Fidelity a target in oil protest

By Karen Hsu, Globe Correspondent, 2/4/2000

Environmental and human rights groups yesterday demonstrated outside
Fidelity Investments offices in Boston and 19 other cities to protest the
mutual fund company's stake in Occidental Petroleum Corp., which plans to
drill for oil on land claimed by the U'wa Indians in Colombia.

The groups want Boston-based Fidelity to pressure Occidental to cancel the
drillings and they have threatened to start a campaign to encourage
customers to withdraw their money from the giant investment firm.

In Boston yesterday, about 50 people rallied in the bitter cold as
customers tried to enter Fidelity's Congress Street offices. At one point,
the bomb squad was called after someone tried to handcuff a briefcase with
a tape recorder playing to one of the lobby doors.

Other protests at Fidelity offices took place in Atlanta, New York,
Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Fidelity controls about 30
million, or about 8.5 percent, of Occidental's shares, the human rights and
environmental groups said.

In Prague, Geneva, and Tel Aviv, the protest groups demonstrated in front
of Colombian embassies.

The U'wa dispute the government's approval of a license for Occidental to
drill for oil, Colombia's largest export, and have tried to block the
drilling equipment.

Last week, the Colombian military began evicting a few members of the U'wa,
a tribe of 5,000 Colombian Indians, from their property to a military base
as machinery tried to move in. The drill site is in an area of disputed
land. Roberto Perez, the highest elected official of the U'was, says the
site is about 1,600 feet from the tribe's reservation, but the Colombian
government contends it is several miles away. Nonetheless, the area is
considered part of the tribe's ancestral lands, Perez said in a telephone
interview from Bogata, the capital. Perez said the tribe last year bought
two farms on land that has become part of the drilling area.

The U'wa have threatened to walk off a 1,400-foot cliff in the Andes in a
mass suicide to protect the land they considered sacred. Their ritual
chants reminisce a time, hundreds of years ago, when many U'wa jumped off a
cliff to avoid enslavement by Spanish invaders.

''It is not only ecocide, but cultural genocide,'' said Dune Lankard, a
protester in Boston who came from Alaska. Lankard, 40, is a commercial
fisherman who fought for compensation when the Exxon Valdez oil spill
ruined his Eyak people's lands.

The protest was organized by Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch, and
other organizations. Rainforest Action Network was effective last year in
persuading Home Depot, the nation's largest retailer of lumber, to agree
not to sell any wood from endangered forests.

A Fidelity spokesman yesterday said the resolution of such disputes should
be in the hands of the government. ''The appropriate authorities of the
world have the responsibility to address matters of this type. We would
hope they would do so fairly and wisely on behalf of their citizens,'' said
Vincent Loporchio, spokesman for Fidelity. ''Our responsibility is to weigh
the impact of these issues on behalf of our mutual fund shareholders.''
Occidental did not return phone calls.

The activists have also targeted Vice President Al Gore, whose Occidental
stock holdings are valued up to $500,000. Those shares came from his father
when he sat on Occidental's board.

Simon Billenness, senior analyst at Trillium Asset Management in Boston, a
socially responsible investment firm with $600 million in client assets,
said that both Fidelity and Gore could influence the petroleum company.

''Both of them could easily pick up the phone and talk to the CEO of
Occidental, which could send a very strong message that this project on
U'wa lands is going to be counterproductive in the long term for
Occidental,'' Billenness said.

This story ran on page A16 of the Boston Globe on 2/4/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.

