U'wa Indigenous Leader Beaten and Threatened

["Shannon Wright, Rainforest Action Network" <amazonia@ran.org>]

U'WA DEFENSE PROJECT
C/O Earth Trust Foundation 20110 Rockport Way Malibu, California 90265
phone/fax (818) 505-8353 email: uwaproject@aol.com

  For immediate release-		Contact: Terence Freitas, U'wa Defense Project, 310/516 3026 (pager)
  October 20, 1997			    Shannon Wright, Rainforest Action Network, 415/398-4404
  
  entrevistas en Español
  
  
  U'WA INDIGENOUS LEADER BEATEN AND THREATENED
  
  U'wa Chief Roberto Cobaría speaks of death threat at protest outside Occidental Petroleum's offices, appeals to company executives
  
  Los Angeles-The U'wa people of Colombia who have threatened to commit collective suicide if oil is drilled on their ancestral lands, now face an additional peril:  violence and death threats for opposing oil development.  This is the announcement U'wa Chief Roberto Cobaría made at a press conference today outside of Occidental Petroleum's headquarters in Los Angeles.  
  
  Cobaría is on his second journey to the U.S. this year in order to appeal directly to Occidental and its investment partner Shell International to halt the project. Despite the fact that it may place him in additional danger, Cobaría decided to go public about the recent death threat and beating he received in his cloud forest village.  The U'wa say that they are already suffering the consequences of the oil project and are asking the companies to cancel their plans immediately.
  
  During the press conference Chief Cobaría revealed the details of the recent death threat. Cobaría was pulled from his bed in the middle of the night by a group of hooded men with rifles.  The assailants held the U'wa leader to the ground, demanding that he sign an authorization agreement, or he would lose his life.  After refusing to sign, Cobaría was threatened with hanging, then beaten and pushed off an embankment into a river where he nearly drowned.  Cobaría recounted the violent attach: "They said if you don't sign the agreement you will lose your life.  And I said I guess I will lose my life then, kill me right now, because I can't make this agreement. I can't sign anything away from my tribe."  Cobaría is the U'wa people's elected representative and as such serves as the tribal spokesperson, refusing to authorize Occidental's and Shell's plans to drill for oil on U'wa territory.
  
  Joining Cobaría were some 50 protesters from the U'wa Defense Project, an international coalition of environmental and human rights organizations including the Action Resource Center, Amazon Watch, Project Underground, and Rainforest Action Network who are working in solidarity with the U'wa people.
  
  "We want Occidental and Shell to know that we hold them accountable for the U'wa's welfare.  It is up to these companies to avert another tragedy like what is happening in Nigeria where 2,000 Ogoni, including leader Ken Saro-Wiwa, have been killed for organizing against Shell," said Terence Freitas, Coordinator of the U'wa Defense Project.
  
  The U'wa-a traditional indigenous people some 5,000 strong who live in the cloud forests of the Colombian Andes-are adamantly opposed to the oil project slated for their sacred homeland.  If the oil project proceeds, the U'wa threaten to walk en-mass off a 1,400-foot cliff in the Andes in order to avoid "a death without dignity" they fear will follow if oil is exploited on their land.
  
  In an open letter Cobaría delivered to Occidental and Shell today, the U'wa chief appeals to the companies:  "For us Mother Earth is sacred.  It is not for negotiation, so please do not try to confuse us and others with offers.  Please hear our request, a request that comes from our ancestral right by virtue of being born on our territory:  Halt your oil project on U'wa ancestral land." 
  
  Despite U'wa appeals and the escalation of violence in the region due to guerrilla and military clashes centering around oil regions, Occidental and Shell are moving forward with the project.  While the companies have temporarily suspended oil exploration activities on a small portion of the U'wa traditional homeland, the companies have refused to recognize the U'wa's full territorial claim or cancel drilling plans.  Occidental's and Shell's position also conflicts with the recommendation of a recent report issued by Organization of American States (OAS) in September which calls for the "immediate and unconditional" commitment of the oil companies to suspend plans for oil exploration and exploitation in the entire "Samoré" oil block.  
  
  "The U'wa, the OAS and the international human rights and environmental community all have the same message for Occidental and Shell: cancel the oil project. It is past time for the companies to do what is right over what is profitable," explained Terence Freitas.
  
  About half of Colombia's oil is exported to the U.S.  The Samoré block, estimated to hold some 1.5 billion barrels of oil, is enough to supply U.S. consumption for only three months.  Occidental cites the unacceptable loss of its $16 million in the project to date as important reason for continuing with the project.  Occidental CEO Dr. Ray Irani, the highest paid executive in the U.S., is expected to earn a $95 million bonus this year.  For its part, Shell currently has more than a $12 billion cash surplus.

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U'wa Defense Project is working to publicize the U'wa struggle and mobilize international support by organizing institutions and people in defense of the U'wa. Formed in July of 1997, the U'wa Defense Project is supported by a coalition of environmental and human rights groups including: Amazon Watch, Center for Justice and International Law, Coalition for Amazonian Peoples and their Environment, Colombian Human Rights Watch, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund,  FIAN-Germany, Project Underground, Rainforest Action Network, and SOL Communications.
  
  
  
  
  
  ______________________________________________________
  Shannon Wright			NEW ADDRESS:
  Amazon Campaign Director		221 Pine Street, Suite 500
  Rainforest Action Network		San Francisco, CA 94104 USA
  E-mail: amazonia@ran.org		tel: (415) 398-4404
  URL: http://www.ran.org			fax: (415) 398-2732
  
  Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
  support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots
  organizing, and non-violent direct action.