U'wa Defense Working Group action alert

U'wa Defense Working Group action alert - Jan. 20, 2000

June 2000
March 2000
Jan. & Feb 2000
November 1999

Military aid package to Colombia:
Declaration of war on Colombian people
STOP U.S. INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA!

From: "activist general" iacenter@iacenter.org
Sun, 25 Jun 2000

The U.S. aid package to Colombia passed by the Senate on June 21 is a declaration of war against the people of Colombia. It is an open admission of the hidden war that the Pentagon and the CIA have been waging in Colombia for decades.

The International Action Center condemns the $1.3 billion aid package and calls on President Clinton and the Pentagon to end all military aid to Colombia. We call on activists to join in protesting the aid in their communities.

In New York, the IAC will join the Colombia Action Committee’s picket on Monday, June 26 at 6 p.m. at Senator Chuck Shumer’s office on 3rd Ave. between 47th St. and 48th St.

“The Colombian military and police are waging a dirty war against Colombia’s unions, peasant organizations, students and all those fighting for social change,” charged IAC leader Teresa Gutierrez. “The U.S. government is funding a counterinsurgency war under the cover of the phony war on drugs.”

“It is no surprise that the aid package was approved just a day before Shaka Sankofah was executed in Texas,” Gutierrez said. “The U.S. government’s policy is to export its brutal repression of poor and working people to every country in the world that it can.”

Colombia is already the third largest recipient of military aid in the world. Up to 300 Special Forces troops are already on the ground there.

NY Daily News reporter Juan Gonzalez recently exposed the role of U.S. Special Forces in one of the worst massacres in recent history in Colombia, the 1997 Mapiripan massacre. This confirms what groups like Human Rights Watch has confirmed as a pattern: the U.S. government has helped organize the Colombian military and their informal paramilitary units to target all those who are considered allies of the revolutionary movements there.

“The latest escalation of military aid is another step down the road to open U.S. intervention in Colombia,” stated IAC co-director Sara Flounders. “The Pentagon generals and Wall Street tycoons have grown so arrogant that they have forgotten the lesson of Vietnam: a people’s struggle for social justice cannot be crushed by bombs and high-tech weaponry.”

No more Vietnam Wars! U.S. hands off the Colombian liberation movement!

International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@iacenter.org , web: www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646 fax: 212 633-2889

Gore campaign stumbles over threat to tribe

The Times, March 13, 2000 From Damian Whitworth in Washington

AL GORE's links to a controversial oil firm and a South American tribe's threat of mass suicide have put the Vice-President's campaign for the presidency on the defensive.

The Democratic candidate, who claims to be a champion of the environment, is under attack from activists over his silence on Occidental Petroleum's multibillion-dollar drilling project in an area of Colombian rainforest that an indigenous tribe claims as ancestral lands. The U'wa, a 5,000-strong tribe who inhabit a patch of remote cloud forest in the Colombian Andes, entered the US presidential race after Occidental was given permission by the Colombian Government to explore land a few hundred yards from their reservation.

Their protests against the proposal to drill for oil have resulted in violent clashes with police and the death of three American environmentalists, apparently at the hands of revolutionary guerrillas that the tribe had said would move into the area if oil exploration began.

The U'wa, who say they would rather die than see "the blood of Mother Earth" removed, have threatened to commit mass suicide by hurling themselves off a cliff, as many of their ancestors did to avoid being brought under Spanish rule in the 17th century.

Mr Gore, the author of a bestselling book on saving the environment, has refused to answer environmentalists' calls to intercede or to talk to the press about the U'wa case. Protesters are dogging his every step, disrupting campaign appearances and sponsoring adverts attacking him.

"Gore can make a difference. He can save the U'wa and avert a public relations disaster for himself by intervening now," Lauren Sullivan, of Rainforest Action Network, said.

The Vice-President's father, the former senator Albert Gore Sr, owed much of his wealth to Occidental's late chairman, the billionaire Armand Hammer. Hammer, who was quoted as saying that he had Mr Gore Sr "in my back pocket", was a wheeler-dealer who acted as a gobetween for the United States and the Soviet Union from the days of Lenin to Gorbachev. He counted Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher among his friends and pleaded guilty to making illegal donations to Richard Nixon's re-election campaign.

Mr Gore Sr was given a $500,000-a-year job with Occidental when he left the Senate and benefited from a deal in which Occidental bought mineral-rich land close to the Gore family farm, sold it to the family and then paid the Gores $20,000 a year for the mineral rights. The Vice-President is still collecting cheques from this deal, although another company is now paying for the rights. He also owns shares in Occidental worth up to $500,000 (Ł317,000).

Since Mr Gore joined the Clinton ticket in 1992, according to a study by the Centre for Public Integrity, Occidental has contributed more than $470,000 to the Democratic Party, including a $100,000 cheque that was written two days after the present chairman, Ray Irani, stayed in the Lincoln bedroom at the White House, and $35,550 to Mr Gore himself.

In 1995, on Al Gore's recommendation, the Clinton Administration did what Nixon and Reagan had tried and failed to do, offering the 47,000- acre Elk Hills oilfield in California for sale. Occidental was the highest bidder, paying $3.65 billion to triple its American reserves.

"It was the largest privatisation of federal property in US history," Charles Lewis, of the Centre for Public Integrity, said. "Despite his public reputation as a staunch environmentalist, Gore recommended that the President approve giving oil companies access to this publicly- owned land."

As he maintains his silence on Occidental and the U'wa, Mr Gore is trying to turn his greatest vulnerability - the campaign finance scandals of the last presidential election - into an asset by making campaign finance reform a key plank of his general election manifesto. In an interview with The New York Times yesterday, he said that he had made mistakes in attending a now notorious fundraiser at a Buddhist temple and making fundraising calls from the White House.

"I have learnt from those mistakes," he said, "and I am passionate about the need for reform."

Emergency Follow-up Action: Colombia
March 14, 2000

From: Global Response globresponse@igc.org

Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"

Please write letters to government officials in Colombia, protesting excessive use of police force against the U'wa people who continue their non-violent protest against Occidental Petroleum. Below is an Amnesty International call for letters, following the deaths of three U'wa children as a consequence of police action against U'wa protesters, and the disappearance of U'wa people.

For background information and the text of the Global Response Action Alert on the U'wa situation, see the Global Response website at www.globalresponse.org, "Current Action."

Thanks -- Paula Palmer

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION APPEAL

March 13, 2000 UA 60/00
Possible 'Disappearance' / Reported excessive use of force by the police and army

COLOMBIA

Eleonor HERRERA (baby), Luz Helena HERRERA, Wilson HERRERA
Gustavo DELGADO, Antonio DELGADO, Nelson DIAZ, Edgard DIAZ, Alfredo DIAZ, Wilson DIAZ

On 11 February 2000, three children from the U'wa indigenous population were killed, three others injured, including a young child, and nine others, including a four month old baby, went missing after the police and army reportedly violently evicted them from land they had occupied as part of a protest against an oil company.

