The international mobilization is in response to a call by the U'wa, a Colombian indigenous group who are so opposed to oil and the violence it brings that they have threatened to commit mass suicide if Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum drills on their land. In Prague this morning, over 50 activists rallied in front of the Colombian embassy. In Washington, DC, forty activists gathered in front of the embassy there with banners identical to those deployed in San Francisco. In Colombia, oil and violence are closely linked. Occidental's Ca o Lim n pipeline which runs through the northern part of the U'wa lands in Colombia has been bombed by guerillas 600 times over the past 13 years spilling over 1.7 million barrels of oil into the surrounding area.
Areas surrounding oil facilities are centers of human rights abuses.
We urgently call on the Colombian government to respect the rights of all Colombians, including the U'wa, and to renew their efforts towards a negotiated peace. The aid package is being opposed by a coalition of groups working for a peaceful end to Colombia's 30-year civil war that has claimed the lives of 25,000 people in the last decade alone. The drilling is set to begin on land that is within 500 meters of the U'wa reserve as designated by the Colombian government but well within the traditional territory of the U'wa. The area is estimated to hold 1.5 billion barrels of oil, which would provide only 3 weeks worth of global oil supply. Last week, the Colombian Government released a report indicating that Occidental's proposed well site is less than 300 meters from the U'wa community of Santa Marta.