Re-send: Open Letter from U'wa Chief to Occidental and Shell

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

  OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENTS OF OCCIDENTAL AND SHELL
  
  
  FROM ROBERTO COBARIA, PRESIDENT OF 
  THE U'WA TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY 
  
  
  I write to you asking that you hear my people's request and stop your oil project on U'wa ancestral lands. We hope that you will comply with the request that the U'wa send in this letter. At this point, there is nothing else for you to do. 
  
  The U'wa have always had a law that existed before the sun and the moon. We have always taken good care of our land, because we have always followed this law. Our law is our culture, our song and our dance. In this world there are many laws, but Mother Earth also has her laws. Before, these laws were respected. Are Occidental and Shell going to respect these laws or not?  Occidental and Shell must hear these laws and leave U'wa territory please.
  
  Today I speak for the first time in public of the threat and beating I have received by hooded men in the night, demanding I sign an authorization agreement or die.   Can you see how the U'wa are already suffering from oil exploitation?  The war that spreads throughout Colombia will spread to U'wa land if your oil project starts.   Can you see how it is already arriving? Oil may be good to sell, but it causes war.
  
  
  You speak of negotiation and consultation with the U'wa. My people say that they cannot negotiate. Our Father has not authorized it. We cannot sell oil, the blood of our Mother Earth.  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.
  
  The U'wa people need your sign of respect.
  
  
  Roberto Afanador Cobaria
  President of Cabildo Mayor - the Traditional U'wa Authority
  October 20, 1997
  
  
  
  ______________________________________________________
  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.