Amnesty International is now very concerned for the safety of the nine missing people named above.

The organization is also concerned by reports that excessive force was used by the Police and Army in carrying out the eviction: Some 500 Army and Police (from the Regional Cucuta Command) reportedly used tear gas, riot sticks and bulldozers to evict around 450 U'wa people from Las Canoas.

The U'wa had occupied the Saravena-Pamplona road at Las Canoas, in the rural area of Toledo, department of Santander, on 1 February to try to stop oil exploration machinery passing through into their ancestral lands.

A few days earlier they had been forcibly evicted from an occupation (an area outside their reservation] at Cedeno, where oil drilling is due to take place, after the Government gave authorization for petroleum exploration in the area.

Kenowuia Nury BOKOTA (4 months), Mauricio DIAZ (9 years) and Jorge ANIKUTA (10 years) were all killed and Maria Antonieta HIGUANITO, Chela HIGUANITO and Patricia HIGUANITO (12 years) were injured.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

For several years the Indigenous U'wa have been protesting against oil exploration by the Occidental Petroleum Corporation on what they claim to be their ancestral lands situated mainly in the Boyaca and Santander departments of northeast Colombia.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail letters: - expressing concern for the safety of Eleonor Herrera (baby), Luz Helena Herrera, Wilson Herrera, Gustavo Delgado, Antonio Delgado, Nelson Diaz, Edgard Diaz, Alfredo Diaz and Wilson Diaz, all indigenous U'wa people forcibly evicted by police from Las Canoas, department of Norte de Santander, on 11 February 2000; - expressing concern at reports that the police and army used excessive force to carry out the eviction; - urging the authorities to initiate full and impartial investigation into their whereabouts and into the reported excessive use of force by police during the eviction in which three U'wa children were killed, for the results be made public and those responsible to be brought to justice.

APPEALS TO:

COPIES TO:

Please contact your Representative and/or two Senators and ask them if they were aware of this case and what they can do for those affected (threatened/attacked, etc). You may point out that any US aid package has to ensure that such incidents stop altogether or such a package is not worth supporting.

Senate offices are:

The Honorable (full name), United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510 House offices are:

The Honorable (full name), United States House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after April 21, 2000.

This information is from Amnesty International's research headquarters in London, England. A.I. is an independent worldwide movement working for the international protection of human rights. It seeks the release of people detained because of their beliefs, color, sex, ethnic origin, language or religious creed, provided they have not used nor advocated violence. These are termed prisoners of conscience. It works for fair and prompt trials for all political prisoners and works on behalf of such people detained without charge or trial. It opposes the death penalty, extra-judicial executions (political killings), 'disappearances' and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of all prisoners without reservation. Amnesty International promotes awareness of and adherance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other internationally recognized human rights instruments, the values enshrined in them and the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights and freedoms.

Please do not repost this appeal to any part of the Internet without prior permission from Amnesty International. Thank you for your help with this appeal.

Please read the monthly Urgent Action Network Newsletter posted on the web at: http://www.amnesty-USA.org/urgact/newslett.html

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270, Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: sharriso@aiusa.org http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgact/
Phone: 303 258 1170, Fax: 303 258 7881

In this post -

Fidelity update February 3 International Day of Solidarity and Action for the U'wa!
U'wa communique English and Spanish

Fidelity Investments Refuses To Talk About The U'wa!
Activists Around The Planet Rally In A Show Of Global Solidarity!

Greetings friends of the U'wa,

A quick update as we go into the final day before the Feb 3 Day of Solidarity and Action for the U'wa people. In December of last year several member groups of the U'wa Defense Working Group (UDWG) requested to meet with senior Fidelity management to discuss what role they could play in stopping Occidental Petroleum's attempt to drill on U'wa land in Colombia. As one of the largest shareholders in Occidental Petroleum, Fidelity has an unparalleled power to intervene on behalf of the U'wa people and their lands. However as of February 1, Fidelity has officially refused to meet with advocates for the U'wa.

Well if they won't listen then maybe the world will! On Feb 3 let us speak with one clear voice : Fidelity Investments is willing to profit from the genocide of the U'wa people. They have the power to stop the invasion of the U'wa lands and we will collectively hold them responsible for the safety of the U'wa people! Starting with a Feb 2 rally in San Francisco and spreading world wide on Feb 3, together we will kick off of a massive campaign that will make Fidelity realize that they have no choice but to take action for the U'wa! From Tokyo to Tel Aviv from Flordia to Minneapolis people will be taking action for the U'wa!

We need demonstrations, rallies, pickets, teach-ins, and direct actions. We must tell the media, the general public and most importantly Fidelity investors. We need to show the world that we will not tolerate such complicity in crimes against an entire culture. Urge everyone concerned with basic human rights, environmental protection and the rights of sovereign peoples to control their own land to contact Fidelity and register their outrage! Also talk to your friends, co-workers and family, investigate your university or employer's holdings and retirement options. Find the Fidelity investors and tell them that they have the power to help the U'wa by divesting their money!

FIND A FIDELITY INVESTOR CENTER NEAR YOU! CALL THEM! FAX THEM! SHUT THEM DOWN!
http://personal400.fidelity.com/gen/centers/invstctr.html.tvsr

Fact sheets and flyers about Fidelity are posted in downloadable pdf files at www.ran.org
CONTACT patrick at Rainforest Action Network (SF, USA 415-398-4404) rags@ran.org for more info

(spanish original below)
FROM THE U’WA PEOPLE
OF THE STATES OF BOYACA, SANTANDER,
NORTH OF SANTANDER, ARAUCA AND CASANARE, COLOMBIA
COMMUNIQUE TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC:

1. We denounce the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the various actions that they have carried out against the U’wa people; such as armed intimidation against indigenous inhabitants of our communities in past months; the machine-gun fire attack on Mr. Carlos Tegra Uncaria’s home; and the detention, kidnapping, and subsequent murder of our North American sisters and brother activists, Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatock, and Larry Gay Lahenae, who defended our cause in a humanitarian way.

2. We condemn all support from Colombians for the multinational oil company OXY. In this way, we energetically reject the collusion mounted by the Colombian government through the armed forces, the FARC, the multinational OXY and the subcontracting company Rocas del Llano to protect and safeguard vehicles, equipment and machinery belonging to OXY, in the area from the municipality of Pamplona to the Samore Block; the tight coordination to achieve their goal, is evident.

3. A strong militarization took place on January 19 in Cedeno on property that belongs to us, where our U’wa brothers were surrounded by soldiers and riot police North of Santander, and were physically and psychologically abused, and their personal goods were destroyed.

