File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1998/marxism-international.9804, message 189


Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 12:49:51 -0400
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: M-I: U'Wa Indians, Occidental Oil, Colombian guerrillas


There's a very important full-page ad in today's NY Times sponsored by the
Amazon Coalition. It calls attention to the plight of the U'Wa people in
Colombia, who are being faced with the slow death of their environment and
culture by Occidental Petroleum's infringement on their ancestral homeland.
The U'Wa people rightfully fear toxic pollution, land invasion and massive
deforestation of the kind that took place in Ogoniland, Nigeria, Ecuador
and Burma.

A complicating factor is the presence of guerrilla armies in the area, who
have attacked the pipelines near the U'Wa homeland over 500 times in the
past 11 years, causing over 1.7 million barrels of oil to be spilled into
the soil and river. A new project proposed by Occidental will be even
closer to U'Wa territory and risk greater bloodshed and environmental ruin.
This threat has caused the U'wa people--who number around 5000--to pledge
to leap to their death from a 1,400 foot cliff if the project goes forward.

The chief demand of the U'Wa people is that Occidental cease exploration in
the area immediately. It is important to note that the U'Wa do not make any
sort of demands on the revolutionaries. One might expect that right-wing
greens would try to drive a wedge between the indigenous peoples and the
guerrillas. The presence  of militant groups like the Rainforest Action
Network and Project Underground in the coalition has lessened the
possibility of such a division. The coalition also includes the Colombian
Human Rights Committee, which has fought against military repression of the
left-wing groups. It is a hopeful sign that such a coalition can be built
because Colombia appears to be the scene of an impending showdown between
the guerrillas, the government and its US imperialist backers.

Project Underground has an excellent web page on the U'Wa struggle:

http://uwa.moles.org/uwa/index1.html

The ad recommends that fax's be sent to the following parties to demand
that Occidental get out of U'Wa territory:

Al Gore, 202-456-2461
Ray Irani, CEO of Occidental, 310-443-6922
President Ernesto Samper-Pizano of Colombia, 011-571-2893377

Finally, I recommend tracking down the latest issue of NACLA (March, April
1998), which is devoted to "The Wars Within: Counterinsurgency in Chiapas
and Colombia." It includes an article on "Oil in a Time of War," that goes
into this subject in depth.

Louis Proyect




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