And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
via LISN
Subject: Colombia: Letter from the U'wa People
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 18:27:19 -0400
From: The Sovereign U'wa Indigenous Pueblo - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: The National and International Community
Cubar, Colombia, September 21, 1999
In an ironic move that injures our most highly esteemed historic and ancestral rights,
Colombia's Minister of the Environment Juan Mayr has issued an environmental license
which will allow the multinational oil company, Occidental of Colombia (Oxy), to begin
drilling activities at the Gibraltar 1 well, located in the municipal ity of Toledo in
the department of Northern Santander.
This action once again reveals how the rule of law inscribed in our Constitution,
which is supposed to procure social well being, is subsumed by a higher order of
decrees and norms which serve local and transnational special interests. These
interests not only threaten our ways of thinking and living, which are an inspiration
for future generations of the world, but they also restrict our capacity to protect
our people.
We believe our fundamental and internationally recognized human and environmental
rights are under attack. Today, we declare the beginning of a permanent and
irreversible struggle to assure the protection of our rights and respect for our
cause, which is the cause of the entire world, and not the cause of a select group, as
the Colombian government claims. We will employ all means necessary, drawing on
already present international solidarity, to accomplish this.
Similarly, we would like to make it known that, through a shady process which was
conducted without full consultation, we were called to negotiate the terms of our
territory, which historical circumstances wrested from our community. With good faith,
we attem pted to secure our legitimate right to this land, but on a parallel path, the
Minister of the Environment and his closest aids, deciding that economic interests
have the right to pilfer and destroy Mother Earth, have taken unprecedented measures
that threaten our struggle for identity, sovereignty and self-determination.
The legal arguments which Occidental has used to present the environmental and social
impact assessment in question are not justified. We denounce these irregularities,
because many aspects of the assessment were not reviewed by or even submitted for
consideration to the traditional indigenous authorities, the peasant communities or
other local authorities. This omission as we kno w and understand it represents an
attack on the process of citizen participation and on the procurement of collective
rights in Colombia.
In economic terms, the government and the company claim they will bring progress to
our region, falsely implying that we are plagued by ignorance and absolute poverty.
They claim drilling and extracting crude oil will bring widespread development to this
area. We do not accept these claims: This kind of investment, given the situation of
conflict, will not bring social progress; it will only exacerbate the already
escalating levels of violence and disrupt our community's livelihood and cultural
traditions, which are inextricably linked to the natural cycles, to farming and to
fishing.
The Association of Traditional U'wa Authorities condemns the minister's administrative
act as illegal and unconstitutional. He violated norms subscribed within Convention
169 of the International Labor Organization and ratified in Colombia by Law 21 of 1991
w hich require prior consultation and dispute settlement with indigenous communities.
Given the high stakes and sensitive nature of these measures for all of the indigenous
peoples of Colombia, we must be allowed to conduct a thorough legal analysis of every
de tail of the text of the resolution issuing the environmental license.
The U'wa people request that beginning today, a strong voice of solidarity resonate
and actions be carried out in defense of our people and of all Colombians. We call out
to the media, to social institutions and to organizations and government offices whose
d uty it is to protect the rights of the people, asking all of you to publicly
accompany us in this process. Only in this way can truth be revealed; only in this way
can we uncover the lies which some of our public servants spin individually and under
the auspi ces of the highest government authorities to forfeit the legitimate rights
of our people.
Signed: Roberto Perez, President of the U'wa Tribal Council of
Traditional Authorities
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