4. There have been death threats and intimidation made against civil officials to persuade them to act against our constitutional and legal rights, as in the case of Toledo’s judge, Dr. Yamile Vergel, who has been pressured into causing our forcible removal from our own lands.

5. There are strange circumstances surrounding the murder of Dr. Daniel Jordán Penaranda, notary public of Pamplona, who aided us in the process of gaining legal title to the farms of Santa Rita and Bellavista, as a collective U’wa property. These farms are located in the village of Cedeno, municipality of Toledo.

6. We reiterate our noble purpose to continue our peaceful struggle in defense of our ancestral and traditional rights to our territory, and we don ’t agree with the actions by the National Liberation Army (ELN) to destroy the machinery and equipment of the transnational oil company OXY, since actions like these only make the conflict worse.

7. We invite campesinos, workers, students, teachers, truckers, merchants and indigenous peoples in our region to show solidarity with our struggle, because we are convinced that DEFENDING OUR TERRITORIAL RIGHTS IS THE ONLY GUARANTEE OF OUR EXISTENCE. Today, we publicly and officially inform Colombia and the world that starting Tuesday, February 1, we declare a civilian strike in defense of the social rights of the U’wa people and the people of the Sarare area.

Cubará, January 31, 2000.
Sincerely,

U’WA AND GUAHIBO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF BOYACA, SANTANDER, NORTH OF SANTANDER, ARAUCA AND CASANARE.

ROBERTO PEREZ GUTIERREZ ISMAEL UNCACIA AsoU’wa Representative CRIA Representative Translation by Florencia Valle, Rainforest Action Network.

EL PUEBLO INDIGENA U´WA DE LOS DEPARTAMENTOS DE BOYACA, SANTANDER, NORTE DE SANTANDER, ARAUCA Y CASANARE, DENUNCIAMOS ANTE LA OPINION PUBLICA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL

1. A las fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) por las diferentes acciones que ha venido adelantando contra el pueblo indígena U´wa, como son, la intimidación armada realizadas contra indígenas moradores de nuestras comunidades en meses anteriores, como es el ametrallamiento de la vivienda del señor Carlos Tegría Uncaria, la retención, secuestro y posterior asesinato de los tres hermanos indigenistas norteamericanos Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatock y Larry Gay Lahenae, quienes humanitariamente defendían nuestra causa.

2. Condenamos todo apoyo de colombianos a favor de los intereses de la empresa multinacional del petróleo OXY. Es así, que rechazamos enérgicamente la confabulación del Estado Colombiano, a través de sus fuerzas militares, las FARC, la multinacional OXY y la empresa subcontratista Rocas del Llano, para proteger y salvaguardar vehículos, equipos y maquinaria de la transnacional OXY, desde el municipio de Pamplona, hasta el Bloque Samoré, pues es evidente la estrecha coordinación para cumplir tal propósito. 3. La fuerte militarización realizada el día 19 de los corrientes en Cedeño en predios que son de nuestra propiedad donde fueron acordonados hermanos U´was, por efectivos del ejercito y de la policía antimotines Norte de Santander, quienes maltrataron física y sicológicamente a los compañeros indígenas que se encontraban allí, destruyendo bienes y enseres que eran nuestros. 4. La amenaza de muerte e intimidación que vienen adelantando contra funcionarios públicos para actúen en contra de nuestros derechos constitucionales y legales que nos favorecen como es el caso de la juez de Toledo Dra. Yamile Vergel, quien ha sido presionada para que provoque a la fuerza el desalojo de nuestros predios. 5. Los extraños hechos en que fue asesinado el Dr. DANIEL JORDAN PENARANDA notario primero del circuito de Pamplona, quien nos colaboró en la formalización de la Escritura Pública de propiedad colectiva a favor del pueblo U´wa, predios Santa Rita y Bellavista ubicadas en la vereda Cedeño, municipio de Toledo. 6. Reiteramos nuestro noble propósito de seguir luchando pacíficamente por la defensa de nuestros derechos territoriales ancestrales y tradicionales, y no compartimos las acciones realizadas por el ejercito de Liberación Nacional ELN, al destruir maquinaria y equipo de la transnacional de petróleo OXY, pues acciones como estas solo agudizan el conflicto. 7. Invitamos a campesinos, trabajadores, estudiantes, docentes, transportadores, comerciantes e indígenas de la región a solidarizarse con nuestra lucha, pues estamos convencidos que "LA DEFENSA DE NUESTROS DERECHOS TERRITORIALES ES LA UNICA GARANTIA DE NUESTRA EXISTENCIA". Hoy, pública y oficialmente informamos a Colombia y el mundo que ha partir del día martes 01 de febrero declaramos el paro cívico en defensa de los derechos sociales del pueblo U´wa y del Sarare.

8. Cubará, enero 31 del 2000
Atentamente,

PUEBLO INDIGENA U´WA Y GUAHIBO DE LOS DEPARTAMENTOS DE BOYACA,
SANTANDER Y NORTE DE SANTANDER,
ARAUCA Y CASANARE ROBERTO PEREZ GUTIERREZ ISMAEL UNCACIA
Representante AsoUwa Representante CRIA

February 1, 2000

Photos will be up on the ACERCA web and the NFN web pages shortly.
http://www.acerca.org
http://www.nativeforest.org

Columbia's U'wa People Threatened by Oil Drilling
NFN and ACERCA Protest Al Gore & his stock in Occidental Petroleum

by Anne Petermann
for Native Forest Network's BULLETIN

Manchester, NH--Activists from the Native Forest Network, ACERCA (Action for Community and Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America), Rainforest Action Network, and other Free Trade activists were arrested around 1pm Wednesday, January 26 at the campaign headquarters of Al Gore. They demanded to speak to the Presidential candidate about his deep family and financial ties to Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and to use those ties to pressure Oxy into stopping their project to drill for oil on land belonging to the traditional U'Wa people in Columbia.

This project, which will reportedly supply only enough oil to fuel the US for three months, will displace 5,000 U'Wa people and forever destroy their traditional homeland, the Columbian cloudforest.

The U'Wa people have further stated that if Oxy continues with these plans, they may follow in the footsteps of their ancestors who committed mass suicide, rather than become the slaves of the Conquistadors. "We prefer genocide at the hands of the Colombian government over relinquishing our Mother Earth to the oil companies", stated a U'wa communiqué. U'wa leaders have vowed to continue their nonviolent protests against Oxy' s efforts to drill on their land. The drilling site is currently being guarded by 5,000 Columbian troops against the U'Wa people who had been occupying the site since last November.

