Protest Targets Fidelity Holdings | Amazon Watch
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Protest Targets Fidelity Holdings

February 3, 2000 | James Cox | USA TODAY

Protesters plan marches on Fidelity Investments’ offices in 22 cities today to press the mutual fund giant to dump shares in an oil company drilling on land claimed by an indigenous tribe in Colombia.The protests mark the first time a mutual fund company has been targeted by human-rights groups and environmentalists campaigning for “socially responsible” investing.

Past campaigns have focused on pension funds and universities with investments in companies accused of unsavory business practices. The ultimate target of today’s protests is Occidental Petroleum, which has a license to drill for oil on land claimed by the U’wa, a 5,000-member Andes tribe in northeast Colombia.

The U’wa have threatened to commit collective suicide by walking off a 1,400-foot cliff if Oxy drills on land the U’wa consider sacred.

Fidelity is one of Oxy’s largest shareholders. Its funds own 8.25% of Oxy shares – worth roughly $583 million at Wednesday’s close of $19 5/8, down 3/16 – according to Thomson Financial Investor Relations, a tracking service.

Fidelity invests in “companies with the highest likelihood of stock-price appreciation,” spokesman Vincent Loporchio says. “Our portfolio managers are not trained to make investment decisions in order to fulfill social or political objectives.” Occidental Petroleum declined comment.

The Rainforest Action Network, Amazon Watch and other U’wa advocates also want Vice President Gore to sell Oxy shares worth up to $500,000. Gore’s late father, Al Gore Sr., served on Oxy’s board after leaving the Senate. Gore’s Oxy shares are part of his father’s estate, says Gore spokeswoman Laura Quinn. “He is the executor of the estate, however, his mother is the beneficiary. He has not made a decision pro-actively himself to make investments.”

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