-------------------------------------------------

Fidelity, Gore Urged to Help Block Colombian Occidental Venture
2/2/0 19:6 (New York)

Fidelity, Gore Urged to Help Block Colombian Occidental Venture

Washington, Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Environmental activists are urging
Fidelity Investments and U.S. Vice President Al Gore either to divest their
holdings in Occidental Petroleum Corp. or use their influence to persuade
the company to withdraw from a controversial venture in Colombia.
Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, two non-profit
environmental groups, are targeting Fidelity, the world's biggest mutual
fund company, and presidential candidate Gore as part of an effort to stop
Occidental's drive to drill oil in a region they say belongs to the U'wa
Indian tribe.
Fidelity is the second-largest holder of Occidental shares and Gore --
who has billed himself an environmentalist - is executor of an estate that
holds as much as $500,000 worth of stock in the company.
Members of the U'wa, a tribe that opposes exploration on its ancestral
lands, have threatened to commit mass suicide if the project isn't stopped.
News reports in Colombia say the military began to evict the U'wa from
their lands last week.
``I do not want my money supporting something like this,'' said Kathy
Kerridge, an attorney and housewife who owns $47,000 worth of shares in
five Fidelity funds. While she hasn't sold her investments yet, she said,
``if I don't see some kind of action I will sell my shares and transfer
them to another fund and move them out of Fidelity.''

Investors' Pressure

Kerridge is among the two dozen owners of Fidelity funds who have
urged the company to pressure Occidental into withdrawing from the U'wa
tribe's land. One investor has sold off about $300,000 worth of Fidelity
mutual funds to protest the company's actions in Colombia, according to
Rainforest Action Network.
Tomorrow, activists will hold 22 demonstrations outside Fidelity
offices in the U.S. and nine protests outside Colombian embassies and
Fidelity offices in other countries. Outside the company's headquarters in
Boston, at least one investor will publicly divest her $21,000 worth of
Fidelity funds to protest the
company's 8.25 percent stake in Occidental, said Steve Kretzmann, a
consultant to Amazon Watch's U'wa campaign.
``We generally don't comment on customer relationships,'' said Vin
Loporchio, a Fidelity spokesman.
The campaign is one of the first to expand investor activism -- by
which investors try to force votes on such issues through proxy votes
during annual shareholder meetings -- to the realm of mutual funds. The
activists took aim at Fidelity because it has consistently ranked among the
top three owners of Occidental stock and is a ``leader in its field,'' said
Shannon Wright, director of Rainforest Action Network's ``beyond oil''
campaign.
``You're definitely going to see a lot more of this because more
people are investing in mutual funds and the people responsible for
deciding on proxies are increasingly mutual fund managers,'' said Simon
Billenness, a senior analyst with the ``socially responsible'' investment
firm Trillium Asset Management Corp., which manages more than $600 million.
``And they are going to be increasingly lobbied by people like Kathy
Kerridge.''

Gore's Connections

Gore is under fire because of his close connections with Occidental.
The vice president's personal financial disclosure, filed with the
U.S. Office of Government Ethics, shows him as executor of his late
father's estate, which holds $250,000 to $500,000
worth of Occidental stock.
The Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit research group in
Washington, reports that Al Gore Sr., the vice president's father, earned
$500,000 a year working for Occidental after he retired from the Senate. In
the past, the younger Gore has flown aboard the company's private jet and
solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions for the
Democratic party from Occidental.
Laura Quinn, a spokeswoman for the vice president, said his mother,
Pauline Gore, is sole beneficiary of the late Al Gore Sr.'s estate. ``As
far as I'm aware, the campaign has not spoken
on this issue,'' Quinn said.
Occidental Chairman and Chief Executive Ray Irani ``has access to Al
Gore and to that extent Gore has access to him,'' said Peter Eisner,
managing director of the Center for Public Integrity. ``It's an interesting
tactic and could bear fruit if Gore chooses to do it. I know he can pick up
the phone and call the chairman straight away. Will he do it? I have no
idea.''

Political Interests

The activists say it's in the political interest of Gore -- author of
a popular book on the environment -- to heed their call. ``He does not want
in a presidential year to be connected to one of the world's worst
environmental and human rights disasters,'' Kretzmann said.
Rainforest Action Network and other groups have also been in touch
with other major Occidental investors, like Vanguard Group, the company's
third-largest shareholder after Fidelity and Sanford
Bernstein.
``We understand and respect their concerns,'' said Vanguard Group
spokesman John Demming. ``We've asked our managers and analysts to look
into the situation.''
Occidental declined to comment.
Fidelity, which so far has declined to meet with the protesters,
indicated it's not in a position to respond to their demands.
``Our portfolio managers have a responsibility to invest in companies
that appear to have the highest likelihood of stock appreciation,''
Loporchio said. ``They are not trained to make investment decisions to
fulfill social or political objectives.''

