U'Wa Update (May 12, 1997)
U'Wa chief Roberto Cobaria and his companion Edgar Mendez have been on a
two week U.S tour to try to garner support from environmental organizations
and human rights workers in their fight to protect their territory from oil
exploitation. They met with Occidental in Los Angles and have been to
Washington D.C and San Francisco. The U'Wa are determined to continue
their protest of Oxy and are standing firm in their refusal to allow any
portion of their land to be bought or sold or contaminated in any way. For
the U'Wa petroleum is the blood of the Mother Earth and is crucial for
maintaining the balance of the world. Chief Cobaria reiterated that oil is
blood and that if there is no blood there is no light and there is no life
(no hay vida sin sangre). Petroleum is a part of the U'Wa's environment as
much as the forests and rivers and animals are and cannot be removed from
its habitat without disrupting this equilibrium which the U'Wa work to
maintain and protect. In an interview at the South and Meso American
Indian Rights Center Roberto told how petroleum was here on earth before
there was anything, before the world was created. The Occidental
corporation refuses to respect this belief and has offered more royalties
to the community in hopes of gaining access to the oil-rich region. The
U'Wa asked Oxy who gave them the authority to buy, sell or exploit that
which they do not own. Chief Roberto Cobaria said in a talk at Rainforest
Action Network, San Francisco, Wednesday that to negotiate this matter [we]
are contaminating ourselves. The U'wa are continuing to fight for their
right to protect and preserve the integrity of their land and culture.
They feel that any exploration on their ancestral territory will gravely
disrupt their culture and traditions as well as the land that has sustained
them for centuries.