From: U’wa Defense Working Group

1-President of U'wa Tribe of Colombia Confronts
Occidental Petroleum VP in Congresswoman McKinney's Office

2-Response to Occidental's Public Relations Campaign

================================

March 30, 2000

President of U'wa Tribe of Colombia Confronts
Occidental Petroleum VP in Congresswoman McKinney's Office

Washington, DC (March 30) -- Roberto Perez, President of the U'wa
Traditional Authority in the first days of his US visit, confronted a
surprised Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) Vice President, Larry Meriage, in the
Congressional office of Georgia Representative Cynthia McKinney, ranking
member on the House International Relations Subcommittee on International
Operations and Human Rights.

According to McKinney, Meriage had requested a meeting with her in apparent
response to her remarks on Oxy's controversial oil project yesterday during
the house floor debate on the US Military aid package to Colombia. When Oxy
officials arrived at her office this morning, they were surprised to also
be greeted by U'wa President and eight leaders of the U'wa Defense Working
Group ready to discuss their demand that Oxy immediately suspend its oil
project on the sacred ancestral land of the U'wa people.

During the intense one-hour meeting, McKinney asked Oxy pointed questions
about the impacts of the project on the U'wa and asked the U'wa President
to respond. When pressed, Meriage admitted on record that the U'wa had not
been
consulted on the company's plans to drill the Gibraltar 1 oil well.

Oxy's admission about the lack of consultation gives strong credence to the
ongoing legal challenges to Oxy's drilling permit in international and
Colombian courts. Consultation with indigenous communities is a legal
requirement both under the Colombian Constitution and under international
conventions such as Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization
(ILO).

Oxy began construction of the drill site in early February. In defense of
their land and culture, currently some 2700 U'wa people, local farmers,
students and union members are attempting to stop Oxy's construction works
on the Gibraltar 1 drill site in Northeast Colombia through peaceful protest.

The U'wa continue to stress their strong opposition to the oil project have
repeatedly stated their willingness to die defending their land and culture.

"Oxy must immediately suspend their project pending a mediated settlement
with the U'wa," said Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney from Georgia's 4th
District. "If any deaths occur in association with this project, the blood
will be on Occidental's hands."

"Oil maintains the balance of the world and is the blood of our mother. In
accordance with our natural laws which don't permit the exploitation or
destruction of nature, we demand that you respect our rights, our culture,
and our lives," declared U'wa President Roberto Perez.

The U'wa President will travel to Washington, New York and Boston during
the next week for meetings with the US Government and Oxy investors in
order to urge for a suspension of the oil project. For interviews, contact
Atossa Soltani 202-256-9795 or Lauren Sullivan at 415-595-7246.

# # #

U’wa Defense Working Group
RESPONSE TO OCCIDENTAL’S PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN

In Congressional testimony before the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and
Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee, and
in various lobbying documents and conversations, Occidental’s spokesmen
have made several disingenuous and misleading points. They are presented
and rebutted below:

* Oxy implies that the U’wa are but pawns of guerrillas and international NGOs
This implication is both patronizing and dangerous to the U’wa. In
September of 1997 a joint mission of the Organization of American States
and Harvard University’s Center for Non-Violent Solutions issued their
report on solutions to the ongoing conflict between the U’wa and Colombia
and Oxy. One of the top recommendations of that report was for a
"moderation of public rhetoric", which in Oxy’s case, referred to ongoing
unsubstantiated statements dangerously linking the U’wa to guerrilla
groups. Continued statements in this vein not only disregard this
important recommendation designed to deescalate tension in the region, but
also substantially place the U’wa at risk by publicly accusing them of
being linked to guerrilla forces.

Most recently, Occidental Vice President Lawrence Meriage testified before
the US Congress that "the [U’wa] community has been under intense pressure
by the guerrillas to oppose oil development anywhere in the region. These
uncontested facts are well known in Colombia. Rather than acknowledge the
truth, namely that the U'wa are in no position to speak openly about what
is really happening, the NGOs continue to attack Occidental." The facts,
are indeed, very contested.

In fact, both the U’wa and NGOs have issued multiple condemnations of the
guerrillas. Most recently, in January of this year, the U’wa stated "we
don 't agree with the actions by the National Liberation Army (ELN) to
destroy the machinery and equipment of the transnational oil company OXY,
since actions like these only make the conflict worse." See below for a
discussion of NGO condemnation of the guerrillas.

Occidental signed their contract for exploration in April of 1992. Public
U’wa opposition to oil development dates to March of 1993, which the U’wa
point out is also when Occidental stopped talking to isolated members of
their community about health and education projects, and started talking
about oil drilling. Colombian media first reported that the U’wa were
threatening mass suicide in April of 1995 . International NGOs were not
even aware of the situation prior to 1996.

* Oxy attempts to link US NGOs to Colombian guerrillas
In testimony before the US Congress, Occidental spokesman Meriage accuses
US NGO’s of being "de facto allies of the subversive forces" – a dangerous
and inflammatory statement given the context of Colombia today. Meriage
further implies that US NGOs have not addressed the complexity of violence
in Colombia – a claim that is demonstrably false.

