And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
via League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of the Western Hemisphere
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: AP: Colombian Indians dominate Oxy shareholder meeting, but ,
resolution fails
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 12:07:45 -0500
From: Dennis Grammenos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
==========================================
Occidental officials dispute the tribe's
claim that the drilling project is on U'wa
ancestral land. The company says it
voluntarily canceled plans on 75 percent
of the Samore block in response to the
tribe's concerns. The remaining 25 percent
of the project is on land the Colombian
government claims does not belong to the
Indians.
___________________ ==========================================
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, 1 May 1999
Colombian Indians dominate Oxy shareholder
meeting, but resolution fails
------------------------------------------
By Martha Bellisle
SANTA MONICA, California -- Occidental Petroleum Corp. shareholders
heard
a passionate appeal from a Colombian Indian tribe at their annual
meeting
before voicing dissatisfaction with a recent drop in stock value and
company management.
``Now is the moment for Oxy to respect our rights and cancel the project
on the Samore Block,'' Roberto Perez, president of the Traditional U'wa
Council, said through a translator to about 300 shareholders gathered in
the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
The 5,000-member U'wa tribe, who live in the region of a proposed
drilling
site in Colombia, have threatened to walk off a cliff should Occidental
go
forward.
After the plea, shareholders on Friday rejected a pro-Indian resolution
seeking a study of the impact on company profits if tribal members
carried
out a threat to commit mass suicide.
Supporters of the measure claimed a moral victory after the proposal
received about 41 million votes, or 13 percent of votes cast, according
to
early tabulations. Final numbers would be available at a later date,
said
Ray R. Irani, Occidental's chairman and chief executive.
``It was a terrific success,'' said Spencer Adler, a Washington attorney
who wrote the resolution with activist Terence Freitas, a longtime U'wa
supporter who was shot to death in March by a leftist rebel leader
during
a visit to the tribe. Two of Freitas' colleagues also were killed.
Freitas' mother, Julie, attended the meeting, but did not speak.
``It shows that shareholders of oil companies are starting to pay
attention to human rights,'' said Atossa Soltani, spokeswoman for Amazon
Watch, as she stood with about 100 chanting demonstrators outside the
meeting.
Arvind Ganesan, an analyst with New York-based Human Rights Watch, said
he
was impressed with the voting results.
``For a human rights resolution, that's pretty significant because it's
in
the double digits, which I've never seen before,'' Ganesan said in a
telephone interview. ``The largest I've seen was 7 to 9 percent.''
Occidental officials dispute the tribe's claim that the drilling project
is on U'wa ancestral land. The company says it voluntarily canceled
plans
on 75 percent of the Samore block in response to the tribe's concerns.
The
remaining 25 percent of the project is on land the Colombian government
claims does not belong to the Indians.
CEO Irani told U'wa leaders and supporters that their argument,
therefore,
is with the Colombian government.
Occidental expects to begin drilling in the first quarter of 2000,
``after
anticipated receipt of all necessary permits and environmental
licenses,''
according to a company report released at the meeting.
The company's board and CEO received a far cooler reception from
stockholders than did protesters -- several stood during the
question-and-answer period and called for Irani and the board to step
down. Cheers and applause followed each suggestion.
Several shareholders complained that the price of the stock, which
recently dipped to about $14 a share, is at about the same level it was
when they purchased it in the 1970s. The stock closed Friday down 75
cents
at $20.19 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Irani said he had no intention of stepping down, and assured
shareholders
that the company is cutting capital spending from the nearly $1.1
billion
level in 1998, to about $450 million in 1999.
In the last year, the company cut the number of countries where it
operates from 21 to 11. The company has begun laying off 1,000 employees
as part of its cost-cutting plan. No plans for additional layoffs were
mentioned at the meeting.
Copyright 1999 Associated Press
_______________________________________________________________________
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--
================================================================
April 30: An International Day of Solidarity with the U'wa People!
For planned actions, see: http://www.lisn.net/home.htm#urgentaction and
http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/beyond_oil/index.html
Memorial Page: Chief Vernon Sly Fox Pocknett, Mashpee Wampanoag Nation
http://www.lisn.net/wampanoag.htm#vernonpocknett
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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