2019 Constitutional challenge to decree modifying Montaña de Botaderos National Park

On 25 February 2019, members of Municipal Committee in Defence of Common and Public Goods (CMDBCP) and the San Alonso Rodríguez Foundation, and accompanied by the Coalition Against Impunity, filed a constitutional challenge or judicial review (recurso de inconstitucionalidad) of Decree 252-2013 which had reduced the dimensions of the Core Zones of Montaña de Botaderos National Park to allow the mining project. The petition sought to evidence the illegality of the reform and its consequences which undermined the original protections of the 2012 decree to establish the national park.

On 9 April 2019, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court refused to admit the petition on the grounds that the plaintiffs had not proven that the mining operation in the national park had violated their rights.

On 25 April 2019, 264 members of the CMDBCP joined in a new constitutional challenge petition. However, on 4 June 2019 the Supreme Court once again rejected the challenge on the grounds that the plaintiffs had not proven their right to a healthy environment had been violated by the change in the designation of the Core Zone of the National Park and the establishment of the mining operation.