Occidental gives up on U’wa land

Occidental Petroleum announced at its annual meeting last week that it is withdrawing from oil exploration in the traditional territory of the U’wa people in Colombia, following a ten-year peaceful campaign by the U’wa, supported by activists around the world.

Last July, Oxy announced that its first exploratory well on U’wa land had turned up dry. Today the company cited economic reasons for relinquishing the Siriri block, while observers noted that the company’s continuing public relations conflicts around U’wa issue weighed heavily on the decision. Peaceful U’wa resistance to the Oxy project has been met with several episodes of violent repression over the years, in one case resulting in the death of three indigenous children during a military break up of peaceful U’wa blockades.
The U’wa have repeatedly denounced Occidental’s oil operation, saying it threatens their tribe and will raise the death toll of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire of Colombia’s civil war. Activists noted that while Oxy’s departure from the oil block is a welcomed development, the threat remains that another company could take over the area. In addition, Repsol-YPF is currently looking to develop the Capachos oil block, also located on traditional U’wa land.Meanwhile, Occidental also finds itself centre stage in the growing controversy around the Bush Administration’s military aid proposal to hand over $98 million of U.S. taxpayers’ money to defend Occidental’s Caño Limon oil pipeline in Colombia, which runs through traditional U’wa land, setting a dangerous precedent of US taxpayers covering private corporations’ security expenses overseas. Critics say this is a clear case of corporate welfare. Based on last year’s level of U.S. oil imports from Caño Limon, taxpayers will be covering Occidental’s security expenses at the cost of $24 per barrel of oil.

Links: Rainforest Action Network U’wa Campaign - http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/beyond_oil/oxy/

News Updates - Occidental fails to find oil in U’wa land – 20/8/01 – http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/news/oxy_oil_Uwa.html