When geologists from US oil giant Oxy found what they believed was one of the largest oil fields in Latin America in 1994, there was jubilation in the company’s Los Angeles HQ. Oxy – closely linked to former US presidential candidate Al Gore – was confident enough to tell shareholders there could be 1.4 billion barrels in Colombia’s Samore field and a further 900 million barrels in an adjacent area.
More than $100m (£68m) of research and seismic studies, said Oxy, pointed to its concession being the country’s most promising-ever field, worth up to $50bn over many years.
No one paid much attention to the U’wa, one of the world’s remotest, oldest and most spiritual tribes whose ancestral lands lie in the cloud forests and plains of the north-east of the country Oxy wanted to drill. But, following one of the most bizarre campaigns ever waged against a major company, the small tribe has finally sent the $10bn a year Oxy oil company packing.
In a terse statement, Oxy last week said it would now leave the region “for technical reasons” and hand back its 2,000sq km (516,000 acre) concession to the Colombian government. Its test wells, drilled to more than 3,600 metres (12,000ft), discovered only faint traces of gas and water. “We remain confident in the geology. We made an evaluation of the results of the drilling and the investment we’ve made, and it didn’t justify continuing,” a spokesman said.
Yesterday the U’wa, who say they have never known war or conflict, were jubilant at Oxy’s departure and sent a defiant message to the west. “No one destroys man. Man destroys himself. We want to continue reflecting to avoid the destruction of the world because the U’wa want to continue to live,” said a spokesman.
According to independent geologists, it is extremely unusual for a company which has spent so much and been so confident in its science to give up on what was expected to be a blockbuster field after just one attempt. “It is not unusual to find no oil on the first attempt, but you would certainly expect them to keep looking if the prize is so high,” said one American geologist who has worked for the company, but asked to remain anonymous.
So where did the oil go? Oxy says it is there beyond doubt in giant quantities, and the U’wa agree. The difference is that the U’wa believe their elected spiritual leaders, the mysterious and secretive “werjayas”, physically drove it away from the company’s test well site after praying and fasting for many months.
In the complex cosmology of the U’wa, the world above the ground is mirrored by one below and oil (“ruiria”) is the blood of the earth, the element that sustains the land and lakes and prevents earthquakes.
Mass suicide
The werjayas were so adamant that the world would end if Oxy took the oil that they declared that many in the tribe would commit mass ritual suicide and jump from their sacred Cliff of Death. It was no idle threat, said the werjayas through their Spanish-speaking spokesmen. Five hundred years ago many U’wa had jumped to their death when the conquistadors first came to what is now Colombia. Better to die, said the werjayas, than to see the end of the world.
Like several other indigenous groups, the U’wa believe the earth only exists because of them. They say they sing the world into existence every day, keep it in equilibrium and prevent its collapse by the constant reflection and meditation of their werjayas. “Our purpose on earth is only to protect the world,” said Roberto Cobaria, a U’wa spokesman. “The world depends on us.”
The tribe also commented on the social and political chaos they have observed since they came into contact with the west 40 years ago. “The money king is only an illusion. Capitalism is blind and barbaric. It poisons the water and the air and destroys everything. And to the U’wa, it says that we are crazy – but we want to continue being crazy if it means we can continue to exist on our dear mother earth.”
The U’wa have cause to wonder whether their god, Sira, has always been listening. In the past 100 years their lands have been decimated and many of their people have died from western diseases. Since they started opposing Oxy with only the help of a young US environmentalist, Terry Freitas, who visited them in 1996, they have been drawn ever deeper into political dispute with the guerrillas of Farc, who plague the oil industry and regularly kidnap workers and blow up its pipelines, and the government.
Freitas was killed by guerrillas in 1999 after visiting the tribe for a third time but he had done enough to make them environmental heroes.
American human rights and environment groups picked up their case, they were awarded the prestigious £70,000 Goldman prize for the environment, and they seriously embarrassed “environmentalist” Al Gore during his election campaign in 2000. Gore’s grandfather worked with Armand Hammer, the founder of Oxy, and Gore Jr is a major individual shareholder.
Many other Amazonian tribes are now fighting oil companies who have flooded into the Amazon basin in search of oil. Many accept money and development but others, like the U’wa, refuse everything the state or the companies offer.
But the U’wa triumph may prove short-lived. The state oil company Ecopetrol, which has assumed control of Oxy’s exploration block, says it intends to continue looking for oil. One official yesterday said the region was “still attractive” and it may only need to drill a further 800 metres (2,500ft) and invest $10m to find the oil. The U’wa may need to keep praying.
Other indigenous groups in Latin America affected by oil
Ecuador
Numerous indigenous groups including the Achuar, Shuar, Huaorani, Quichua, Shiwiar, and Zapara are likely to be affected by oil drilling and pipeline plans. Eleven new oil concessions, many in national parks and protected reserves, will cover 7 million acres of forest. Oxy is planning a heavy crude pipeline.
Peru
Several indigenous peoples who have deliberately had as little to do with the west as possible may be affected by the giant Camisea natural gas project, in the Urubamba, or Sacred Valley, river basin of the remote Peruvian Amazon. Shell and Mobil have withdrawn from the project.
Venezuela
The Pemon, Akawayo and Karina indigenous groups are fighting to protect their ancestral homelands in the Imataca forest reserve and the Canaima national park where a power line to Brazil and mining and logging concessions are planned.
Bolivia
Many indigenous and environmental groups are trying to intervene in several oil and gas infrastructure projects, including the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline and the Bolivia-Cuiaba pipeline financed by the World Bank.
