Bogota, Colombia – U’wa Indigenous leaders on Thursday presented the Colombian government with archival evidence of colonial titles from 1661 which the U’wa claim uphold their soil and subsoil rights to their ancestral territory. This legal development fundamentally challenges the legality of occidental petroleum project on U’wa land.
According to U’wa legal representative Ebaristo Tegria, the area which the U’wa claim as their traditional homeland, including the Oxy well-site, is in fact titled to the U’wa under a 1661 ruling by the King of Spain. The “Royal Land Deed” issued by the King recognizes the pre-existing rights of indigenous people in Colombia, including their sub-surface land rights. In 1873, the Colombian government claimed all sub-surface mineral rights as property of the nation except those previously ceded by the historic “Royal Land Deed” law. This legal precedent has significant implications for the U’wa’s current struggle with Oxy. In the past, both the Colombian Council of State and Supreme Court have repeatedly upheld the colonial law. Even Occidental itself, according to Mr. Tegria, has previously recognized and honored the law.
This groundbreaking news comes on the heels of growing concern about human rights violations on U’wa legal and ancestral territory. Roberto Perez, the President of the U’wa Tribal Council has voiced his fear that the military may carry out a violent removal of his people from the well site area in the coming days. Earlier this week, the Colombian Agrarian Reform Institute declared the 500 meter area surrounding Oxy’s well-site a “petroleum reserve zone.” The military in the region has repeatedly denied access to the U’wa even though the community holds legal title to two farms embracing the wellsite. According to the U’wa, the Military and the Anti-Riot Police have also threatened to forcibly displace the U’wa from their legally titled land to allow Occidental Petroleum contractors to move drilling machinery – presently housed at a nearby military battalion – to the drill site.
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The following is the English translation of presentation by U’wa Legal Representative Ebaristo Tegria during the telephone press briefing on September 15, 2000 at 10 am (E.S.T.)
Ebaristo Tegría: Good morning. This is Ebaristo Tegria speaking. I am a member of the U’wa community.
Yesterday, the U’wa people walked away from the dialogue table with the government because, as the dialogue was going on, which initiated on July 7, the government has continued to take repressive decisions in detriment of the U’wa people.
Yesterday was a very important day for the U’wa people. For the last three months, we have been carrying out an investigation involving laws of the Spanish Crown which obligate the government and particular individuals to respect indigenous rights.
In the year 1500, more than 700 indigenous reservations were recognized in Colombia. Within those 700, 15 pertain to U’wa territory. For more than seven years, we have been asking that our historical rights be respected. But the Colombian government has not paid attention to our demands, saying that we had to show documentation.
Yesterday, we presented documentation showing the areas of reservations pertaining to U’wa territory – Chita, Guican (and five more). Our reservation under these documents extends to the border with our sister republic of Venezuela. We also turned over maps of these reservations from the year 1500 and a ruling from the Honorable Supreme Court plus another ruling from 1873 from the Council of State. These are important, because they represent the judicial precedents which support our soil and subsoil rights in these reservations.
So from yesterday on, the government is officially aware of these substantial documents protecting our rights to soil and subsoil. We do not know how the government is going to react. What is clear is that the government has recognized this right: it is inscribed in our Constitution and laws. Yesterday, I was speaking with the Vice Minister of the Interior explaining that these laws in Colombia mean that subsoil rights must be protected and respected when an individual or an indigenous community presents titles that support that right. We have presented the titles, related rulings and maps.
Consulting with the President of the U’wa Tribal Council, Roberto Perez, we would like to ask the international media to publish this news, to distribute this information. And to the non-governmental organizations which have supported us for many years, since 1995, we request that you send letters to Colombia’s president, to the Ministers of the Interior, the Environment, of Mining and Energy, to INCORA (Colombian Institute for Agrarian Reform), to Ecopetrol (the state oil concern) and to Occidental, demanding that this right be respected.
It is also important to write to Vice President Al Gore and to Ray Irani (Occidental Petroleum’s CEO) letting them know how the government of Colombia is deceiving them by approving subsoil rights, when it has no legal right to be turning them over. The U’wa have presented proof that our rights must be protected.
There is an important thing I would like to explain. When the Spanish Crown issued these titles, it was not creating a right but recognizing a right the indigenous people already had. It was recognizing a historical right that could not be disregarded by the Crown and which cannot be disregarded by the governments of the Americas today. At the time of the Crown, that was the discussion – that the right had to be recognized. Similarly, it was recognized by the Colombian government through the Constitution and through national laws. Thus, this is a right which cannot be easily violated. These are rights “adquiridos y perfeccionados con arreglo a las leyes preexistentes” (Article 332). These are rights acquired and perfected in agreement with preexisting laws, rights of indigenous communities because they were the original inhabitants of these lands.
