Colombian Government’s Decision to Start Seismic Testing on U’wa Indigenous Land a “Huge Step Backwards” Amazon Watch Warns Ecopetrol Not to Repeat the Mistakes of US Oil Firms on Indigenous Territory | Amazon Watch
Amazon Watch

Colombian Government’s Decision to Start Seismic Testing on U’wa Indigenous Land a “Huge Step Backwards” Amazon Watch Warns Ecopetrol Not to Repeat the Mistakes of US Oil Firms on Indigenous Territory

December 20, 2006 | For Immediate Release


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San Francisco, CA – The Colombian government’s decision to allow seismic testing inside the legal and ancestral territory of the U’wa indigenous people, on some of the most biodiverse cloud-forest anywhere in the world, was greeted with dismay by Amazon Watch today.

The decision to permit the Siriri/Catleya oil project to go forward, in the heart of the U’wa indigenous reserve established by the Colombian government in 1999, was announced at a press conference in Bogotá organized by the Colombian Ministry of Interior and Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-owned oil company, on December 15. It breaks a commitment given by the Colombian state to the U’wa and confirms that the U’wa’s 15-year struggle to prevent the oil industry polluting their sacred cloud-forest homeland is unlikely to end in the foreseeable future.

Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) spent 10 fruitless years and over $100 million attempting to launch the controversial project to drill for oil on U’wa land before finally giving up in 2002 in the face of determined U’wa opposition backed by an international campaign to save their cloud-forest homelands.

“This decision is bad news, both for the U’wa and for Ecopetrol,” warned Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch Executive Director. “It appears that the Colombian government and Ecopetrol have learnt nothing from the Oxy experience. Attempting to launch upstream activities in violation of the communities’ rights and clearly-expressed wishes will only bring Ecopetrol an international public relations black eye. The U’wa are determined to oppose oil companies’ plans and the international community is committed to shining a spotlight on this illegal project.”

An U’wa community spokesperson added: “The oil project will bring militarization, violence and death to our people. For us oil, Ruiria, is sacred, it is the blood of mother earth. We cannot allow this project to proceed in violation of our natural laws. The U’wa vow to peacefully defend our sacred lands and our millennial culture.”

When Oxy pulled out, Ecopetrol took 100% control of Siriri/Catleya and began a process of “prior consultation” with the U’wa, although the company made it clear that it would not be deterred by community opposition. The project involves two concessions and will stretch across the departments of Arauca, Boyaca, Santander and Norte de Santander. The Siriri block will be operated 100% by Ecopetrol while the Catleya block will be operated 50% by Ecopetrol, and 50% by Spanish company Repsol YPF.

Based on their religious and cultural beliefs and given the oil industry’s abysmal human rights and environmental track record in Colombia and across the Amazon, the U’wa have repeatedly rejected the project. The Cano Limon Pipeline in Arauca, for example, has been bombed more than 1,000 times since its construction in 1986, spilling a total of more than 2.9 million barrels of crude oil into surrounding ecosystems.

The decision by the Colombian government appears to be a breach of both domestic Colombian and international human rights accords, including the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 169 on the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. The Ministry of Interior’s decision to go ahead with the Siriri/ Catleya Project also directly violates the 1998 Organization of American States-Harvard Recommendations, which the Colombian government has subscribed to, which stipulate that all oil activities inside U’wa territory be suspended, and that U’wa consent be obtained before any oil activities resume in the future on their territory.

It also appears to pre-empt any meaningful consideration by the Colombian government of a set of historic land titles dating back to the colonial era granting the U’wa legal ownership to their land, including sub-surface rights.

In another breach of best practice, Ecopetrol is preparing its own environmental impact assessment of the Siriri/Catleya project, rather than commissioning an independent company in what appears to be a flagrant conflict of interest.

For background on the U’wa struggle to protect their lands and communities, visit www.amazonwatch.org/amazon/CO/

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