As Occidental knows well, three American NGO representatives were killed by
the FARC last year on a mission to U’wa territory. US NGOs were vocal in
their condemnation of violence by guerrillas both before and after that
event.

Prior to the murders, Project Underground, with the support of the full
U’wa Defense Working Group, undertook a case study of the U’wa situation,
which it published under the title Blood Of Our Mother. The report
explicitly documents the complexity of the cycle of violence in Colombia,
and the role of the guerrillas in particular of attacking oil
installations. Over 5,000 copies have been printed and distributed, and it
is available online.

While NGOs, like the U’wa, abhor the use of violence by the guerrillas, our
analysis is that oil exploration in Colombia today, in the middle of a
country embroiled in civil war, is an inherently violent proposition. Oil
installations, as Oxy well knows, attract violence throughout Colombia –
they are strategic targets in the war. We do not argue that stopping oil
development in the U’wa region will ensure peace. We do maintain that
moving forward with oil development can only harm its prospects.

Finally, we note with some irony that fact that Mr. Meriage’s oral
testimony to Congress included the admission of direct payments from
Occidental to the guerrillas, and call on Occidental to reveal the full
extent of the payments and their relationship over time.

* Oxy contends that their well is situated outside of U’wa territory
While it is true that Occidental’s Gibraltar 1 well lies approximately 500
meters outside the border of the newly legalized Unified U’wa Reservation,
Occidental neglects to mention that the two farms on which the drillsite is
actually situated on land that is owned by the U’wa.

On November 18, 1999, on behalf of the entire U’wa people, the Association
of U’wa Traditional Authorities entered into and officially registered
contracts to purchase two farms near the border of their Unified Reserve.
These farms – named Bella Vista and Santa Rita – encompass the land
designated for the Gibraltar 1 well. The registration of these contracts
constituted a transfer of the property free of any encumbrances.

In addition to the U’wa’s ownership of the land on which Occidental intends
to drill the well, the well is approximately 500 meters from the U’wa’s
legally recognized Unified Reservation. The "area of direct influence"
identified by Occidental Petroleum essentially follows the boundary of the
Reservation. Neither the Government of Colombia nor Occidental Petroleum
has made available the environmental impact study that defines the area of
impact - making it impossible to evaluate the suspicious conclusion that
any direct impact stops at the border of the Reservation or to ascertain
how serious may be any indirect impact on that land.

The U’wa have therefore had no opportunity to evaluate the assertion
implicit in the Gibraltar 1 license that the well’s impact will be
drastically less than that of other wells in Colombia. Such secrecy runs
counter to fundamental principles of democracy which, in the area of
environmental assessment, are codified in the United States in our
requirement that the public be permitted to review and comment on
environmental impact statements.

Finally, all of the Samore block lies clearly within traditional U’wa
territory as defined by the University of Javeriana in conjunction with the
departmental governments of Boyaca, Santander, and North Santander, the
Colombian Institute of Agrarian Reform, and the Cabildo Mayor U’wa.

* Oxy contends that the U’wa were consulted prior to the beginning of
construction on Gibraltar 1.

The U’wa were never consulted regarding the construction of Gibraltar 1.
All of the meetings referenced by both the Colombian government and
Occidental were exclusively focused on the expansion of the U’wa reserve –
not the construction of an oil well.

The Colombian Constitution establishes particular protections for
indigenous cultures and territories threatened by natural resource
exploitation. Article 330 provides: "Exploitation of natural resources in
indigenous territories shall take place without harm to the cultural,
social or economic integrity of the indigenous communities. In adopting
decisions regarding such exploitation, the Government shall ensure the
participation of representatives of the respective communities." Law 99 of
1993 implements this constitutional protection by requiring that there be
"prior consultation with the representatives of the [indigenous]
communities" before making decisions concerning natural resource
exploitation that could harm those communities. Even the Colombian
Environment Ministry’s own regulations require consultation with affected
indigenous communities before granting environmental licenses.

The approval of Occidental’s license to drill the Gibraltar 1 well violates
these requirements of prior consultation.

In the words of the U’wa:

"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 threaten 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 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 attempted 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."

* Oxy implies that opposition to the Samore Project is restricted to the
guerrillas and NGOs
Nothing could be further from the truth. In September of 1999, over 100
organizations from 24 countries signed a letter to President Pastrana
urging him not to grant the license to drill to Occidental. In Colombia,
the breadth and depth of support for the U’wa is evidenced by the presence
of over 2,500 local people currently surrounding Oxy’s well, and the
hundreds of organizations that have supported the campaign in the last nine
years.

Occidental’s license to drill was granted under false pretenses, and should
be immediately suspended. Despite legal requirements for consultation,
Colombian authorities never held a single meeting with the U’wa concerning
the decision to grant this license.

Proceeding with this project now virtually ensures a violent confrontation.
The responsible course of action at this stage is to enter into a "cooling
off" period, which will allow for the de-escalation of the significant
tensions in the region.

The only short-term solution to this crisis is to suspend oil operations on
Gibraltar 1, pending a mediated settlement in which all stakeholders are
full participants.

************************************************************
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