ELL: U'wa: Colombian court halts oil drilling

[Nicholas Ostler]

World Wire - Colombian court halts oil drilling - Saturday, April 1, 2000
By Associated Press
A court on Friday ordered a halt to a U.S. oil company's exploration near a
Colombian Indian reservation, in what appeared to be at least a temporary
victory for the tribe.
Alberto Calderon, president of the state-owned Ecopetrol oil company, said
the government had notified Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. of
the order to suspend operations.
Details on the Bogota circuit court verdict favoring the 8,000 member U'wa
nation were not immediately available.
Calderon, whose company has contracts with Occidental, denounced the
verdict, saying it placed a small minority's interests above those of the
nation. The government plans to appeal.
"This is a process in which if oil is found it could generate nearly $900
million a year," Calderon told a news conference Friday night. "It's a
project of enormous importance for the country."
U'wa tribal leader Roberto Perez said the tribe still sees a long battle ahead.
"This is not a fight that's been won," he told The Associated Press,
speaking from Washington, where he has been meeting this week with members
of Congress and activists. "But we've taken a step forward and I feel
content."
Occidental Corp. was unavailable for comment Friday night.
The tribe has waged a national and international campaign since 1995 to
stop the company from drilling on or near its ancestral lands near
Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela. At one point, the group
threatened mass suicide to highlight their cause.
Seeking compromise, the government last September approved a nearly
fourfold increase in the size of the tribal reservation, to 850 square
miles stretching across four states.
An exploratory drill site ( one Occidental and Colombian officials hope
will lead to reserves of as many as 2.5 billion barrels of crude ) was
approved a few miles outside the expanded reservation

----------------------------------------------------------------
                       Nicholas   Ostler
                           President
              Foundation for Endangered Languages
                  Registered Charity 1070616

             Batheaston Villa,  172 Bailbrook Lane
             Bath           BA1 7AA        England
             +44-1225-85-2865 fax +44-1225-85-9258
                  nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk
       http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/CTLL/FEL/


----
Endangered-Languages-L Forum: endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
Web pages http://carmen.murdoch.edu.au/lists/endangered-languages-l/
Subscribe/unsubscribe and other commands: majordomo at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
----