Bogota, Colombia – Riot police on Saturday broke up
a road blockade by Colombian Indians protesting oil
exploration by a U.S. company.
A representative of the U’wa Indian tribe claims two of the
protesters were shot by police. Their wounds were not
life-threatening, Yurisa Tegria told The Associated Press by
telephone from Cubara, a town near the Venezuelan border
where the incident occurred.
Police denied that account, saying an officer fired one
warning shot in the air when a protesters went for his gun.
National police operations director Gen. Alfonso Arellano
said nobody was hurt.
The Indians were trying to prevent trucks from reaching the
construction site where U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum
Corp. is preparing to drill over a field thought to hold huge
crude reserves.
The 8,000-member U’wa nation has been fighting for more
than five years to halt the company’s plans, at one point
threatening mass suicide.
The U’wa say drilling violates the sanctity of the earth, and
will bring guerrilla violence to their homeland. The
government says the group is being intransigent, and argues
a major new oil find would benefit most Colombians.
AP-ES-06-24-00 2139EDT
