(Espanol sigue al ingles.)

1-Indian lawmakers protest Colombia energy plans (Reuters)

2-Colombian Indians find little sympathy in dispute (Reuters)

3-Congresistas indigenas colombianos inician huelga hambre (Reuters)

=========================
Tuesday April 4, 7:22 pm Eastern Time
Indian lawmakers protest Colombia energy plans

BOGOTA, April 4 (Reuters) - Four Indian lawmakers launched a hunger strike
``to the death'' outside Colombia's Capitol Tuesday to protest
government-backed hydroelectric and oil drilling projects on indigenous lands.

Senators Jesus Pinacue, of the Paez tribe, and Francisco Rojas, of the
Embera community, and Representatives Leonardo Caicedo, a Wanano Indian,
and Jhony Aparicio, of the Sikuani people began their protest outside the
Congress building in Bogota's historic Plaza de Bolivar square.

A group of 30 elders from the four tribes accompanied them with traditional
songs and dances and warned many of Colombia's 85 Indian groups would
launch solidarity protests in the provinces.

``All these government projects threaten the extinction of the Indian
peoples and for that reason they (the lawmakers) have decided to launch a
hunger strike to the death,'' Armando Valbuena, head of the Colombian
National Indigenous Organization (ONIC) said.

The lawmakers themselves refused to comment saying they were absorbed in
prayer. They were due to continue their hunger strike from their respective
seats in Congress.

The four are calling on U.S. multinational Occidental Petroleum Corp
(NYSE:OXY - news) to shelve plans to drill for an estimated 2.5 billion
barrels of crude in a region of northeast Colombia that the 7,000-strong
U'wa Indian group claims as tribal homelands.

Late last year, the government granted Occidental a license

to drill the first test well after a seven-year wrangle over land rights.

OIL AND HYDROELECTRIC PROJECTS

The government increased the U'was officially recognized reserve five times
to some 530,000 acres 220,000 hectares but Indian leaders say the test site
is still on land that belonged to their ancestors.

The U'was successfully won a court injunction to block the drilling late
last week but Occidental and the government are planning to lodge an appeal
by Wednesday and argue a big oil find in the so-called Samore block will
guarantee the country's energy self-sufficiency.

The congressmen are also demanding compensation for the Embera Katio tribe
after the construction of the government's 340 megawatt Urra hydroelectric
dam in northern Cordoba province.

They say the government must hand over 82,000 acres 33,000 hectares to the
Embera Katio, equivalent to the area they say was flooded by the project.

One of the senators involved in Tuesday's protest is no stranger to
international media attention. Good-looking Jesus Pinacue, whose name means
``Hot Star'' in his indigenous Paez language, was once approached by the
Armani fashion house to model its clothes in Europe.

In mid-1998, he hit the headlines again after tribal elders in southwest
Colombia dumped him naked into a freezing, mountain lake after he defied a
community order and expressed public backing for one of the candidates in
presidential runoff elections.

Tuesday April 4, 7:03 pm Eastern Time
Colombian Indians find little sympathy in dispute

By Richard Valdmanis

NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - Attempts by a Colombian rainforest Indian
leader to garner support from U.S. investment firms against Occidental
Petroleum Corp.'s (NYSE:OXY - news) plans to drill for oil on disputed
tribal land has received a lukewarm reception this week.

Chief Roberto Perez, leader of the 7,000-strong U'Wa tribe, visited two of
Occidental's prime shareholders, Fidelity Investors in Boston on Monday and
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in Manhattan on Tuesday.

But he was denied meetings in both cases.

The attempts, designed to morally sway the firms to divest themselves of
the stocks in the Los Angeles-based independent oil company, coincided with
Occidental's announcement Monday that it would appeal a recent court ruling
in Colombia that prevented it from starting drilling on the disputed Samore
block.

Experts say the block, located in the northeast corner of the country, has
possible reserves of 2.5 billion barrels, a welcome prospect for a country
which may otherwise turn into a net oil importer by 2005, and a welcome
business opportunity for Occidental.

``While the court ruled to stop Occidental's drilling, the appeal could
easily be against us,'' Perez told Reuters while waiting in Bernstein's
reception area Tuesday afternoon. ``That is why we must keep up the
pressure and continue fighting,'' he said.

The tribe has threatened to commit suicide by walking en masse off a cliff
in the Andes mountains if Occidental is permitted to drill on what it says
is its ancestral territory.

INVESTORS ASKED TO RESPECT TRIBES

The U'Wa tribe claims that the disputed block of land, which Occidental has
dubbed the Gibraltar-1 drill site, is within the territory occupied by
their ancestors, and that oil development there would cause harm to the
environment and to the tribe's way of life.

``Occidental is attacking our culture, our environment, our rights,'' said
Perez. ``We want to urge the large companies to respect our ancestral
territory.''

In other parts of Colombia, particularly the Cano Limon project near
Arauka, rebel operations, which seem to concentrate near oil
infrastructure, has led to a number of pipeline ruptures and resulting spills.

