We are calling the attention of groups that support the U’wa people. From
information from ECOPETROL and the Ministry of the Environment, we can
confirm that the Colombian petroleum company, Ecopetrol, has two contracts
in association with the Spanish petroleum company REPSOL, to explore and
drill in U’wa ancestral land.
The contracts are:
Capachos Association Contract, in its third contractual year, “has a
deadline until March 15, 2002 to acquire 100 kilometers of seismic testing
or pay 2 million dollars and drill an exploratory well” in the exploratory
stage, as Ecopetrol explains. In the same way, the Ministry of the
Environment gave an environmental license to Repsol in the Samoré Block (or
Sirirí), to explore the Capachos exploratory drilling area on the outskirts
of the indigenous Angosturas Reserve – we don’t have the precise
measurements of the reserve or the licensed area – under resolution No.0157
of February 19, 2001. In the same resolution the Ministry establishes a
Plan for Environmental Management for the Capachos-1 Exploratory Well,
located in the La Caicara lot, in Angosturas in Tame Municipality. Repsol
Exploración Colombia, S.A. solicited approval for an additional well named
Capachos 1A from the Ministry of the Environment on August 15, 2001. The
Ministry of the Environment is still evaluating this request to date.
San Miguel Association Contract, in the second year of stage 1, a stage that
has lasts three years. Repsol has until March 2002 to decide on the
activities that it will execute in the third year of the exploratory stage,
and is presently advancing with seismic reprocessing and geological
evaluation in the area. To date, Repsol has not requested an environmental
license from the Ministry of the Environment. The San Miguel Association
Contract is located on the outskirts of the U’wa reserve recently created by
Incora.
We are investigating to see if the exploration activities are located within
areas of the reserve, in traditional territory or outside of it.
Furthermore, we don’t have precise knowledge as to the procedure used by
Repsol to acquire the Environmental License in the Capachos Block, or under
what conditions seismic testing was done in the San Miguel Contract. We
will have more details once we have studied the environmental license and
have confirmed the reserve’s exact limits from the Ministry of the Interior.
Lastly, as it is known nationally and internationally, Gibraltar I
production tests failed to find petroleum, however, Occidental has not
renounced the Block to date, and is studying their information to determine
whether they should perform seismic testing again or withdraw from the area.
With this information, we are calling on groups that support the U’wa people
to remain attentive to the activities of REPSOL and Occidental on U’wa
ancestral land that have driven this community to persist in the defense of
its culture, its life and its land, and that all who support the U’wa people
continue their solidarity and support.
CENSAT AGUA VIVA, Bogotá, October 10, 2001
