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Families Near Oxy Drill Site Threatened With Eviction, Refuse to Move! "U'wa culture, like the
oil in the ground, is also non-renewable." The U'wa received two letters last week from local government officials demanding that U'wa families occupying a farm near Occidental Petroleum's drill site must be evacuated and relocated immediately to a "secure" area because of landslide risk. In a response letter, the U'wa adamantly rejected and denounced this order, stating that, "The U'wa have known that [Oxy's] project was not viable--technically or culturally . . . due to its social, environmental, and territorial impacts. Now those involved in the project come to us surprised after we have predicted the impacts. While seasonal heavy rain is normal in their territory, the U'wa are suspicious of who will benefit if the families are forced to leave and the role Oxy's exploratory drilling and road building plays in exacerbating a potential landslide. The U'wa have vowed they will not abandon their farms, and place sole responsibility on Oxy and the Colombian government if any harm comes to them over the next few months. Oxy is expected to know the results of their exploratory drilling soon-- a critical juncture that could signify the start of oil production or new exploration. The U'wa continue to call for the cancellation of Oxy's project and a halt to all military aid to Colombia. Meanwhile, in a public response to a profound increase in murders, kidnappings, disappearances, and threats from armed violence--all intensified by Plan Colombia--42,000 Colombian indigenous peoples and campesinos marched to the city of Cali last Friday in a Festival of Life. With the sounds of flutes and voices calling for respect for mother earth and its people, they sent a clear message to Colombia and the world: "No to war, yes to life!"
Take Action for the U'wa! "We will in no way sell our Mother Earth, to do so would be to give up our work of collaborating with the spirits to protect the heart of the world, which sustains and gives life to the rest of the universe, it would be to go against our own origins, and those of all existence." - Statement of the U'wa People, August 1998 "We are all children of the Earth, help us to defend her." -Berito Kuwar U'wa, spokesperson Traditional U'wa Authority Let George W. Bush and the U.S. Senate and Congress know we demand an end to U.S. military aid to the Colombian government. To find your Senators and Representatives, go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov Internationally go to your nearest Colombian or US embassy! Let them know that there is a global people's movement demanding justice for the U'wa! Mobilize in your own community. Whether its a prayer circle, a rally, a vigil, an informational picket, Or an act of non-violent civil disobedience - stand up for the U'wa and make your voice heard. The struggle for justice must take many forms but please remember to make sure whatever actions you take are in keeping with the U'wa spirit of resistance and are respectful, dignified and non-violent. See Also: 11/3 Alert! Occidental Petroleum Begins Drilling on U'wa Land! Take Action for the U'wa! Urgent Alert to All U'Wa Supporters! Colombia Court Overturns Injunction, OK's Oxy's Plans to Drill on U'wa Land Demand Al Gore take action! Read the U'wa Call to Action and background information!
For background information on the U'wa, Al Gore's connections to Oxy and for downloadable materials check out For more information, contact:
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Association of U'wa Traditional Authorities Communique to National and International Community May 15, 2001 "Cultures with principles cannot be bought. We, the U'wa, zealously defend the higher laws." The U'wa people inform the National and International Community about the current state of our territorial, cultural, environmental and social process against the oil exploration project in the area of the Gibraltar Well undertaken by Occidental Petroleum Multinational of Colombia, Inc, and with approval from the Colombian Government. Since November 1999, the U'wa have mobilized CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE to protest the institutional and judicial violations that the Colombian government has sponsored since the SAMORE oil Block was granted to Occidental Petroleum Multinational Company of Colombia, Inc. in 1995. In 2000, we continued with our protests. With the decided and definitive support of the social sectors of Arauca, Cubar; Boyac, Toledo; North Santander; and the national and international communities, we have been able to achieve global awareness of the problem. In the face of our legitimate and legal demands, the Colombian government--with the use of the military and police--achieved its goal of allowing the entry of machinery and operators. It has been approximately twelve months since the company began the oil perforation stage. There is no date when the results, either positive or negative, of the potential expected hydrocarbons will be known. What exists at this time is: Decomposition of the social fabric, as manifested by the Sarare Board Association of Samor, made up of 33 Communal Action Boards; Environmental Contaminations (water and noise pollution, etc.); Indigenous members beaten, arrested, attacked physically and morally; Violation of our sacred rights over the Earth, culture, sovereignty, a healthy environment, identity and difference, etc. All of the above is justified by the neo-liberal and pro-development politics of President Pastrana. In each visit to foreign countries, he sells our history, higher laws, and sacred territories, to irresponsibly become a part of Economic Globalization. Moreover, we would like to inform you that we the U'wa, a culture that doesn't sell its millennial historical principles, have continued our process of defense. Today our communities are abiding by the higher laws, for this reason we find ourselves in a spiritual fast to strengthen ourselves as a culture, as a community, as a people. We inform all our friends in Colombia and the World that we have initiated judicial actions against the Colombian government and Occidental of Colombia Inc. They must pay for their acts of brutality against the U'wa culture. Our Traditional Authorities also find themselves in permanent assembly against the science of the white world through spiritual fasting, meditation, seclusion, maintaining the harmony with Our Mother Earth. Soon we will be sharing the results. We, the U'wa, continue to defend the absolute ownership of our lands in Santa Rita, Bellavista, Vega Rica, Santa Rosa, properties that were acquired in accordance with and ordered by the laws of the white man. The Colombian government, the head of Minister of the Environment, Juan Mayr Maldonado, and the President of the Republic of Colombia, continue to lie to the international and national community when he informs them that no difficulties exist with the U'wa community. In reality, we do have environmental problems, problems of recuperating the territory of our Reserve, health, and educational problems, and other projects that directly affect our territory. We energetically reject the way in which the Colombian government facilitates the entry of multinationals into indigenous territory by using the judicial and administrative institutions, and state security in order to take away our sacred rights, to vanish us from what is ours. At present time, the National government irresponsibly and without consultation granted an Environmental License for the Capachos Project on indigenous land, located in the Tame municipality in the state of Arauca, which is operated by the Spanish transnational company REPSOL Exploracion Colombia, S.A.. Finally, we would like to say that we are in the process of cultural and territorial defense. We have national and international claims in which we have demonstrated the flagrant violation of our human rights by the Colombian government and its authorities and at the same time we solicit the reestablishment of our rights. We request that our national and international friends (Environmental and Human Rights NGO's, students, teachers and academics, workers, unionists, young people, seniors, Indigenous communities and organizations of the world, etc.) continue to support us in this difficult process, where capital and the power of money wants to consume us to the point of destruction, but we the U'wa will give our lives defending our mother earth. Cultures with principles cannot be bought. We, the U'wa, zealously defend the higher laws. |