From Iraq to Colombia, conflict over oil is forcing civilians into the crossfire. On Monday, March 24, peace activists will stage a rally and march to draw attention to the role of American corporations that are directly or indirectly profiting from war in oil rich regions such as Colombia and Iraq.
Demonstrators, speakers and survivors of one of Colombia’s most tragic civilian massacres will converge outside the Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., at 11:00 am on Monday March 24. They will then march to the Los Angeles Headquarters of Occidental Petroleum where speakers will condemn Occidental Petroleum’s role in fueling violence in Colombia. Scheduled speakers include Alberto Galvis Mujica, who lost his mother, sister and cousin to a Colombian Air Force bombing raid on Santo Domingo, Arauca in Colombia that involved Occidental Petroleum. Blase Bonpane, from the Office of the Americas and Margaret Prescod, from the Global Women’s Strike, will also expose the US corporations who stand to profit from the current conflict in Iraq.
Occidental, a company that gained infamy for its attempts to drill for oil on sacred U’wa land seems determined to maintain its wretched reputation due to its close association with the 18th battalion of the Colombian Armed Forces—notorious for its human rights violations. The company abandoned a direct role in that drilling effort after intense international criticism and local resistance, but the firm continues to operate in Colombia under heavy military protection.
Occidental aggressively lobbied the U.S. government for more military aid, helping the Colombian military to obtain funds to protect the company’s oil pipeline and other installations. Some $88 million in U.S. aid was granted last month. Next year the Bush administration has earmarked $110 million for the protection of Occidental’s oil pipeline. Human rights groups denounce this direct subsidy that amounts to $3 a barrel for oil from the pipeline.
“This is an outrageous corporate subsidy. Occidental Petroleum has succeeded in hijacking U.S. policy on Colombia and asking U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill, while innocent Colombians pay with their lives,” said Kevin Koenig of Amazon Watch. “Oil continues to be a magnet for violence in Colombia and around the world, and U.S. policy is fueling the fire.” The Colombia Mobilization is demanding an end to U.S. military aid to Colombia and the Andean region and an end to U.S. Funding of aerial spraying of coca crops. At the same time the organizers “do not support or endorse any armed actor in the Colombian conflict.”
Meanwhile people like Alberto Galvis, whose family was among the 11 adults and 7 children killed in Santo Domingo, suffer. That raid, according to the Los Angeles Times, was planned on Occidental property and scouted by Air Scan, a U.S. air surveillance firm that uses advanced infrared and other reconnaissance equipment to defend Occidental’s Cano Limon pipeline from guerrilla attacks. The Colombian military used Occidental’s facilities as its base of operations, and the military aircraft departed from Occidental’s private airfield.
The Colombia Mobilization is a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to transform U.S. policy toward Colombia and the Andean region.
