Los Angeles – The leader of a band of Colombian Indians who have threatened mass suicide if Occidental Petroleum drills for oil on what the tribe contends is their territory joined about 50 demonstrators in Los Angeles calling for the company to stop the project.
U’wa Chief Roberto Cobaria says he was recently beaten and threatened with death by a group of hooded men with rifles who pulled him from his bed in the middle of the night and demanded he sign an authorization agreement allowing oil exploration.
Cobaria says the men threatened to hang him after he refused to sign the agreement, then beat him and pushed him off an embankment into a river where he nearly drowned.
The tribe, which has about 5,000 members, has threatened to leap from a 1,400-foot cliff in the Andes if the oil exploration takes place on what it contends are its lands.
In an open letter Cobaria delivered to Occidental and its investment partner, Shell International, he said, “For us Mother Earth is sacred. It is not for negotiation so please do not try to confuse us and others with offers. Please hear our request, a request that comes from our ancestral right by virtue of being born on our territory: Halt your oil project on U’wa ancestral land.”
Occidental representatives met in May with Cobaria to discuss the company’s plans to explore for oil in the Samore area of northern Colombia near two reservations where the U’wa live. Occidental is Colombia’s largest oil producer.
