----- Original Message -----
From: Pakito Arriaran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 6:30 AM
Subject: [MLL]Weekly News Update on Colombia #555, 9/17/00
WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #555, SEPTEMBER 17, 2000
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*6. COLOMBIA: U'WA FACE POLICE THREATS, REVEAL OLD LAND CLAIMS
Colombian riot police arrived Sept. 7 at a proposed oil drill
site on land claimed by the indigenous U'wa tribe to warn
protesters occupying the land that they will soon be evicted. The
U'wa community has land titles to the Santa Rita and Bellavista
farms, which include the Gibraltar 1 site, where the Los Angeles-
based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) is seeking to drill a test well.
The U'wa returned to the farms on July 8 after a judge issued an
injunction to allow review of the U'wa's claims. But the riot
police warned that the U'wa and the campesinos supporting them
will be removed from a 500-meter radius of the drill site, so
that Oxy machinery can be brought in to do the drilling. On Sept.
11, the U'wa apparently were warned that the eviciton would take
place in eight days. [U'wa Urgent Action 9/11/00; Equipo
Nizkor/Derechos Human Rights 9/11/00]
Another injunction against the exploration plan was issued in
March but was overturned in May; Colombian government's Office of
the People's Defender is appealing the decision. Blanca Lucia
Echeverry, who handles indigenous and minority affairs for the
Office, believes the government is squelching opposition to the
Oxy project. "Isn't is strange," she says, "that one day the
Interior Ministry official in charge of indigenous affairs finds
this project would adversely affect a people, and the next day he
is replaced by someone who decides the opposite?" [Christian
Science Monitor 9/14/00]
On Sept. 14, U'wa leaders walked away from talks with the
government, which had been going on since July 7, after
presenting archival evidence of colonial titles from 1661 which
the U'wa claim uphold their soil and subsoil rights to their
ancestral territory. According to U'wa legal representative
Ebaristo Tegria, the area which the U'wa claim as their
traditional homeland, including the proposed Oxy drill site, is
in fact titled to the U'wa under a 1661 "Royal Land Deed" issued
by the King of Spain, which recognizes the pre-existing rights of
indigenous people in Colombia, including their sub-surface land
rights. In 1873, the Colombian government claimed all sub-surface
mineral rights as property of the nation except those previously
ceded by the "Royal Land Deed." [Update from the U'wa Defense
Working Group 9/15/00]
"When the Spanish Crown issued these titles," explained Tegria,
"it was not creating a right but recognizing a right the
indigenous people already had. It was recognizing a historical
right that could not be disregarded by the Crown and which cannot
be disregarded by the governments of the Americas today." Tegria
urged supporters to send letters to Colombian and US officials
and to Oxy, demanding that U'wa land rights be respected.
[Transcript of Tegria's comments during telephone press briefing
9/15/00]
*7. COLOMBIA: US MAKES WAR, COLOMBIANS DEMAND PEACE
On Sept. 12, US-backed Colombian anti-drug police units stepped
up a defoliant assault on a large section of the southwestern
Colombian department of Narino, near the Ecuadoran border.
"Operation Mangrove"--under way for the past month--involves some
200 police agents, using five fumigation planes to spread the
toxic chemical Glyphosate onto the countryside, allegedly with
the aim of destroying coca crops. The operation is backed by
three US-made Black Hawk artilleried helicopters to ward off
attacks by leftist rebels. [Hoy (NY) 9/14/00 from AP]
Campesinos from southern Colombia met with international
representatives on Sept. 10 in Puerto Asis, Putumayo department,
to express opposition to the government's "Plan Colombia," and to
propose an alternative plan that would reduce coca cultivation by
50% over five years, using manual eradication instead of
defoliants.
Alfonso Pardo, a peace council member from Narino department,
warned that the region has already seen an influx of refugees.
"The people are afraid of Plan Colombia and the fumigations," he
said. "In the indigenous community of Aponte, Narino, it has been
reported that the authorities fumigated 120 hectares of peas, and
the indigenous people were left without food." Quichua indigenous
representative Miguel Lluco said that the communities of Napo,
Carchi, Sucumbios and Santo Domingo de los Colorados in Ecuador
have already received some 6,000 Colombian refugees fleeing
violence and fumigation. [El Tiempo (Bogota) 9/11/00]
On Sept. 10, thousands of people marched in most of Colombia's
major cities to demand an immediate ceasefire. The marches ended
a week of mobilizations for peace. [Hoy (NY) 9/11/00 from AP]
=======================================================================
Weekly News Update on the Americas * Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY
339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139
http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/wnuhome.html * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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