Oil Giant vs. Mother Earth: Bets Are On; Environment: Indigenous people invoke 'natural law' to block harmful drilling and mainstream law supports them Home Edition

The U'wa Indians of Colombia have threatened mass suicide if Occidental Petroleum Corp. drills for oil in their territory. A summit meeting between the U'wa, Oxy and the Colombian government at the end of May failed to reach an agreement. Now the U'wa are in the mountains for their an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Los Angeles times
Main Author Benson, Robert W
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 20.06.1997
Subjects
Native Americans
Petroleum industry
Suicides & suicide attempts
Colombia
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Summary:The U'wa Indians of Colombia have threatened mass suicide if Occidental Petroleum Corp. drills for oil in their territory. A summit meeting between the U'wa, Oxy and the Colombian government at the end of May failed to reach an agreement. Now the U'wa are in the mountains for their annual spiritual retreat. Early in May, U'wa leader Roberto Cobaria came to Los Angeles to meet with Oxy officials. There, in a sterile hotel conference room, Cobaria lifted his voice in song. It was a song about the Father Sky and Mother Earth, the sun and the moon, and their connection to all people. It summed up the message Cobaria repeated again and again in the 1 1/2 hour meeting: Americans and Colombians may have their laws, but the U'wa are bound by "the law that was law before there was sun and before there was moon." Under that law, oil from deep in Mother Earth is part of her.
ISSN:0458-3035