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Oxy Drops Oil Project on U'wa LandOn May 3, Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) announced at its annual shareholder meeting that it plans to return to the Colombian government its controversial Siriri oil block (formerly called Samore), located on the traditional territory of the U'wa indigenous people. The company cited economic reasons for giving up the block; last July Oxy announced that its first exploratory well on U'wa land had turned up no oil [see Update #600].
After 10 years of efforts to halt the projectHowever, the announcement comes after nearly 10 years of efforts by the U'wa and their international supporters to halt the oil project, and observers believe that the escalating protests and the resulting public relations scandal weighed heavily on the decision. Despite the victory, activists note that other companies may still seek to explore Siriri, and that the Argentine-Spanish firm Repsol-YPF is currently looking to develop the Capachos oil block, also located on traditional U'wa land. [U'wa Defense Working Group Press Release 5/3/02] From the Weekly News Update on the Americas (ISSN 1084-922X), published by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012, 212-674-9499, wnu@igc.org. |
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