--Emily Schwartz in Washington (202) 624-1927 with reporting in
Boston by Kathie O'Donnell /pjh

------------------------------------------------------------
INTER PRESS SERVICE

Monday, 31 January 2000

U'wa Indians denounce violent eviction
By Yadira Ferrer

BOGOTA -- Colombia's U'wa indigenous community will present charges before
the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) against
the multinational Occidental Petroleum Co. for the violent expulsion of 26
indigenous protesters from a camp in an area claimed by the indigenous group.

Roberto Prez, president of the U'wa indigenous government council, told IPS
that the eviction operation conducted by police Tuesday resulted in several
injuries and three people disappeared. The security forces had restricted
access to the site since Saturday to prevent supporters from bringing the
protesters food and water.

The police had surrounded the camp since Jan. 19, "when they called on us
to peacefully leave the site, but we told them we would resist any attempt
to evict us from our territory," affirmed Prez, who is coordinating a
protest to be held in Caracas in southeast Colombia.

The indigenous leader affirmed that his community will report Occidental
Petroleum Co., known as Oxy, and the Colombian government to the human
rights commissions of the U.N. and the OAS, as well as other international
forums.

"With this project, Oxy and the government want to destroy the U'wa
community, by bringing petroleum exploitation to our land, violating our
culture and customs," affirmed Perez.

The U'wa oppose drilling oil wells in the area because they consider
petroleum "the blood of Mother Earth," and its nearly 5,000 members have
threatened mass suicide if the multinational carries through with the project.

In the late 17th century, an U'wa community jumped off a cliff to avoid
colonization by the Spanish.

The group's conflict with Oxy began in 1992 when the government-run
Colombian Petroleum Company (Ecopetrol) signed a contract with the
multinational for oil exploration in the area known as Samor, in an eastern
jungle region on the Venezuelan border.

The U'wa opposed the agreement, which they saw as a violation of their
rights because they had not been consulted, as is required according to the
nation's 1991 Constitution.

The Constitutional Court intervened in the controversy and in 1995 ruled
that the exploration license granted to Oxy be revoked because the
consultation process had not taken place. Oxy called off its exploration
projects.

Several meetings between the parties to the conflict were held throughout
1997 and 1998, but the U'wa stood fast in their position against oil
drilling in the Samor area. Then last September, the Colombian government
subjected the indigenous reserve to government regulation and expanded U'wa
territory from 61,000 to 221,000 hectares.

The action preceded the granting of a definitive license to Oxy for oil
exploitation in Samor, just five km from the U'wa reserve.

The government wields the argument that the project is located outside the
indigenous reserve, said independent member of Congress Gustavo Petro, but
he added that it is a slap in the face for the U'wa.

He maintained the problem is not whether the oil project is inside or
outside of the reserve, it is a failure to "defend indigenous culture," for
which Colombia could be charged with the crime of genocide.

In 1998, the U'wa received the Bartolom de las Casas prize, awarded by the
Spanish government to people or institutions who stand out in the defense
of indigenous values.

The U'wa battle against Oxy is supported by international activists
organized under the U'wa Defence Taskforce. They maintain that oil
exploitation near the indigenous reserve will harm the tropical jungle and
endanger the community itself, which is already besieged by Colombia's
internal armed conflict involving guerrillas, paramilitary groups and
government security forces.

Early last year, three U.S. activists working with the U'wa defense project
were assassinated by a group from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), the nation's largest and most powerful guerrilla
organization.

The Minister of Mining, Carlos Caballero, said Wednesday that Oxy "has
already begun drilling in order to calculate the quantity of petroleum to
be found in the Samor area," as part of a "very important" project for the
nation's economy.

