This year, we were honored to have long-time friends and indigenous partners from the U’wa indigenous people of Colombia as our guest speakers. Roberto “Berito” Cobaria, an elder and spiritual leader, and Gilberto Cobaria, president of the U’wa tribal council shared a blessing and told our supporters that after successfully defending their territory from Occidental Petroleum, the U’wa are facing new threats to their cultural survival including drilling plans by EcoPetrol, the Colombian state oil company, the construction of a highway and expansion of a national park into U’wa territory, as well as the growing militarization of their region.
During the lunch, we debuted A Message from Pandora, a special feature produced by James Cameron about the battle to stop the Belo Monte Dam and defend the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. James Cameron also joined our luncheon by video requesting more support for Amazon Watch.