salvador to an arbitral panel at the World Bank and sue the government for damages. Pacific Rim claims that El Salvador is obliged to let the firm start extracting gold...Canada is not a party to Cafta. So, Pacific Rim filed its lawsuit via its US subsidiary…The lawsuit has accentuated conflicts over mining in El Salvador. Since it was filed, three anti-mining activists have been killed...Analysts predict that a loss for the government could encourage other…similar claims.