According to the official, the Samor project means "an important increase
in petroleum reserves" for Ecopetrol, which would prevent Colombia from
having to import oil for several years.

Ecopetrol reports indicate that the Samor oil fields hold nearly 1.3
billion barrels of petroleum, which would be added to the nearly 3.0
billion barrels in Colombia's current reserves.

----------------------------------------------

FROM THE U'WA PEOPLE

OF THE STATES OF BOYACA, SANTANDER, NORTH OF
SANTANDER, ARAUCA AND CASANARE, COLOMBIA

COMMUNIQUE TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC:

1. We denounce the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the
various actions that they have carried out against the U'wa people; such as
armed intimidation against indigenous inhabitants of our communities in
past months; the machine-gun fire attack on Mr. Carlos Tegra Uncaria's
home; and the detention, kidnapping, and subsequent murder of our North
American sisters and brother activists, Terence Freitas, Ingrid
Washinawatock, and Larry Gay Lahenae, who defended our cause in a
humanitarian way.

2. We condemn all support from Colombians for the multinational oil company
OXY. In this way, we energetically reject the collusion mounted by the
Colombian government through the armed forces, the FARC, the multinational
OXY and the subcontracting company Rocas del Llano to protect and safeguard
vehicles, equipment and machinery belonging to OXY, in the area from the
municipality of Pamplona to the Samore Block; the tight coordination to
achieve their goal, is evident.

3. A strong militarization took place on January 19 in Cedeno on property
that belongs to us, where our U'wa brothers were surrounded by soldiers and
riot police North of Santander, and were physically and psychologically
abused, and their personal goods were destroyed.

4. There have been death threats and intimidation made against civil
officials to persuade them to act against our constitutional and legal
rights, as in the case of Toledo's judge, Dr. Yamile Vergel, who has been
pressured into causing our forcible removal from our own lands.

5. There are strange circumstances surrounding the murder of Dr. Daniel
Jordan Penaranda, notary public of Pamplona, who aided us in the process of
gaining legal title to the farms of Santa Rita and Bellavista, as a
collective U'wa property. These farms are located in the village of
Cedeno, municipality of Toledo.

6. We reiterate our noble purpose to continue our peaceful struggle in
defense of our ancestral and traditional rights to our territory, and 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.

7. We invite campesinos, workers, students, teachers, truckers, merchants
and indigenous peoples in our region to show solidarity with our struggle,
because we are convinced that DEFENDING OUR TERRITORIAL RIGHTS IS THE ONLY
GUARANTEE OF OUR EXISTENCE. Today, we publicly and officially inform
Colombia and the world that starting Tuesday, February 1, we declare a
civilian strike in defense of the social rights of the U'wa people and the
people of the Sarare area.

Cubara, January 31, 2000.
Sincerely,
U'WA AND GUAHIBO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF BOYACA, SANTANDER, NORTH OF
SANTANDER, ARAUCA AND CASANARE.

ROBERTO PEREZ GUTIERREZ ISMAEL UNCACIA
As U'wa Representative CRIA Representative
Translation by Florencia Valle, Rainforest Action Network.

---------------------------

EL PUEBLO INDIGENA U'WA DE LOS DEPARTAMENTOS DE BOYACA, SANTANDER, NORTE DE
SANTANDER, ARAUCA Y CASANARE,
DENUNCIAMOS ANTE LA OPINION PUBLICA NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL

1. A las fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) por las
diferentes acciones que ha venido adelantando contra el pueblo indigena
U'wa, como son, la intimidacion armada realizadas contra indigenas
moradores de nuestras comunidades en meses anteriores, como es el
ametrallamiento de la vivienda del senor Carlos Tegria Uncaria, la
retencion, secuestro y posterior asesinato de los tres hermanos
indigenistas norteamericanos Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatock y Larry
Gay Lahenae, quienes humanitariamente defendian nuestra causa.

