Greetings from Washington,
Please find the following are the two latest news releases
on the U'wa
campaign:
1. "HUMAN RIGHTS NOT CORPORATE WRONGS", SAY ACTIVISTS
TO COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT
DEMONSTRATION PLANNED FOR NOON TOMORROW in Washington DC
2. Hollywood Stars Join U´wa Tribal Leader in Tree Planting
Ceremony in
Panama
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AMAZON WATCH - COLOMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE - THE RUCKUS SOCIETY
-
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK
MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 2000
"HUMAN RIGHTS NOT CORPORATE WRONGS"
SAY ACTIVISTS TO COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT
DEMONSTRATION PLANNED FOR NOON TOMORROW
CONTACTS: Stephen Kretzmann, 510-551-7953 (mobile) OR Alison
Giffen,
202-232-8090
WHAT: DEMONSTRATION WITH VISUALS
WHEN: TUESDAY APRIL 11, AT NOON
WHERE: COLOMBIAN AMBASSADOR'S RESIDENCE, Q & 20th Streets
Demanding that peace in Colombia take precedence over US corporate
interests, activists from a broad coalition will rally tomorrow
at noon in
front of the Colombian Ambassador's residence. Colombian President
Andres
Pastrana arrives in Washington on Tuesday evening to lobby for
passage of
the proposed military aid package to Colombia. The demonstration
is part of
the week-long Mobilization for Global Justice that culminates
on April 16th.
On Capitol Hill, the $1.7 billion aid package is being supported
by a group
of US corporations that stand to profit greatly with its passage.
Occidental
Petroleum (Oxy), which is locked in a stand off with the U'wa
tribe over
drilling rights in the Samoré oil field-- estimated 1.5
billion barrels of
oil, has been particularly active in Washington over the last
month. A
Colombian court placed an injunction on further construction by
Oxy last
week, noting that drilling would violate the "fundamental
rights" of the
indigenous U'wa people.
"Oxy hopes this military aid package will protect their
investment - it has
nothing to do with promoting peace or human rights in Colombia.
Their
continued lobbying for the military aid package is highly ironic
given the
clear correlation between oil and violence in Colombia, and the
fact that
Oxy has admitted that they pay a "war tax" to guerrilla
groups," said
Stephen Kretzmann of Amazon Watch.
An April 3, 2000 Newsweek article reported that United Technologies,
whose
Sikorsky division produces Blackhawk helicopters, donated $125,000
last year
to Democratic congressional committees. The majority of this money
was
reportedly given in late December, right before the Clinton Administration
introduced the aid package earmarking $452 million for 30 Blackhawk
and 15
Huey helicopters. The same article reported that both Textron
who makes Bell
Huey Helicopters and United Technologies have made $1.25 million
in
donations to Democrats and Republicans between 1997 and 1999.
"We want President Pastrana to know that US citizens see
the emphasis on
helicopters for military activity and fumigation as only escalating
a war in
which civilians are the main victims, while doing absolutely nothing
to deal
with the drug problem either here or in Colombia. Instead of fanning
the
flames of war, we should be addressing the gross social inequities
and
injustices underlying the conflict," Charlie Roberts of the
Colombia Human
Rights Committee.
Although millions of Colombians have demonstrated for peace,
the majority of
this package is assistance to the Colombian army, widely-recognized
as the
most abusive military in the Western hemisphere. The military
aid package
will make the United States a major actor in Colombia's three
decade old
counterinsurgency war.
###
_______________________________________
U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
Hollywood Stars Join U´wa Tribal Leader
in Tree Planting Ceremony in Panama
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 2000
Contacts: Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch, (310) 463-3915 asoltani@igc.org
Kim Kindersley, Heart Magic Productions, (310) 456-7808 kimk@lainet.com
Panama City, Panama (April 10, 2000) -- While on location shooting
the film
adaptation of John le Carré´s "The Tailor of
Panama", Director John Boorman
(Emerald Forest) along with actors, Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey
Rush, and John
Polito joined indigenous leaders from the U´wa People of
Colombia and the
Kuna People of Panama yesterday in a tree planting ceremony in
a Panama City
park.
The ceremony commemorated three US humanitarians, Terence Freitas,
Ingrid
Washinawatok and Lahe ´ena´e Gay, who were murdered
in Colombia last year
while on an educational mission to assist the U´wa tribe
(pronounced
oo-wah).
The U´wa are an indigenous people of approximately 8,000
who live in the
Colombian cloud forest. The U´wa are locked in a struggle
against Occidental
Petroleum of Los Angeles (OXY), which plans to drill for oil on
land the
U´wa consider sacred.
The U´wa who believe that oil is the blood of mother
earth, have repeatedly
stated that they are willing to die peacefully defending their
land from the
oil project. Current resistance to OXY´s plans include 4,500
people
peacefully blocking the proposed drill site, and a seven-days
old hunger
strike by four indigenous members of the Colombian Congress and
Senate.
For the Hollywood stars, the planting of a tree is close to
their hearts.
Pierce Brosnan, renowned for his portrayal of James Bond in the
007 films,
is slated to open Earth Day 2000 in Los Angeles. Brosnan is also
involved
in National Tree Day of Australia which he hopes will become a
worldwide
campaign, of which today's ceremony was a moving example.
Digital format photos will be released on www.amazonwatch.org
later this
week.
# # #
U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP is endorsed by the following organizations:
Action Resource Center, Amazon Watch, Earthjustice Legal Defense
Fund,
EarthWays Foundation, Indigenous Environmental Network, Project
Underground,
Rainforest Action Network, Sol Communications, U'wa Defense Project,
International Law Project for Human Environmental and Economic
Defense.
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