U'Wa Tribal Indians block Oil compa

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Subject: U'Wa Tribal Indians block Oil company (OXY) -Columbia

They are all fighting the same problem in one form or another.You are
not alone. But the generals are something special, though they think
that other people are like them, wrong, they are specifically and
independently, and illegally, in power, and wrong,  ds


Steve Kretzmann wrote:
> 
> U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
> 
> November 17, 1999
> For immediate release
> 
> Contacts:
> Mark Westlund 415-398-4404
> Atossa Soltani 310-456-1340
> David Rothschild 202-785-3334
> U'wa office in Colombia +5778-838-037
> for additional contact numbers in Colombia call above listed numbers
> 
> 200 U'WA ASSEMBLE AT OXY OIL WELL SITE TO BLOCK DRILLING
> 
> TRIBE CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO STOP THE OIL PROJECT
> 
> Bogota, Colombia -- 200 U'wa Indians, including women, children and
> tribal elders marched on the site of Occidental Petroleum's planned
> oil well Gibraltar 1, establishing a permanent settlement to block the
> drilling slated to begin in the coming weeks. Hundreds of additional
> U'wa are expected to continue arriving to the settlement in upcoming
> days. Tribal leaders declared that this permanent settlement is a
> necessary to block the drilling after legal battles and direct appeals
> to the company and government have failed to date.
> 
> Oxy's entire oil block falls within the U'wa's ancestral territory.
> The U'wa, a traditional tribe of some 5,000 people living in the
> cloudforests of northeastern Colombia have repeatedly declared their
> absolute opposition to Oxy's oil project. The U'wa cannot allow
> drilling on their ancestral lands as they believe that oil is the
> blood of the Earth. The oil project is widely expected to escalate
> conflicts in the region among the armed factions, resulting in
> violence against the U'wa, as seen in other oil areas of Colombia.
> Despite this, in September the Colombian Minister of the Environment
> approve a drilling license for the first exploratory well.
> 
> "We are willing to have the government bomb us, but we will not
> abandon these ancestral lands because we must stop Oxy from drilling
> for oil, which is the blood of our Mother Earth," U'wa international
> spokesperon Berito Kuwaru'wa, declared from the U'wa settlement at
> Gibraltar.
> 
> Today, in the Colombian capital of Bogota, 25 U'wa representatives
> including Tribal Council president Roberto Perez marched on the
> Ministry of the Environment, calling for Colombian and international
> support at this critical moment in their campaign. In the communique
> that follows, the U'wa make an urgent appeal to their supporters to
> join them in solidarity at the settlement during this non-violent
> stand to defend their culture, land and lives.
> 
> For more information on the U'wa and their campaign please see:
> www.ran.org, www.amazonwatch.org, www.moles.org
> 
> U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP is endorsed by the following organizations:
> Action Resource Center, Amazon Watch, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund,
> Earthways Foundation, Indigenous Environmental Network, Project
> Underground, Rainforest Action Network, Sol Communications, U'wa
> Defense Project, International Law Project for Human Environmental and
> Economic Defense.
> 
> Association of U'wa Traditional Authorities
> 
> November 17, 1999
> Cubara, Colombia
> 
> COMMUNIQUE TO THE INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC
> 
> Approximately 200 members of the U'wa indigenous tribe of northeastern
> Colombia assembled in a permanent settlement on part of our ancestral
> lands yesterday, November 16. This area, which has been colonized by
> farmers, is the site where the multinational company Occidental
> Petroleum (Oxy) wants to drill the oil well "Gibraltar 1," an action
> which threatens life and our ancient culture.
> 
> With this permanent presence and with the support of the local farmers
> of Sarare, we are claiming our ancestral and constitutional rights to
> life and to our traditional territory. We demand that the Colombian
> government and Oxy leave us in peace and that once and for all they
> cancel the oil project in this area. We U'wa people are willing to
> give their lives to defend Mother Earth from this project which will
> annihilate our culture, destroy nature, and upset the world's
> equilibrium. Caring for the Earth and the welfare of our children and
> of future generations is not only the responsibility of the U'wa
> people but of the entire national and international society.
> 
> We reject the violence perpetrated by the armed actors in the region.
> We also urge indigenous peoples worldwide, national and international
> non-governmental organizations, and the general public to work in
> solidarity with us, rejecting this project planned by the Colombian
> government and Oxy. We urgently request that you support us with your
> physical presence in our territory. In addition, we ask people around
> the world who value the Earth and indigenous peoples to speak out
> against the multinational oil company Oxy through protests, letters
> and other actions of solidarity.
> 
> Signed,
> 
> Roberto Perez, President of Tribal Council
> U'wa Traditional Authorities
> 
> -30-
> 
>                                                       Steve Kretzmann
>                                                      1737 Addison St.
>                                                    Berkeley CA, 94703
>                                                          510-704-9863