U'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2000, 10:00 p.m.
U'wa Indians Win Injunction
Against Occidental in Colombian Courts
In Washington U'wa Roberto Perez Offers Statement
Washington, DC (March 31) -- Handing the U'wa an important
victory, a Colombian court has ordered Occidental Petroleum Corp
to halt all construction work on the Gibraltar 1 well site on
sacred ancestral land of the U'wa tribe. The court injunction
came down Thursday and was announced this afternoon in Colombia
by Alberto Calderon, president of the state oil company Ecopetrol.
According to Reuters, the judge ruled that the drilling on the
site would violate "fundamental rights" of the U'wa
people including their right to life.
Roberto Perez, the President of the U'wa Traditional Authority
who has been in Washington since March 27 for meetings with the
US Government and Oxy investors, issued the following statement
in response to the verdict:
"The injunction speaks of the suspension of the project not
cancellation. We have taken an important step and are happy because
we have advanced in our struggle even though this has come at
great sacrifice. We must defend the life of the U'wa and that
is why we are here in Washington turning to international support
because in Colombia our demands had been falling on deaf ears.
Today we have been speaking with members of Congress explaining
the violations of our rights. We have asked members of Congress
to give us their solidarity and pressure the president of the
Republic of Colombia for the cancellation of the project in Samoré
on our ancestral territory."
Mr. Perez will be available for interviews in Washington until
mid afternoon on Saturday and in the United States through next
week. Please contact the following telephone numbers to arrange
interviews.
Contacts: Atossa Soltani, 202-256-9795 asoltani@igc.org
Lauren Sullivan, 415-305-7246 lsullivan@ran.org
Stephen Kretzmann, 510-551-7953 kretzmann@mindspring.com
David Rothschild, 202-785-3334 dmrothschild@igc.org
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