Activists Lock Down to 50 Gallon Cement Barrels in Support of the U'wa Tribe

Berkeley Earth First! Contacts: Lia Evans 510-421-0119
For Immediate Release Heather Vuchinich-415-843-0742
October 30, 2000

ACTIVISTS LOCK TO 5O GALLON DRUM OF CONCRETE TO PUBLICIZE EMERGENCY ON U'WA LAND!

San Francisco, CA-
5 Activists were arrested yesterday after they locked down to 50 gallon cement blocks at Gore Headquarters yesterday in support of the U’wa people of Colombia. The U’wa supporters locked down in the driveway of the Gore headquarters, shutting down the office for over 5 hours. Activists demanded that Al Gore take a stand on Occidental Petroleum’s drilling project on the U’wa people’s sacred land in Colombia. Mr. Gore has extensive personal and political ties to Occidental, including family investments in the company of up to $1 million dollars. While the activists locked down in front of the building, blocking the gates from closing, a banner, with the words "Oxy out of U’wa Land" was hung on the side of the building.

"We demand Al Gore sever his ties with Occidental Petroleum and denounce their involvement in the destruction of U’wa ancestral land." said, Jake Wilson, of Berkeley Earth First! The U’wa are a traditional tribe of some 5,000 people living in the cloud forests of northeastern Columbia. They are adamantly opposed to the planned Occidental oil project on their traditional territory and have waged an eight-year, non-violent campaign to block oil drilling and protect the region’s fragile environment. In the pursuit of oil, money, and power ,Occidental - and thus Gore - will take away the U'wa's right to land, life, and culture. The U'wa are steadfastly opposed to Occidental’s project and many have vowed to give up their lives if Occidental proceeds with the drilling of the Gibraltar-1 site, which lies on their ancestral homelands.

For the U'wa, oil is the blood of mother earth, and to extract it would bet o threaten the spiritual balance of the world, the environment, and their physical safety from Colombia's civil war. In recent weeks U’wa leaders have called on Vice President Al Gore to speak up in their favor and for the protection of their land. As well as an international outcry in support of the U’wa struggle, concerned U.S. citizens have targeted Al Gore with protests in more than 50 campaign stops across the country in recent months.



Excellent visuals of non-violent direct action