Guns and Oil for Colombia Spark Protests in 21 Cities Across Globe
10/12/99
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Title: Guns and Oil for Colombia Spark Protests in 21 Cities
Across Globe
Source: Rainforest Action Network media release
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 12, 1999
Byline: Mark Westlund - rnamedia@ran.org Telephone - 415/398-4404
"The U'wa people request that beginning today, a strong voice of
solidarity resonate and that actions be carried out in defense of our
people and of all Colombians."
- U'wa Communiqu,, Sept. 21, 1999
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Activists converged on the Colombian consulate
today, demanding that the Colombian government immediately revoke a
drilling license recently granted to Los Angeles-based Occidental
Petroleum. Two climbers climbed up the face of the building and held
up a banner that reads in Spanish: "Colombia: Invest in Peace, Not
Oil."
In twenty-one cities around the world today activists called on the
Colombian government to seek peace by canceling Occidental
Petroleum's pending oil project and renewing efforts towards a
negotiated end to that country's 30-year civil war. The
international mobilization is in response to a call by the U'wa, a
Colombian indigenous group who are so opposed to oil and the violence
it brings that they have threatened to commit mass suicide if Los
Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum drills on their land.
The cities where demonstrations are being held are Chicago, IL;
Houston, TX; Miami, FL; New York, NY; New Orleans, LA; San Francisco
and Los Angeles, CA; Atlanta, GA; Washington D.C.; Boston, MA;
Toronto and Vancouver, Canada; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Geneva,
Switzerland; Amsterdam, Holland; Madrid, Spain; Bogota, Colombia;
Santiago, Chile; Domkhedi-Jalsindhi, India; and Dublin, Ireland.
In Prague this morning, over 50 activists rallied in front of the
Colombian embassy. In Washington, DC, forty activists gathered in
front of the embassy there with banners identical to those deployed
in San Francisco.
In Colombia, oil and violence are closely linked. Occidental's Cao
Lim›n pipeline which runs through the northern part of the U'wa lands
in Colombia has been bombed by guerillas 600 times over the past 13
years spilling over 1.7 million barrels of oil into the surrounding
area. Areas surrounding oil facilities are centers of human rights
abuses.
"Guns and oil will only bring Colombia more violence, not peace" said
Danny Kennedy of Berkeley-based Project Underground. "We urgently
call on the Colombian government to respect the rights of all
Colombians, including the U'wa, and to renew their efforts towards a
negotiated peace."
The mobilization for the U'wa comes just as the U.S. Congress is set
to approve a $1.5 billion military aid package to Colombia despite
the Colombian military having one of the hemisphere's worst records
on human rights. The aid package is being opposed by a coalition of
groups working for a peaceful end to Colombia's 30-year civil war
that has claimed the lives of 25,000 people in the last decade alone.
The drilling is set to begin on land that is within 500 meters of the
U'wa reserve as designated by the Colombian government but well
within the traditional territory of the U'wa. The area is estimated
to hold 1.5 billion barrels of oil, which would provide only 3
weeks worth of global oil supply. Last week, the Colombian
Government released a report indicating that Occidental's proposed
well site is less than 300 meters from the U'wa community of Santa
Marta. The fact that there are U'wa living so close to the well site
seriously calls into question the validity of Occidental's drilling
license, according to Colombian legal experts.
Today's demonstrations mark the 507th anniversary of European contact
with the Americas and the resulting genocide of American indigenous
peoples.
For digital photos of today's demonstrations, please see contacts
above. For a copy of a print ready map of the U'wa territory and the
drill site, please see www.amazonwatch.org/uwamap.pdf. For further
background information please see www.moles.org or www.ran.org