On March 4, 1999, three US activists working with the U'Wa people to stop the oil drilling project, were murdered by FARC, the leftist guerilla group in Columbia. The murders were the result of US and oil company backed militarization in the region. Al Gore's influence over Oxy includes his father's former seat on Oxy's Board of Directors. It also includes the $500,000 in Occidental stock he inherited from his father in 1997. Occidental is a major contributor to the Clinton and Gore campaigns. Most recently the US pledged $1.6 billion in aid to Columbia's military, leading many to see Columbia as the next potential Vietnam war.

The staff at the Gore HQ were callous and belligerent, refusing to respond to the requests of the protesters and quickly bringing in the police.

Bail was set high, at $250 for those people who received the charge of criminal trespass, and $500 for those who got the added charge of resisting arrest for allegedly non-complying with the order of the police to walk out. Those who could not make bail were detained overnight in the luxurious facilities of the Manchester jail, enjoying the fine sleeping arrangements of bare metal cots and the concrete floor.

The trial for 5 of the arrestees has been set for March 20. Three protesters will be arraigned Feb 11, and will likely also be scheduled for trial on March 20. Call Gore to insist he take action in support of the U'Wa at (615) 340-2000.

To get involved or for info, contact Amazon Watch at (310) 456-1340.

Additional info http://www.ran.org and http://www.amazonwatch.org

January 25, 2000

Urgent, Sign-on Letter Re: Invasion of U'wa Land!

From: ACERCA acerca@sover.net

Dear folks,

A life and death situation is intensifying for the indigenous U'wa in Columbia. I urge you to please sign this letter. To sign on to this letter please email Project Underground's Carwil James carwil@moles.org (not ACERCA).

If you live in the northeast and want to get involved in immediate action please contact Kim Foster from Rainforest Action Network in Boston fosterk@gis.net (781-321-8674; cell phone: 781-308-4530). I can also be reached until 3 pm eastern time today (25 Jan) at the ACERCA office 802-863-0571.

In solidarity/ For the Earth,

Orin Langelle, Coordinator ACERCA
Action for Community & Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America
POB 57, Burlington, VT 05402 USA
(802)863-0571, (802) 864-8203 Fax Email: acerca@sover.net http://www.acerca.org

ACERCA is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice and a member of the Native Forest Network

Recent days have seen a MAJOR escalation of the conflict between Occidental Petroleum and the U'wa. Colombian soldiers are now surrounding the 250 U'wa at the drillsite and have cut them off from communication with the rest of their people. We will be issuing the attached sign-on letter to Colombian President Pastrana in the next few days (he is meeting with Pres. Clinton tomorrow), and would like to gather as many signatures as we can in support from organizations and prominent individuals. Please let me know if you or your organization is willing to sign on. Also, please circulate this letter to whomever you think would be supportive.

Carwil James
Oil Campaigner, Project Underground
(510) 705-8981, carwil@moles.org

"Dance the military guns to silence.
Dance their dumb laws to the dump.
Dance oppression and injustice to death."

-Ken Saro-Wiwa

Dear President Pastrana,

We, members of international civil society, are seriously concerned about the tense situation that is currently unfolding in the U'wa homeland, where 250 U'wa are surrounded by a large number of heavily armed Colombian military forces at the Gibraltar 1 site.

We believe that the U'wa people, like all people, have the right to live in their homeland, safe from the twin threats of war and environmental destruction. Your decisions in the coming days will determine whether the U'wa will have such a life in the future, and indeed whether they will have a future at all. It is of the utmost importance that you act with respect for the U'wa people and their right to a choice regarding the fate of their homeland. We are also writing to impress upon you of the tragic consequences of using violence to enforce a dangerous and destructive proposal against the wishes of a committed people.

The U'wa have struggled for eight years to protect their homeland from oil drilling by the Occidental Petroleum Company. Citing the environmental dangers posed by oil extraction, the tendency of oil facilities in Colombia to attract violence in the forms of civil war and repression, and their deeply held spiritual belief that oil is the blood of Mother Earth, the U'wa have steadfastly opposed Occidental's presence on their land, often at considerable risk to themselves. Last September, disregarding constitutional and other legal requirements for consultation with indigenous communities, your government granted a drilling permit to Occidental at Gibraltar 1, less than a kilometer from the recognized Unified Reservation, and well within their traditional homeland. In response, more than 200 U'wa--ranging from children to tribal elders--established a permanent settlement on the drill site.

It is a source of grave concern for us to learn that at least hundreds and, according to the U'wa, an estimated 5,000 agents of the Colombian military surrounded this settlement on January 19. Through this action, the Colombian government and military are placing the economic interests of Occidental over the very lives of the U'wa. This course of action will only bring your administration a backlash of criticism from the hundreds of thousands of concerned people from around the world who are closely monitoring this case in Colombia.

Too often in recent history, claims of ownership have been chosen over the aspirations and beliefs of a people. Where this choice has been made, a piece of humanity and some of its voices are now missing, with only blood and silence in their place.

We you to reconsider the genocidal consequences of your decision to proceed with the Samore oil project. Whether these choices are made actively or passively, as president, you will be morally culpable for any injury to the U'wa or their land. We urge you to withdraw the Colombian military from Gibraltar 1 as a first step in a process to inclusively decide the future of the U'wa homeland based on a recognition of the rights and hopes of the U'wa people themselves.

Sincerely,

January 22, 2000
Emergency Follow-up Action / U'wa People of Colombia
Dear "Quick Response Network" Members:

Please respond to this urgent situation of the U'wa people in Colombia. Refer to Global Response Action #1/2K which was sent out earlier this week. Thanks.

URGENT URGENT URGENT

Communique to the International and National Public
Oxy invades Uwa Territory
The Army of Colombia with 5000 men at the service of the Oxy

On the 19th of January 2000, more than 5000 heavily armed soldiers of the Colombian Army, invaded our traditional territory, exactly in Cedeno, where there is the oil drilling well - Gibraltar 1, of the Occidental, Oxy.

Facing the opposition of the Uwa people, headed by our representative the indigenous leader Roberto Cobaria Berito, the Armed forces stated that "Over and above the indigenous U'was, they had to exploit oil". At the same time Police forces move to the zone with the aim to "protect" the safety of the Occidental engineers. Since the 15th of November 1999, more than 250 of our community stand in peaceful protest in the area of Cedeno, which is part of our ancestral territory, claiming resistance against oil exploitation by the OXY. Today we are being cordoned off by the Colombian Army and Police, putting at risk our physical integrity.

With this action, the Oxy and the Colombian army insist on ignoring our territorial rights, sacred for thousands of year and as the real owners of the land where the oil exploitation is going to take place. This series of events ignores our constitutional and legal rights, which state that the communal ethnic territories are inalienable, cannot be seized and are imprescriptible, and that they are protected by the title deed of colective territory.

