/IPS ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN/ COLOMBIA: California Oil Giant In Dispute With Amazon People

By Pratap Chatterjee Reprint | | Print |

Pratap Chatterjee

SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 8 1997 (IPS) - Environmental activists are denouncing the California-based Occidental Petroleum for attempting to drill for oil on the lands of U’wa peoples of Colombia.

The San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network, the Washington-based Amazon Coalition, and the Body Shop, the British chain that markets natural cosmetic and bathing goods, are among those denouncing the company for its drilling plans, not only in Colombia, but also in the Ecuadorean and Peruvian Amazon.

“These activities run counter to the stated policies of Occidental to ‘protect the environment, health, and safety…of the communities in which (Occidental) operates,” says Shannon Wright of the Rainforest Action Network.

Occidental solicited the help of the military in Ecuador last year in an effort to force the Siona and Secoya peoples to give up their land, says Wright.

Last August, she joined representatives of the Siona and Secoya peoples who travelled from the Amazon to the Ecuadorean capital of Quito to denounce what they described as the strong-arm tactics of local Occidental head Manuel Echevarria.

The Amazon Coalition says the situation is worse in Peru.

For the last 25 years, Occidental’s activities have harmed the river Corrientes in Peru, says the Coalition’s Debra Delevan. “There are no fish; the animals are sick,” she says.

Nor is this the only time Occidental has drawn the wrath of Peruvian indigenous peoples. In Aug. 1994, the Candoshi peoples of northeastern Peru voted to ask Occidental to stop seismic testing in the Maranon forests.

One year later the company did withdraw from the Maranon, saying there was not enough oil to justify continued exploration.

Today, the activists are most concerned with an escalating, conflict between Occidental and the U’wa, particularly in light of the local community’s threats to commit mass suicide if the company drills for oil n their traditional lands.

Occidental signed a contract with the Colombian government five years ago to search for oil in the 200,000-hectare ‘Samore block’, an area in the eastern foothills of the Andes near the Venezuelan border that is home to the 5,000 members of the U’wa peoples.

Colombian government officials met with the U’wa peoples in January 1995 to discuss the exploration plans. The U’wa leaders told the government officials they needed to consult their communities. But they complain that the government issued an exploration license to the company before this process could be finalised.

U’wa lawyers responded that same month by filing two lawsuits against the government.

A Bogota superior tribunal ruled in favour of the U’wa in October 1995, but the decision was quickly overturned by the supreme court. The Werhayas, the spiritual leaders of the U’wa peoples, then threatened to commit suicide in a desperate attempt to prevent oil exploration.

U’wa lawyers appealed the supreme court ruling before the Colombian constitutional court. This court ruled three weeks ago that the authorities had failed to properly consult the local community as required under the law. The court ordered that the Occidental contract be suspended until Mar. 5 to allow the consultation process to go forward.

Occidental spokesman Roger Gillott has declined to comment on the demands of the U’wa peoples. “The matter is in litigation,” he told IPS. “I cannot say anything. Why don’t you ask the Colombian courts.”

Worried that this order might frighten away international companies intent on resource exploitation, Minister of Mines Rodrigo Villamizar issued a statement following the ruling, saying the decision did not signify the end of exploration work.

For its part, the Grand Council of the U’wa expresses guarded satisfaction with the latest developments in their case.

“We are pleased that the judges have recognised the violation of our right to be consulted, and that the government should talk and listen to us when our lives are at stake,” says a statement signed by Council president Roberto Afanador Cobaria, vice- president Luis Eduardo Caballero, and secretary Gloria Maria Tegria.

There is a 300-year-old precedent to the suicide threat. A community of U’wa peoples from Colombia jumped to their deaths from a local cliff in the late 17th century to avoid colonisation by a group of Spanish missionaries and tax collectors. The area was subsequently re-named the ‘Cliff of Glory’.

The situation in the region has grown even more volatile in recent weeks. Hundreds of guerrillas attacked the town of Cubara Feb. 7 just outside the U’wa territory, destroying the police headquarters and killing 11 people.

The attack has been attributed to the leftist National Liberation Army. This group and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have been accused of inflicting 1.4 billion dollars’ worth of damage on the oil pipelines of interntional companies.