2. Condenamos todo apoyo de colombianos a favor de los intereses de la
empresa multinacional del petroleo OXY. Es asi, que rechazamos
energicamente la confabulacion del Estado Colombiano, a traves de sus
fuerzas militares, las FARC, la multinacional OXY y la empresa
subcontratista Rocas del Llano, para proteger y salvaguardar vehiculos,
equipos y maquinaria de la transnacional OXY, desde el municipio de
Pamplona, hasta el Bloque Samore, pues es evidente la estrecha coordinacion
para cumplir tal proposito.

3. La fuerte militarizacion realizada el dia 19 de los corrientes en Cedeno
en predios que son de nuestra propiedad donde fueron acordonados hermanos
U'was, por efectivos del ejercito y de la policia antimotines Norte de
Santander, quienes maltrataron fisica y sicologicamente a los companeros
indigenas que se encontraban alli, destruyendo bienes y enseres que eran
nuestros. 4. La amenaza de muerte e intimidacion que vienen adelantando
contra funcionarios publicos para actuen en contra de nuestros derechos
constitucionales y legales que nos favorecen como es el caso de la juez de
Toledo Dra. Yamile Vergel, quien ha sido presionada para que provoque a la
fuerza el desalojo de nuestros predios.

5. Los extranos hechos en que fue asesinado el Dr. DANIEL JORDAN PENARANDA
notario primero del circuito de Pamplona, quien nos colaboro en la
formalizacion de la Escritura Publica de propiedad colectiva a favor del
pueblo U'wa, predios Santa Rita y Bellavista ubicadas en la vereda Cedeno,
municipio de Toledo.

6. Reiteramos nuestro noble proposito de seguir luchando pacificamente por
la defensa de nuestros derechos territoriales ancestrales y tradicionales,
y no compartimos las acciones realizadas por el ejercito de Liberacion
Nacional ELN, al destruir maquinaria y equipo de la transnacional de
petroleo OXY, pues acciones como estas solo agudizan el conflicto.

7. Invitamos a campesinos, trabajadores, estudiantes, docentes,
transportadores, comerciantes e indigenas de la region a solidarizarse con
nuestra lucha, pues estamos convencidos que "LA DEFENSA DE NUESTROS
DERECHOS TERRITORIALES ES LA UNICA GARANTIA DE NUESTRA EXISTENCIA". Hoy,
publica y oficialmente informamos a Colombia y el mundo que ha partir del
dia martes 01 de febrero declaramos el paro civico en defensa de los
derechos sociales del pueblo U'wa y del Sarare.

Cubara, enero 31 del 2000
Atentamente,

PUEBLO INDIGENA U'WA Y GUAHIBO DE LOS DEPARTAMENTOS DE BOYACA, SANTANDER Y
NORTE DE SANTANDER, ARAUCA Y CASANARE ROBERTO PEREZ GUTIERREZ ISMAEL UNCACIA

Representante AsoUwa Representante CRIA

************************************************************
Distribuido por: Distributed by:
'AMAZON ALLIANCE' FOR INDIGENOUS AND
TRADITIONAL PEOPLES OF THE AMAZON BASIN
1367 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036-1860
tel (202)785-3334
fax (202)785-3335
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La Alianza Amazonica no ha verificado la veracidad de este
mensaje. Enviar este mensaje no necesariamente significa que
la Alianza Amazonica este de acuerdo con el contenido.

La Alianza Amazónica para los Pueblos Indígenas y Tradicionales de la
Cuenca Amazónica es una iniciativa nacida de la alianza entre los pueblos
indígenas y tradicionales de la Amazonía y grupos e individuos que
comparten sus preocupaciones por el futuro de la Amazonía y sus pueblos.
Las ochenta organizaciones del norte y del sur activas en la Alianza
Amazónica creen que el futuro de la Amazonía depende de sus pueblos y el
estado de su medio ambiente.

The Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the Amazon
Basin is an initiative born out of the partnership between indigenous and
traditional peoples of the Amazon and groups and individuals who share
their concerns for the future of the Amazon and its peoples. The eighty
non-governmental organizations from the North and South active in the
Alliance believe that the future of the Amazon depends on its peoples and
the state of their environment.

_______________________________________________________
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