Likewise, the Colombian government, headed by the Minister of Mining and Energy with the complicity of INCORA (National institute for Agrarian Reform), pretend to declare the U'wa territory as an oil reserve, with the false argument that the national oil industry acquires by law a special status of public interest, with the true and only purpose of facilitating and allowing the oil exploitation on behalf of the Multinational Oxy.

We are urgently calling the attention of the national and international community and the NGO support groups to take action, speak up and move against this latest violation against the Uwa people, which is threatening our existence and culture.

The Uwas will not give up our Cultural, Historical and Millenary Rights.
We rather prefer a genocide sponsored by the Colombian government before our Mother land is destroyed by the oil companies.

Your letters can be sent to:

JUAN MAYR, Ministro del Medio Ambiente, Juan_Mayr_M@Hotmail.Com y Jmayr@minamb.gov.co 3361166, 2886877, 2840363

Dr. ANDRES PASTRANA, Presidente de la Republica de Colombia, Palacio de Narino, Fax 2867434. Bogota. pastrana@presidencia.gov.co

Dr. GUSTAVO BELL LEMUS, Consejero Presidencial para los Derechos Humanos, Fax 571 3418364. Bogota.

Dr. JAIME BERNAL CUELLAR, Procurador General de la Nacion, Fax 571 2840472, 3429723. Bogota.

Dr. ALFONSO GOMEZ MENDEZ, Fiscal General de la Nacion, Fax 571 5702000. Bogota.

Dr. FERNANDO CASTRO CAICEDO, Defensor del Pueblo, Fax 571 3461225. Bogota.

Dr. NESTOR HUMBERTO MARTINEZ NEIRA, Ministro del Interior, Fax 571 2515884.

Cubara, 20 de enero del 2000
CABILDO MAYOR U'WA
Cubara, Boyaca, Colombia
INFORMATION: Tel: 091 2812071;
091 3376950; 091 2456860;
091 2458906

Global Response Action #1/2K
SUPPORT U'WA PEOPLE VS. OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM / COLOMBIA
Jan/Feb 2000

"The U'wa have always had a law that existed before the sun and the moon. We have always taken good care of our land, because we have always followed this law?. In this world there are many laws, but Mother Earth also has her laws?.Occidental must hear these laws and leave U'wa territory please."

-- Berito Kuwaru'wa
Designated International Spokesman, Traditional U'wa Authority Winner, 1998 Goldman Environmental Prize

For eight years, the U'wa people have successfully prevented Occidental Petroleum Company from drilling in their traditional territory. They argued their case in Colombian courts and international human rights forums, and even at Occidental's Shareholders' Meeting in Los Angeles, California. Their chilling pledge to commit mass suicide if Occidental drills on their lands made headlines worldwide.

As a result, Occidental gave up plans to drill inside the U'wa Reservation, but there's a catch: the U'wa Reservation covers only 14% of U'wa traditional territories. Occidental's first drill site is just 600 yards outside the U'wa Reservation, but well within U'wa traditional homelands. The U'wa community of Santa Marta lies adjacent to the drill site, putting them at clear risk from impacts of the oil project.

What is at risk? The U'wa homeland in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Cocuy mountains is one of the most delicate, endangered forest systems on the planet. It lies at the headwaters of the Orinoco River basin, which flows through sensitive cloudforest and rainforest ecosystems and other indigenous peoples' homelands on its way to the sea.

For thousands of years, the U'wa have lived by seasonally migrating between upland cloudforest and lush valleys, gathering plants, hunting and fishing. Their agricultural practices are famous for being virtually undetectable from the outside because the U'wa do not cut down the larger trees or ones that provide food for animals. Between uses, the U'wa let their fields lie fallow for 10 to 15 years, allowing full regrowth of native plant and animal species. The U'wa give complete protection to the high mountain ranges; no human beings are permitted to go there.

Just north of U'wa territory, Occidental's Cano Limon pipeline has spilled an estimated 1,700,000 barrels of crude oil into nearby soil, rivers and lakes over the last 13 years (compare to 257,000 barrels in the Exxon Valdez spill). A government study found that "because of the polluting effects from Cano Limon, the receiving rivers and lakes are no longer fit for human consumption." In addition to pollution, oil projects inevitably lead to deforestation directly, because forests are cleared for oil exploration and production, and indirectly, because road systems created by the oil projects open new arteries into forests, clearing the way for colonization.

In Colombia, oil also means violence. Colombia's left-wing guerrilla groups view oil installations as strategic targets; Occidental's Cano Limon pipeline has been bombed more than 600 times, causing major spills; frequent assassinations, massacres, torture and kidnappings occur in communities near the pipeline.

Occidental's drilling would invite these horrors to the U'wa communities, and for what gain? The oil reserves in U'wa territory can only supply three weeks worth of world oil consumption.

To prevent ecological and social horrors in their homeland, more than 200 U'wa people, including women, children and tribal elders, are now occupying Occidental's drill site known as Gibralter 1. Tribal leaders consider this permanent settlement a necessary action to block the drilling, since the government has already issued Occidental a permit for the site without consulting the U'wa.

How can we support the U'wa in their courageous struggle? Occidental will back down if shareholders demand it. Last year, 13% of Occidental's shareholders voted for a resolution to assess the negative impacts of Occidental's project in U'wa territory. Global Response members can increase the pressure on Occidental by convincing Fidelity Investments, one of Occidental's top shareholders, to demand "hands off" all U'wa land. US presidential candidate Al Gore owns $1/2 million Occidental stock and takes major contributions from the company. He wants the environmental vote: let's challenge him to tell Occidental to abandon oil fields on all U'wa land.

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?is the site where?Occidental Petroleum wants to drill the oil well 'Gibralter 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 our 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 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."

--Roberto Perez, President of Tribal Council U'wa Traditional Authorities.

Requested Action: Please write polite letters to:

1) Albert Gore
Vice President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
FAX: Int'l code+202/456-7044

In his book, Earth in the Balance, Gore wrote that car exhaust is "a mortal threat to the security of every nation, that is more deadly than that of any military enemy we are ever again likely to confront." So why does he accept campaign contributions from oil companies, and why does he invest $1/2 million in Occidental Petroleum?

Urge Gore to confront Occidental and convince the company to withdraw from all U'wa traditional territory. Ask him how he justifies the sacrifice of the U'wa people and destruction of a rare cloudforest ecosystem for 3 weeks worth of oil. Tell him if he wants the environmental vote, he must show leadership in the global struggle for environmental justice.

2) Edward C. Johnson III
Chairman and CEO, Fidelity Investments
82 Devonshire St.
Boston MA 02109
FAX: Int'l code+617/476-4164

Fidelity Investments controls more than 30 million Occidental shares - over 8 percent of the company's total value. Fidelity's slogan is "We help you invest responsibly."

