Colombia, the U'wa and oil

Contents

  1. Ulla Lehtinen: "Indigenous peoples and oil" events in Finland 1999
  2. Olli Tammilehto: A civilised world or a bloodsucker of the earth?
  3. Background information on oil
  4. Russia's oil production
  5. Florian Stammler: Where does our oil come from?
  6. Yeremei Aipin: Russia's oil industry and the development of rights of indigenous people
  7. Agrafena Sopochina: "We Live on what the earth carries on itself"
  8. Yuri Vella: Kogalym-Lor - the lake where a man died
  9. Bruce Forbes: Industrial development in the Yamal-Nenets Area
  10. Lidia Okotetto: I no longer understand the tundra that has loved me
  11. Grigorii Anagurichi: A clash of civilisations at the ends of the world
  12. Charity Nenebari Ebeh: The Ogoni experience
  13. Magda Lanuza: Oil production in Central America
  14. Ecuador and oil
  15. Arturo Yumbai Iligama: The war against the poor
  16. Colombia, the U'wa and oil
  17. Roberto Afanador Cobaria: Oil is blood of the earth
  18. Workshop 1: The strategies of oil industry and the responses of indigenous peoples' movements
  19. Workshop 2: Networking of indigenous peoples threatened by oil and gas exploration
  20. Workshop 3: Northern Dimension
  21. Communique of the participants in the seminar "Indigenous Peoples and Oil"
  22. Internet links

Oil is one of the most important exports of Colombia. The country is the fourth biggest and one of the fastest growing oil producers in South America. Oil has also become the instrument of struggle between the government and the left-wing guerrilla groups such as the FARC and the ELN. In an attempt to destroy the country's economy the rebels have repeatedly struck at and destroyed oil pipes. In response, the government has increased the number of troops in the oil producing areas.

Most destructively the situation affects indigenous peoples living in the area. They are being driven into a tight corner both by the notorious government troops and by the guerrillas. They suffer the most from the environmental damage caused by oil production and by strikes on oil pipelines. For example, the Cano Limon oil pipeline running on the north side of the area inhabited by the U'wa people has been hit over 500 times, resulting in over 236,000 tonnes of crude oil spilling into the environment. Violence generated by oil production hit international news headlines in February 1999 when the FARC guerrillas abducted and murdered three American activists, Terence Freitas, Laheenae Gay and Ingrid Washinawatok. They were helping the U'wa in their campaign against Occidental Oil.

The U'wa

Numbering about 5,000, the U'wa people live in northeastern Colombia in the mountains of Sierra Nevada de Cocuy, which is situated at the foot of the Andies below the Amazon. Unlike many other South and Central American indigenous peoples, the U'wa have succeeded in preserving their traditional language and culture. The majority of them speak only their mother tongue, u'waika. As a result of a policy that began in the 1940's and continued up to the 1970's, the Colombia government gave 85 per cent of the area traditionally inhabited by the U'wa to new settlers. Currently the official designated habitat of the U'wa people is only 220,000 hectares. Even though the area is now twice as large as it was before the year 1999, it is nevertheless still too small to support traditional mode of living.

The biggest threat at the moment to their ecological lifestyle is international petroleum industry, especially the expansion of the US Occidental Petroleum or "Oxy" into their area. Apart from Oxy, Shell has also been interested in the oil resources of the area but withdrew from the project, after coming under international criticism. Even though Colombian law guarantees the indigenous peoples the right to decide on the use of the resources in their area, in practice that is often different.

For a long time the U'wa have used non-violence to prevent the drilling of oil. They have threatened to commit mass suicide if any oil company encroaches on their area. According to U'wa oral histories about 450 years ago when the Spanish conquerors were occupying their region about 3,000 of them killed first their children and then themselves by jumping into a gorge.

The benefits from the oil in the area are insignificant compared to the damage caused. The Samore block, the area reserved by Oxy, contains less oil than what the United States consumes in three months.

The current situation

The U'wa carried their struggle to Los Angeles, the home of Oxy in the spring of 1999, where their representatives and north American activists participated in the annual meeting of the company. They had access into the meeting with help of Sinsinawa Dominican nuns who support the U'wa, and have some Oxy shares.

In August 1999 the government more than doubled the area of the U'wa, but the decision was more of a juridical conjuring because after this the government gave drilling license to Oxy right next to the new area. However, the new drilling area also belongs to the traditional homeland of the U'wa.

In December 1999 about 200 U'wa people peacefully "occupied" an area that Oxy had earmarked to start drilling for oil. In the beginning of 2000 an international campaign began appealing Oxy's big shareholder, Fidelity Investment, to prevent drilling in the U'wa's land. The USA vice president and presidenital candidate Al Gore who has 500,000 dollars worth Oxy's shares has also come under pressure.

Violence in Colombia has escalated in spite of the ongoing peace talks. The fighting involving the leftist guerrillas, government forces and right-wing paramilitary forces has continued also in the areas inhabited by the U'wa. The United States government decided to give Colombian armed forces over 1,500 million dollars of military aid in the beginning of 2000, officially to help fight drug trafficking. However, a large part of this money is reckoned to go into financing the fight against the rebels and thereby further escalate the civil war.

Occidental has also resorted to the use of arms in order to acquire U'wa land. On January 25, 2000 the army evacuated dozens of U'wa people and forcibly transferred them in trucks and helicopters from an area where the oil company is planning to construct a maintenance road leading to Samore. The left-wing guerrillas have also reacted to oil exploration. While the army was conveying the last of the U'wa people, ELN guerrillas destroyed Oxy's road construction equipment. The Colombian police has also used heavy-handed methods to dismantle roadblocks put up by the U'wa.

In March at least 4,000 farm workers, students and trade union activists joined the non-violent resistance of the U'wa to prevent the oil company from entering the area. However, on October 1, 2000, Occidental managed to move drilling machinery to the site protected by thousands of military personnel. On November 6 it began drilling.

Meanwhile, the U'wa have found from the archives a ruling by the King of Spain from the year 1661. The "Royal Land Deed" recognizes the pre-existing rights of indigenous people in Colombia, including their sub-surface land rights.