Citing a busy schedule, Gore declined. Ms. McKinney and representatives of a coalition of environmental and Indian rights groups supporting the U'was say the real reason Gore declined is his longtime close relationship with Occidental, which has been one of the vice-president's top contributors. Gore's late father was on the Occidental board, and left company stock to Gore's mother. But it could also be that Gore wanted to avoid getting involved in a conflict that raises so many nettlesome issues related to both economic globalization and Colombia's internal troubles. Guerrilla groups target already existing oil operations as a way to weaken the government and wreak havoc in the region.
Guerrillas are active in the area of the U'wa lands.
Another group, the National Liberation Army,extorts payments from oil-field workers and requires residents to join popular protests against further development, while both groups regularly bomb regional oil pipelines. Calif. Other critics fear social ills like alcoholism and prostitution that they say accompany oil operations in indigenous areas. And Soltani insists that some of the Shuar Indians are not happy with the working relationship their governors have developed with Occidental. The Indians and their supporters counter that the Colombian government, by encouraging oil exploration just outside the U'wa reserve, is disregarding a constitutional obligation to protect all of Colombia's cultures. A March injunction against the exploration plan was overturned in May, and the People's Defender is appealing the decision.