Demand that Fidelity Investments act responsibly for the rights of indigenous people and for precious, irreplaceable ecosystems. Urge Fidelity Investments to convince Occidental to cancel its project on U'wa traditional lands, and if they refuse, to dump all their Occidental stock in protest.

This Global Response Action is issued in support of and with information provided by the Tribal Council U'wa Traditional Authorities, Rainforest Action Network, Project Underground and Amazon Watch. For more information, please see these websites: www.ran.org; www.moles.org; and the publication "Blood of our Mother" available from Project Underground, 510/705-8981 or project_underground@moles.org

Jan. 21, 2000

URGENT COMMUNIQUE! Colombian Military Invades U'wa Land!

From: ishgooda@voyager.net

Call Al Gore's Campaigns Hq In New Hampshire! 603-622-8303

Al Gore has half a million dollars worth of Occidental stock. Demand that He use both his personal and political influence to demand that the Colombian military and occidental pull out of U'wa land! (see article below)

FEB 3! Organize Against Fidelity Investments! Find The Nearest One To You : http://personal400.fidelity.com/gen/centers/invstctr.html.tvsr

Call your local representatives and tell them to vote against Clinton's $1.3 billion military aid package to Colombia

For more information call Rainforest Action Network 1-800-989-RAIN
If you are in los Angeles call Action Resource Center - 310-392-7656

Communique from the U'wa People
January 20, 2000

URGENT URGENT URGENT

Communication To The National And International Public Oxy Invades U'wa Territory The Colombian Army Has 5000 Agents In The Service Of Occcidental

On January 19, 2000 more than 5,000 agents of the Colombian Military, heavily armed, invaded our traditional territory, exactly at Cedeno, where Oxy's oil drilling site Gibraltar 1 is situated. Faced with opposition presented by the U'wa people, headed by our representative and indigenous leader Roberto Cobaria, military forces declared that "the oil will be extracted even over and above the U'wa people." Also police forces were dispatched to the zone for the security of Occidental's engineers.

Since the 15th of November 1999, more than 250 U'wa people have occupied Cedeno, part of our ancestral territory, resisting the exploitation brought on by Oxy. Now we are being surrounded by the 5000 military agents and Colombian police who have put at risk our physical integrity.

With this deed, Occidental and the Colombian government are insisting on ignoring our territorial rights over land we have occupied for thousands of years. We are the owners of the territory on which they aim to exploit petroleum, without recognizing the constitutional rights of community lands for our ethnic group which are inalienable, non-negotiable, and irremovable, protected by public laws over collective property.

In this way, the Colombian government headed by the Minister of Mining and Energy with the compliance of INCORA, in a shadowy process is seeking to declare U'wa territory a special petroleum reserve zone with the false argument that the national petroleum industry is covered by the law as a public utility or social interest, with the sole purpose of permitting and facilitating petroleum exploitation by the multinational corporation Occidental. We are making an urgent call to the national and international community, and to all groups who have supported us, to mobilize against this last attempt to trample upon the U'wa nation, which threatens our existence and culture. We U'wa will not cede our cultural, historic and ancient rights. We prefer genocide sponsored by the Colombian government rather than handing over our Mother Earth to oil companies.

Gore attacked over Colombia oil project

Financial Times, 1/19/00
World News / Americas
By Matthew Jones

Environmentalists and human rights activists are accusing Al Gore, the US vice-president and candidate for the Democratic party presidential nomination, of hypocrisy over his shareholding in an oil company prospecting in Colombian rainforests.

Mr. Gore has targeted the environmental and human rights vote as part of his election campaign and was last week rated "the most knowledgeable" presidential candidate on green issues by the influential League of Conservation Voters.

But the U'wa Defense Working Group, which represents the U'wa indigenous tribe from the north east of Colombia, says Mr. Gore is inextricably linked with Occidental Petroleum, the US oil group which plans to start drilling on its ancestral lands in the next few months in search of an estimated 1.5bn barrels of oil.

According to Mr. Gore's official Public Financial Disclosure Report for 1998, the latest information available, the vice-president owned between $250,000 and $500,000 in Occidental stock inherited from his father, Albert Gore Sr., who died in 1998. Mr. Gore Sr. became a board member of Occidental Petroleum after losing his Senate seat in 1970.

According to the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit organization that analyses ethics in politics, Ray Irani, the Occidental chief executive, made a donation of $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee in the early 90s following a stay in the Lincoln Room of the White House.

The campaign group is urging environmentalists not to vote for Mr Gore and to protest about his links to Occidental on the campaign trail.

Neither the White House nor Mr. Gore's campaign team has responded to requests for comment.

Stephen Kretzmann, U'wa campaign co-ordinator for Amazon Watch, a California-based environmental group, said: "This will not look good for Al Gore in the midst of an election campaign. It is clear that he could stop the drilling with a phone call and if he doesn't do something about this he will lose the environmental and human rights vote."

The U'wa, who number 5,000, first hit the headlines in 1996 when they threatened to commit collective suicide if Occidental's drilling plans were not halted.

The drill site falls 600m outside the legally recognized U'wa Unified Reserve but the tribe claims it is within larger, traditional ancestral territory.

The UDWG claims development of the site would be damaging to the tribe and the environment because of the likely increase in oil-related violence between different armed factions in the politically unstable region.

It says Occidental's existing pipeline has been attacked more than 600 times in the last 12 years leading to 2.1m barrels of crude oil spilling into the soil and rivers, and that U'wa members and humanitarian workers have been killed or injured in the cross-fire.

Occidental said earlier this month that it planned to start building roads to the test site at the end of January and would sink the first test well at the site in May.

Ken Hufmann, Occidental's vice-president of investor relations, refused to comment on Mr. Gore's stock holding in the company or any political donations that it had made.

He would say only: "We're moving ahead with plans to drill the well but I have no specific dates."

Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.

URGENT
Life or death for Colombian rainforest tribe!
November 2, 1999

From: "Kristin Dawkins" kdawkins@iatp.org
PGA Action at WTO Seattle - http://members.aol.com/mwmorrill/pga.htm
Please circulate (text also available in Spanish, contact rags@ran.org)

U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP ACTION ALERT!

COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES OIL DRILLING ON U'WA LAND! U'WA THREATEN MASS SUICIDE RATHER THAN SEE MOTHER EARTH DESECRATED OCTOBER 12TH CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY WITH EMERGENCY ACTION FOR THE U'WA

"We are seeking an explanation for this 'progress' that goes against life. We are demanding that this kind of progress stop, that oil exploitation in the heart of the Earth is halted, that the deliberate bleeding of the Earth stop...we ask that our brothers and sisters from other races and cultures unite in the struggle that we are undertaking...we believe that this struggle has to become a global crusade to defend life."