Similar legislation was also prescribed by the King of Spain not only in Colombia, but in Peru, Chile, Panama, Venezuela, many countries from the era of the conquest and colonialism.
Q: What is happening on the ground?
Ebaristo Tegría: The government has issued a resolution declaring the zone a special mining reserve, and that resolution has to be signed by the Minister or Agriculture. Then, Ecoeptrol is obligated to open a dialogue with the owners of the farms in the area. If there is no agreement between the owners and Ecopetrol, then the government can through administrative or judicial channels, obtain an expropriation order. Presently, there is no order because these stages of negotiation must first be exhausted. At the same time, te company is bringing in more machinery to drill, the machinery is housed in Saravena in the military battalion. This is what prompted us to reveal this documentation at this time. We are waiting to see what the government and Occidental are going to do, if they will respect our rights.
At this time, the national press has not published this information. The international media can publish this news so that there is more pressure put on the government and the company. These documents are of great importance not only to the U’wa people, but to all indigenous communities in Colombia. There are 700 reservations with documentation backing them in the archives. The government is not going to allow these documents to continue to be revealed because of the implications they have for jurisdiction over the soil and subsoil. These are dangerous documents, because in sum they inscribe the rights of indigenous people to exist and act as independent nations.
Let me clarify one other thing. The Colombian courts have to respect this right because of a Judicial Code of 1873 which stipulates in an article that the goods which have been subscribed before 1873 are goods belonging to those particular individuals holding rights to them. Included in this right to property are the indigenous reservations dating back to 1500 or 1600. The indigenous reservations belong to those people or entities to whom they are titled, and they have never been the property of the Spanish Crown or the property of the state. This is what our norms and jurisprudence stipulate. Moreover, they cannot be declared tierras baldias – or land of no one, vacant lands.
Q: What kind of contact have the U’wa had with Gore?
Ebaristo Tegría: None at all. When the President of our tribe, Roberto Perez, traveled recently to the United States, we attempted to meet with VP Gore, but he says he doesn’t have time. So it’s been impossible. Nor have we met with other high level embassy or diplomatic officials.
Atossa Soltani: Berito Cobaría during the time of the Goldman prize at a reception did have a moment of a brief handshake with Gore…but Gore walked out of the room when Berito was talking about the problems in the community.
Q: How soon do you think the government could proceed with
an eviction?
There is an immediate interest on the part of the government and the company to evict. They could make this happen in just a few days. But also, the U’wa community has its position. For example, Berito Cobaría has said that if they are going to remove him from our land, then they will have to remove him in a casket. And when Berito says no, he means no. When he says yes, he means yes. There could be a confrontation with the police, and this would have difficult consequences for the U’wa community. It is important that this be prevented from happening, that no eviction order is enacted until there is clarity about the U’wa right to the land. Berito is at the farm right now, at Santa Rita, with the other members of the U’wa community. Until yesterday, the government was very interested in proceeding with the eviction, but now that these documents have been revealed, we think the government officials will have to re-evaluate their actions, their plan from here on in. This was why there was such an urgency for us to present these documents; they change the situation, what we can claim and how we can act.
Q: How did the U’wa gain access to these documents?
We were made aware of them by a historian who has worked in the national archives for 50 years. After the violence of the eviction of January 25 [and the subsequent one] when 3 children drowned, and them the eviction of June 24, he called us and said, if you don’t show documentation the government is going to run over your rights, and I know where they are. I will help you get the documentation. This was mechanism. Then we carried out an investigation process. We received some financial support from international organizations so we could continue working with a team of people. It is important for us to continue working, continue investigating, even if we have to go to Spain to talk to the King, we will, their legal system recognized these rights in the first place. So first there were the deaths, the disappearances, and that brought awareness, and the historian said, it’s impossible that this is all happening.
Q: Please talk about the situation of tension and violations of rights in the territory.
Until yesterday, the difficulties were continuing. The military continued restricting the entry of indigenous people to the farms Santa Rita and Bella Vista. Of course this is their custom: to threaten and intimidate. I don’t have a more recent update from today, but we think things will continue because the military says it is fulfilling orders of the president and ministers. There is a difficult situation in the territory. It’s certain that our leaders who are working with these documents could be in danger. We will present a document saying that anything that happens to indigenous leaders, we will hold the government and the company directly responsible.
Please distribute this information and send letters to the government and to Occidental. If the government doesn’t respond to our rights soon, we may have to mobilize again. So please be aware.
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For More Information Regarding This Update Please Contact:
Ebaristo Tegria (Colombia) 011-571-284-6815 (castellano)
Atossa Soltani 310.456.9158
Lauren Sullivan 415.398.4404 ext 328
Background information available from:
www.amazonwatch.org – www.moles.org – www.ran.org
