-Caveat Lector-
http://www.newsday.com/ap/text/topnews/ap528.htm
U.S. Oil Co. Drills Near Indian Land
by JARED KOTLER
Associated Press Writer
November 3, 2000
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- In a step a Colombia Indian
tribe says spells death for its culture, an American
oil company began test drilling on Friday just outside
the tribe's reservation, the state-run oil company
announced.
Leaders of the U'wa Indian tribe have protested the
Occidental Petroleum Corp. project for years, at one
point even threatening a mass suicide should the
company be allowed to drill in the area near
Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela.
The 8,000-member U'wa nation has likened oil
exploration to draining the ''blood of mother earth.''
The group also fears that oil exploration close to its
home will bring violence.
In a statement Friday, the government-run oil company
Ecopetrol said Occidental's project is critical for
Colombia's economy. It could produce 1.4 billion
barrels of crude and bring federal and state
governments up to $14 billion from contracts with Los
Angeles-based Occidental, Ecopetrol said.
There was no immediate reaction from the U'wa, who
have staged protests outside the drilling site all
year.
Courts cleared the way for the exploratory drilling in
May. Occidental originally proposed drilling directly
on U'wa lands, but the drill site was moved just
outside the group's officially recognized territory.
U.S.-based environmental and indigenous rights
activists have raised the issue in the American
presidential campaign, holding protests and urging
Vice President Al Gore to divest family stock holdings
in Occidental. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader
issued a statement Monday urging Occidental to cancel
the project.
''The human rights and lives of the U'wa are worth
more than the commercial interests of Occidental
Petroleum,'' Nader said.
Colombia's armed factions congregate around areas rich
in valuable resources, and its 36-year conflict has
already spilled over onto U'wa territory. Last year,
leftist guerrillas kidnapped and killed three American
activists who had come to Colombia to work with the
U'wa.
Guerrillas frequently bomb oil pipelines as part of an
extortion scheme and to protest foreign
''exploitation'' of Colombia's resources. The military
stations large numbers of troops at oil installations
to protect them from rebel attacks.
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