- Statement of the U'wa people, August, 1998

Contents:

Action Alert - Drilling on U'wa Land Imminent

Background information on the U'wa struggle

Sample Letters to Oxy and Colombian Government

#1.
On September 21st Colombia's Environment Minister Juan Mayr announced he was granting a permit for Los Angeles based Occidental Petroleum to begin exploratory drilling on the U'wa ancestral homelands. The U'wa have denounced the government's decision as cultural and environmental genocide. This permit removes the final legal obstacle to Occidental's plans to drill and pushes the U'wa one step closer to their last resort pledge of committing mass suicide.
For several years now the U'wa have been an inspiring symbol of ecological sanity and indigenous resistance to the oil industry's relentless invasion of the final remote corners of the planet. The U'wa have maintained their stand despite harassment, intimidation, a brutal assault on their spokesperson and the murder of three of their supporters. A worldwide solidarity movement forced Royal Dutch Shell to withdraw from the project and has stalled the efforts of LA-based Occidental Petroleum to begin drilling. Until now. With approval from the Colombian government drilling on U'wa land is imminent. A global solidarity movement is needed to pressure the Colombian government and Occidental to cancel the project.
In Colombia where a 30 year civil war has claimed the lives of 25,000 people this decade alone, oil and violence spread hand in hand. Oil installations are popular targets for the guerillas and as such bring de facto military occupations along with the inevitable ecological devastation from ongoing bombing. For the U'wa oil is the blood of Mother Earth and therefore to drill is the ultimate desecration of their ancient traditions of living in peaceful balance with the Earth.
The U'wa remain strong in their determination to protect their culture and sacred homelands but they need your help. October 12 is the anniversary of the European invasion of the Americas. Indigenous people and their supporters across the Western hemisphere will be celebrating 500 years of indigenous resistance. It is our hope that activists around the world will answer this emergency call to resist the new colonialism of multinational corporations by taking action on behalf of the U'wa.
HERE ARE WAYS THAT YOU CAN GET INVOLVED :
1)CONTACT OCCIDENTAL AND THE COLOMBIAN GOVERNMENT (See sample letters below)
2) ORGANIZE A DEMONSTRATION/EVENT AT A COLOMBIAN CONSULATE
We need to show Occidental AND the Colombian government that activists around the world will stand with the U'wa to prevent the destruction of their culture and homeland . The best way to do this is to have a strong presence at Colombian consulates and embassies around the world. If you live near a consulate please call them up and ask for a meeting with the ambassador or consul. Organize a vigil, demonstration or direct action. We are asking that people do something on Oct 12 as a show of emergency support and then organize more substantial events over the next month. Obviously Oct 12 is very soon but the situation is urgent. Even if the demonstration is small do something to show the Colombian government that the U'wa have allies all around the world. Let us know what you are planning.
If you are not near a city with a Colombian government office :
- Organize fax blasts, phone zaps, letter writing tables
- Organize a teach-in on the threat the U'wa face from fossil fuel consumption, militarism and economic globalization.
- Reproduce U'wa communiqués (available upon request) the background article below or publish your own article. Write letters to the editor. Announce the issue at your local activist gathering. Do whatever you can to spread the story of the U'wa's inspiring resistance.
- Research Occidental (often called Oxy)Petroleum's presence in your community. Subsidiaries include Oxy International, Oxy Chemical and Midcon (a natural gas company). Find their local presence and take action!
- Lobby your own government to take a stand to protect the U'wa
- Keep the pressure on the Colombian government!
Fact sheets and other campaign materials are available on the RAN website http://www.ran.org/
Please call or email for hard copies, additional information and to coordinate your local actions with other supporters. Contact Patrick Reinsborough at rags@ran.org or call us in San Francisco, USA at 415-398-4404.
3) CONNECT THE U'WA WITH YOUR WORK AGAINST THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION OR OTHER FORMS OF CORPORATE DOMINATION
The next three months will be the critical time for the U'wa. As many activists around the world are organize around the next World Trade Organization meeting (Nov 29-Dec 3)the U'wa will be fighting for their lives against the same system of uncheck corporate expansion. Even if you can't organize something for Oct 12th plan something for later. Use the U'wa resistance as an example of the emerging global resistance to corporate domination. Connect the U'wa struggle with your ongoing campaigns - whether its environmental justice, anti-militarism, indigenous rights or fighting globalization. Use the U'wa struggle as an example on the November 30th day of action against globalization. See http://go.to/n30 or email N30contacts@angelfire.com for details.
Contact rags@ran.org to receive updates about the U'wa over the coming months.
Please take action now. It is nothing less than a matter of life or death for the U'wa.

