Occidental Petroleum, partnered with Shell, are pressuring the traditional U'wa community of Colombia in order to exploit the enormous Samore oil province there - as Drillbits & Tailings has been reporting since February (see also May 7, 1997). Oxy, as the operator is known, estimate there are about 1.5 billion barrels of oil in the area. For the U'wa who have lived for millenia in these Andean cloud forests, the possibility of oil development portends the end.
--U'wa woman, August 1997.
The environmental risk is huge. At the Cano Limon pump station operated nearby in Colombia by Oxy and Shell, some 1.5 million barrels of crude have been spilt into the rainforest in the last decade (Exxon Valdez was only 36,000 barrels). Much of this was due to sabotage by guerrillas who represent another major threat to the U'wa. In response Oxy and Shell pay a war tax of US$1 per barrel - US$180,000 a day - to the Colombian military to protect their installations at Cano Limon. The Colombian military is known for its human rights abuses, and militarizing the U'wa territory will introduce organized violence into the area.
Today they are once again talking about death as these new oil
invaders try to move into their land. A campaign is being organized to avert
this tragic resolution of the issue. In their defense the U'wa have taken
this case to the Organization of American States, by petitioning the Inter
American Human Rights Commission. On October 7th, Martin Wagner of the Earth
Justice Legal Defense Fund represented them at the OAS in Washington DC,
saying: "Whether it's by thepollution of the land they consider sacred,
the increased violence this project will inevitably bring, or by their own
hand, oil development means the death of the U'wa."
The U'wa communities are asking that oil projects be canceled on the grounds that oil operations in their territory would constitute an attack on their culture, their survival, and the ecological balance of the area. This oil reserve, much of which will be exported to the United States, will only supply U.S. needs for three months. The stakes are high and the odds are against them but the U'wa are courageously fighting, with very few resources and almost no money, against the massive wealth and power of the Colombian Government, Occidental Petroleum, and Shell International.
(from Project Underground and RAN)
SOURCE: personal communication with Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, October 7, 1997;U'wa Project Factsheet, October 6, 1997; The Guardian (of London), September 20, 1997.
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Would you like to help the U'wa? Take online action and send a fax to the people below:
In your own words, ask Oxy and Shell to cancel their plans for the Samore block. Let them know that you hold them responsible for the U'wa's welfare.
