WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
ISSUE #568, DECEMBER 17, 2000
NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012
(212) 674-9499 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*8. COLOMBIA: UNION LEADER SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
On Dec. 15, Colombian union leader Wilson Borja was wounded and
two people were killed in an attack against Borja by hired
killers in front of his home in Bogota. The union leader was hit
by three bullets but was declared out of danger. One of the
alleged attackers was killed, as was a street vendor caught in
the crossfire between Borja's bodyguards and the attackers. One
of Borja's bodyguards was wounded.
Borja, president of the National Federation of State Workers
(Fenaltrase) and a member of the Colombian Communist Party,
blamed rightwing paramilitary groups for the attack, and said
they had been threatening him recently. Borja has been part of a
group seeking to initiate peace talks between the government and
the National Liberation Army (ELN). Colombia's main labor
federations, the Unitary Workers Federation (CUT), the General
Confederation of Democratic Workers and the Colombian Workers
Confederation (CTC), responded to the attack against Borja by
calling a protest strike for Dec. 18.
CUT president Luis Eduardo Garzon said 70 unionists have been
murdered so far this year; other local organizations say that
number is at least 116. Most were killed by rightwing
paramilitaries. [El Nuevo Herald 12/16/00 from Reuters; La
Republica (Lima) 12/16/00 from EFE]
Meanwhile, Colombian defense minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said
in an interview on Dec. 12 that some military officers have
joined paramilitary groups or guerrilla groups because they can
earn more money there than in the army. "I have to say that some
people from the [military] institution even quit to go join the
self-defense [paramilitary] and guerrilla groups because they
were paying them more money," Ramirez told the Bogota daily El
Tiempo. [LR 12/13/00 from AFP]
*9. COLOMBIA: U'WA WIN FIDELITY DIVESTMENT, PICK NEXT TARGET
Colombia's 5,000-member U'wa indigenous tribe has stepped up its
campaign to stop the Los Angeles-based oil company Occidental
Corp. (Oxy) from drilling on their traditional lands. On Dec. 12,
U'wa chief Roberto Perez visited the San Francisco offices of
investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein and delivered a letter of
protest asking the company to dump its Oxy stock.
Sanford C. Bernstein is the latest target in the campaign to
defend U'wa land, after Boston-based Fidelity Investments dumped
about 60% of its Oxy stock, worth over $400 million, in September
following an extensive campaign against Fidelity by the U'wa and
their supporters. A Fidelity spokesperson insisted that the 60%
divestment from Oxy was "based solely on the merits of the
company, and was not connected in any way to the U'wa campaign."
Oxy began drilling at the Gibraltar 1 test well on U'wa land in
early November, after months of delay due to court battles and
protests [see Update #562]. [Reuters 12/13/00; U'wa Emergency
Updates 12/6/00, 12/13/00]
Fidelity's divestment came after demonstrations and civil
disobedience actions were held at more than 75 Fidelity offices
worldwide. Over the past year, the New York-based Sanford C.
Bernstein & Co. LLC, a subsidiary of Alliance Capital Management
L.P., increased its shares by 10 million to become Oxy's top
investor, and as of Nov. 29 controlled over 53 million shares of
Oxy stock valued at more than $1.1 billion dollars. Sanford
Bernstein's Vice Chair, Roger Hertog, can be reached at the
company's headquarters at 767 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
10153-0185; fax #212-756-4453; phone #212-756-4389. [U'wa
Emergency Updates 12/6/00]
Last April Hertog promised the U'wa that he would seriously
investigate the matter and look into his company's investments in
Oxy, then let the U'wa know his position. Since then, his company
acquired the additional 10 million shares of Oxy stock without
communicating again with the U'wa. [U'wa Working Group Press
Release 12/12/00]
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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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