Thursday, April 23, 1998
Activists protest Columbian oil drilling
ENVIRONMENT: U’wa tribe resists land claims of company
By Juliana Wilson
Daily Bruin Contributor
The yellow helmets of Los Angeles fire fighters gleamed as they
leaned over the edge of the Oppenheimer Building, observing members
of Amazon Watch and Action Resource Center rappel down the 26-story
building with a sign reading "Warning to Occidental: Your Columbian
Oil Project = Death of the U’wa."
Across the closed-down Wilshire Boulevard at Occidental
Petroleum, a bloody oil pipeline protruded from the lobby. Three
activists locked themselves inside the line – made of old oil drums
– and chained their necks to the door.
This rigorous protest, resulting in five trespassing arrests,
responded to planned drilling by Occidental Petroleum in the
northeastern Columbian territory claimed by the U’wa people. The
entire U’wa tribe has threatened to repeat an act of resistance
executed in the face of Spanish conquistadors.
Four hundred years ago, rather than surrender to the Spanish, a
group of U’wa walked off a 1,400-foot cliff. If the plans to drill
on their land manifest, the tribe of 5,000 people have promised to
repeat this act.
At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over the size of
U’wa land. Under the Columbian Constitution, the U’wa and other
indigenous peoples are guaranteed claims to their ancestral land.
But Occidental Petroleum maintains that the Samore project is
outside U’wa land.
Occidental Petroleum did not respond to calls regarding the
protest or the drilling.
According to Bob Benson, professor of international law at
Loyola Law School and pro bono legal advisor for the U’wa, the
Columbian Constitution and International Law support the claims of
the U’wa. In addition, Benson maintains that any drilling in the
disputed area violates international human rights law. Despite
this, plans to drill in the Samore block are moving forward.
The Organization of American States and Harvard University
mediators became involved in the dispute last year. Their report
called for a moratorium on drilling and a clear mapping of U’wa
territory. They also concluded that the U’wa suicide vow should be
taken seriously.
Benson critiques the report for presuming that all parties can
reach a compromise. Any drilling on U’wa lands is cultural genocide
for the U’wa, says Benson, and therefore there is no
compromise.
Only days ago, the leader of the U’wa, Roberto Cobaria, received
the Goldman prize in San Francisco. Often called the "Environmental
Nobel Prize," the Goldman Prize rewards exceptional work on behalf
of the environment.
Past recipients include Ken Saro-wiwa, a Nigerian environmental
activist executed by that country’s military regime.
Cobaria admonished Occidental executives last year, saying that
oil is the blood of the earth, and Mother Earth cannot bleed
without upsetting the balance of the world.