The turmoil, Perez says, has caused many of the nearby Guahiba Indians to
flee to the city streets of Arauka.

``We don't want to see this happen to our people, or our land,'' he said.

For their part, members of the tribe has said it would commit collective
suicide by walking off a 1,400-foot (425-metre) cliff -- as they say many
of their ancestors did during the Spanish invasion -- should Occidental's
project proceed.

In the meantime, the U'Wa continue to organize protests and meetings both
in and outside of Colombia, with Perez hoping for a meeting Wednesday with
high government officials at the White House, including presidential
candidate Al Gore, who himself holds roughly $500,000 in Occidental stock.

``We are hoping he will agree to meet,'' said Perez with the doubtful look
of someone accustomed to being an unwelcome guest.

OCCIDENTAL TO APPEAL RULING

Occidental on Tuesday declined to comment on the U'Wa chief's visit to its
two U.S. investors, but a company spokesman said he was not surprised by
the effort.

The dispute between Occidental and the U'Wa Indians has been simmering
since 1992, when Occidental showed an interest in exploring the area for oil.

Last September, Colombia's minister of the environment, Juan Mayr, granted
Occidental a drilling license for the Samore block, although a court ruling
on March 31 blocked the sinking of the Occidental's first planned well.

Occidental said Monday it was preparing to launch an appeal by Wednesday.

=======================================
martes, 4 de abril 5:29 PM

Congresistas indigenas colombianos inician huelga hambre

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Con cantos rituales y bailes, cuatro congresistas
indigenas iniciaron el martes una huelga de hambre en Colombia que, segun
advirtieron, ``ira hasta la muerte'' para protestar contra proyectos
petroleros y electricos respaldados por el gobierno en sus tierras
ancestrales.

El acto, en el que participaron unos 30 indigenas y que marco el inicio de
la huelga de hambre, se cumplio en la Plaza de Bolivar, en el centro de
Bogota, mientras la Camara baja del Congreso debatia una mocion de censura
contra el ministro del Medio Ambiente, Juan Mayr.

Las comunidades indigenas y algunos legisladores acusan al ministro de ir
en contra de tratados internacionales que defienden a los grupos etnicos.
De prosperar la mocion de censura que puede ser votada en un plazo maximo
de 10 dias, Mayr debera renunciar a su cargo.

Los legisladores que iniciaron la huelga de hambre son Jesus Pinacue, de la
comunidad Paez; Francisco Rojas Birry, del pueblo Embera; Leonardo Caicedo,
del pueblo Wanano y Jhony Aparicio de los Sikuani.

``Todos los proyectos gubernamentales apuntan al exterminio de los pueblos
indigenas y por eso la decision de ir hasta la muerte los senadores y los
pueblos indigenas'', dijo a Reuters Armando Valbuena, presidente de la
Organizacion Nacional Indigena.

Con la protesta, la comunidad U'wa pretende que la estadounidense
Occidental Petroleum Company renuncie a explorar el mas importante
prospecto petrolero en el nordeste del pais, en inmediaciones de un
resguardo de 220.000 hectareas.

Esa comunidad, de 7.000 miembros, ha amenazado con un suicidio colectivo en
defensa de sus territorios ancestrales y en protesta contra la exploracion
de petroleo, al que denomina ''sangre de la Madre Tierra''.

Con la misma protesta, los embera katios, asentados en el departamento de
Cordoba, en el noroeste de Colombia, piden que el gobierno les devuelva un
territorio de 33.000 hectareas, del que fueron despojados para la
construccion de la hidroelectrica de Urra I, un proyecto que busca generar
340 megavatios.

Segun estadisticas oficiales, en Colombia existen 85 comunidades indigenas
con un total de 875.000 personas.

Valbuena aseguro que los cuatro legisladores permaneceran en sus curules en
el congreso y que seran apoyados por comunidades en diferentes lugares del
pais que ofreceran rituales a sus dioses.

El lider indigena advirtio que en el caso de los U'wa no estan dispuestos a
negociar y que la unica solucion posible es que la OXY renuncie al
proyecto, en donde se cree existen reservas de hasta 2.500 millones de
barriles de petroleo, que garantizarian la autosuficiencia petrolera del pais.

Pinacue, que para la comunidad Paez quiere decir ``estrella caliente'', es
conocido porque la firma de confecciones Armani le propuso modelar su ropa
en Europa.

A mediados de 1998, Pinacue fue lanzado desnudo a una laguna en el sudoeste
de Colombia por su tribu, luego que desacato la decision de no respaldar a
candidato presidencial alguno, en la contienda que gano Andres Pastrana.

************************************************************
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
amazoncoal@igc.org
http://www.amazoncoalition.org

Disclaimer: All copyrights belong to original publisher.
The Amazon Alliance has not verified the accuracy of the forwarded message.
Forwarding this message does not necessarily connote agreement with the
positions stated there-in.

Todos los derechos de autor pertenecen al autor originario.
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.
_________________________________________________________
Enlighten your in-box. http://www.topica.com/t/15

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