#2.
BACKGROUND ON THE U'WA PEOPLE AND THEIR CAMPAIGN
"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

The U'wa of the Colombian cloud forest are in a life-and-death struggle to protect their traditional culture and sacred homeland from an oil project slated to begin on their land at anytime. The U'wa are adamantly opposed to the drilling and warn that the project will lead to an increase in violence as seen in other oil regions of Colombia. Despite this, Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum and the Colombian government continue to move forward with plans to drill. The U'wa have made a call for international support; now is the time for us to answer.
The U'wa's opposition to the oil project is so strong that they have vowed to commit collective suicide if Occidental Petroleum and the Colombian government proceed with the project on their ancestral lands. The U'wa, a traditional people some 5,000 members strong, explain they prefer a death by their own hand than the slow death to their environment and culture that oil production will bring. A core tenet of U'wa culture and spirituality is the belief that the land that has sustained them for centuries is sacred. They strongly believe that to permit oil exploration on these sacred lands would upset the balance of the world. In the words of the U'wa, "Oil is the blood of Mother Earth...to take the oil is, for us, worse than killing your own mother. If you kill the Earth, then no one will live."
The U'wa people's struggle exploded into the public arena last March with the tragic murders in Colombia of three indigenous rights activists: Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok and Lahe'ane'e Gay. Terence was one of the founders of the U'wa Defense Working Group and had devoted the last two years of his life to supporting the U'wa in their campaign to stop Occidental's oil project, reclaim their ancestral homeland and protect their traditional culture. Ingrid and Lahe'ane'e were coordinating with the U'wa to launch an educational project designed to maintain and promote the U'wa's traditional way-of-life.
These murders and the intimidation the U'wa have already persevered are but a harbinger of the wider physical violence the oil project will bring to their people. Throughout Colombia, oil and violence are linked inextricably. Occidental's Cańo Limón pipeline, just north of U'wa territory, has been attacked by leftist guerillas more than 600 times in its 13 years of existence, spilling some 1.7 million barrels of crude oil into the soil and rivers. The Colombian government has militarized oil production and pipeline zones, often persecuting local populations the government assumes are helping the guerrillas. Oil projects have already taken their toll on many other indigenous peoples of Colombia, including the Yarique, Kofan and Secoya.
The current drilling plans threaten the survival of both the U'wa and their environment. The U'wa's cloud forest homeland in the Sierra Nevada de Cocuy mountains near the Venezuelan border is one of the most delicate, endangered forest ecosystems on the planet. It is an area rich in plant and animal life unique to the region, and the U'wa depend on the balance and bounty of the forest for their survival. Where oil companies have operated in other regions of the Amazon basin, cultural decay, toxic pollution, land invasions and massive deforestation have followed.
Occidental first received an exploration license for the 2 billion barrels oil field- the equivalent of three months of U.S. consumption -in 1992. Since then, the U'wa have voiced their consistent opposition to the oil project. They have taken a variety of actions to halt the project including the filing of lawsuits against the government in Colombia, petitioning the Organization of American States to intervene, appealing directly with Occidental's top executives, and reaching out to company shareholders.
Last April U'wa representatives came to Los Angeles to directly confront Occidental. Along with several hundred supporters the U'wa marched on Oxy's HQ and demanded a meeting with CEO Ray Irani. When they were refused entry activists occupied the street in front of the building and held an inspirational rally on Oxy's front steps. Two days later on April 30th while the U'wa spoke at Occidental's shareholder meeting there were demonstrations at Colombian consulates and embassies around the world.
The U.S has very strong ties with Colombia. Not only does Colombia sell most of its oil to the U.S. market but under the auspices of the "War on Drugs" U.S. military aid to the repressive regime in Colombia continues to grow. This year Colombia received $289 million in aid making them the third largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world after Israel and Egypt. The U.S already has hundreds of military advisors in Colombia and the Clinton administration is proposing to give Colombia an additional $1.5 billion dollars.
In August the Colombian government expanded the U'wa legal reserve. However the expansion includes only a portion of the U'wa traditional territory and most significantly the new borders were drawn in such a way as to place the sight of Occidental's first drill site just outside of the reserve boundaries. The Colombian government is cynically using this bureaucratic slight-of-hand to maintain that drilling will not happen on U'wa land.
With drilling imminent and in the face of mounting violence in the region the urgency of the U'wa's struggle has never been so great. The U'wa need all of us to support them in their struggle. Spread the word. Tell their story. Educate. Organize. Contact Occidental and the Colombian government . Demand they cancel the project now!

SAMPLE LETTERS

Dr Ray Irani, President and CEO
Occidental Petroleum Corporation
10889 Wilshire Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90024
or Via fax: (310) 443 6922

Dear Dr. Irani,
I am writing to express my deep concern with Occidental Petroleum's continued plans to drill for oil in the ancestral territory of the U'wa people in Colombia. The U'wa have threatened to commit collective suicide if Occidental moves forward with drilling. For the sake of the lives and land of the U'wa people and of the peace process in Colombia, please immediately suspend all operations in the U'wa ancestral territory. The U'wa people believe that oil is the blood of mother earth. They have repeatedly and adamantly explained to your company that they are utterly opposed to your plans to drill for oil on their sacred territory. It is time that Oxy accept the full extent of U'wa traditional territory, as defined by the U'wa themselves and withdraw from all efforts to drill in the Samore block. Oxy's continuing failure to suspend operations is in blatant violation of the recommendations of the 1997 OAS/Harvard report. There is ample opportunity to support Colombia in building energy self-sufficiency. We encourage you to do so by canceling your plans to exploit the Samore region and investing instead in renewable energy options. The fate of an entire indigenous civilization is in your hands. The U'wa deserve to live free from the inevitable violence and ecological devastation that oil drilling will bring. I urge you to look to your heart and cancel the project. The world is watching and waiting for you to do the right thing.
LETTER TO PRESIDENT PASTRANA.
Presidente Andres Pastrana
Casa Presidencial
Bogota, Colombia
Dear Honorable President :
I am deeply troubled to learn that your government has granted Occidental Petroleum an environmental license for oil exploration at the Gibraltar 1 drill site which is in the traditional territory of the U'wa people. As you are aware, the U'wa are adamantly opposed to any oil activities within their homelands as it poses a serious threat to their physical and cultural survival . I strongly urge you to reconsider your government's decision to grant this environmental license since allowing drilling will cause irreparable harm to the U'wa people, culture and territory. Granting a license for drilling on the U'wa's traditional territory - particularly so close to their legally recognized reserve - constitutes a grave disregard for their deep spiritual and cultural ties to their land. Oil drilling will also threaten the U'wa by escalating conflict in the region. Oil facilities are a magnet for militarization and attacks by guerrilla factions, which has catastrophic environmental and social impacts for local communities. Oxy's Cańo Limón pipeline has been bombed more than 600 times over the last 13 years, with a new attack occurring on average once a week. You must cancel this project before it leads to a significant increase in violence against the peaceful U'wa and other local peoples. As one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, Colombia has much to gain from reorienting current development plans towards strategies which foster ecological conservation rather than destruction. By letting the U'wa continue to live undisturbed, you are making a priceless investment in cultural and biological diversity for Colombia's future. Now is your opportunity to take a regional leadership role in developing sustainable, renewable energy sources, rather than sacrificing ecologically and culturally sensitive areas to new petroleum exploitation. International civil society is carefully monitoring the U'wa case. Your resolution of this delicate situation will either be a critical step towards promoting indigenous rights and environmental preservation or will be forever seen as enabling one of the worst in a long line of human and ecological tragedies. Your leadership in this important case is anxiously awaited. Thank you for your concern and action on behalf of the U'wa people and their traditional territory. I look forward to your response.
U'wa Defense Working Group Members:
Amazon Watch, Action Resource Center, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, EarthWays Foundation, International Law Project for Human Environmental & Economic Defense, Project Underground, Rainforest Action Network, Sol Communications

If we can't pass on our visions and realities to our children, then what we do is just fashion and ultimately meaningless.

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Military aid package to Colombia: Declaration of war on Colombian people STOP U.S. INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA!

Urgent, Sign-on Letter Re: Invasion of U'wa Land!

URGENT URGENT URGENT

Communique to the International and National Public Oxy invades Uwa Territory The Army of Colombia with 5000 men at the service of the Oxy

The Uwas will not give up our Cultural, Historical and Millenary Rights. We rather prefer a genocide sponsored by the Colombian government before our Mother land is destroyed by the oil companies.

Military aid package to Colombia:
Declaration of war on Colombian people
STOP U.S. INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA!

Communique to the International and National Public
Oxy invades Uwa Territory
The Army of Colombia with 5000 men at the service of the Oxy

The Uwas will not give up our Cultural, Historical and Millenary Rights.
We rather prefer a genocide sponsored by the Colombian government before our Mother land is destroyed by the oil companies.