COLOMBIA
U'wa Supporters Murdered!
It is with great sadness in my heart that I report the death of Terry and his two comrades. At this point representatives of the families have identified the bodies and confirmed this tragic news. Many of us in here at RAN and through out the Network have worked with Terry and his presence will be sorely missed. His work to support the U'wa and to defend their ancestoral homelands were influential in the struggle to stop fossil fuel exploration in the region. The three activists will not be forgotten. Their spirit will live on in the organizing we all do to defend the rainforests and support the rights of indigenous communities around the world. -- Patrick Reinsborough, Rainforest Action Network
NOTE - One factual inaccuracy in the article below is the impression given that the U'wa have won full legal protection from Occidental. In reality Occidental has only pulled out of 75% of their original drilling area and is continuing with their plans to drill in the remaining 25%.
Bodies of Americans Believed Found
By FRANK BAJAK Associated Press Writer BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)
MARCH 05, 18:35 EST Colombian authorities said three bodies were found Friday that they believed were Americans kidnapped by suspected leftist rebels last week. The bodies were found just across the border in Venezuela.
Two tattoos found on one body confirmed that it belonged to Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, a member of the Menominee nation in Wisconsin, her tribal chief, Apesanahkwat, said by telephone. Colombian police said a credit card bearing Washinawatok's name was also found.
The other two kidnapped Americans were Terence Freitas, a 24-year-old environmentalist from Los Angeles, and 39-year-old Lahe'ena'e Gay of Hawaii. The three were seized Jan. 25 after spending a week with an indigenous people, the U'wa, on a mission aimed at helping preserve the group's native identity. The two women had four bullet wounds each, and the man had six, said Col. Luis Eduardo Tafur, the police commander of Arauca state, on Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela. The three were kidnapped in Arauca state. There were also signs they had been tied up, he said.
``We have indications that these bodies may be the ones who are kidnapped, but we do not have 100 percent certainty,'' said U.S. Embassy spokesman Robert Schmidt. Tafur said no identification was found on the other two bodies, which he said were discovered by Venezuelan judicial police in La Victoria, Venezuela, just across the Arauca river.
Washinawatuk, Gay and Frietas were seized 200 miles from Bogota by armed men in civilian clothing after spending a week on the U'wa reservation. They had traveled under the auspices of the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International, which Gay directs, and were studying the U'wa to determine whether they might be able to assist them.
Freitas organized the trip and had worked extensively with the U'wa. No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but an U'wa representative who was with the Americans when they were seized, Roberto Afanador, said he suspected the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's oldest and largest rebel group. Afanador said FARC frequently enters the U'wa reserve without permission. The U'wa, a proud nation of 8,000 people, won a legal battle against Occidental Petroleum in 1997 that prevented the Los Angeles-based company from exploratory drilling on traditional U'wa territory.
Colombia has the world's highest kidnapping rate, and foreigners are often targeted because they can receive the highest ransoms, typically several hundred thousand dollars each.
Declaration of U'wa Defense Working Group on the Murders of Three American Activists in Colombia
"Today we feel that we're fighting a large and strong spirit that wants to beat us or force us to submit to a law contrary to that which Sira (God) established and wrote in our hearts, even before there was the sun and the moon. When faced with such a thing, we are left with no alternative other
than to continue fighting on the side of the sky and earth and spirits or else disappear when the irrationality of the invader violates the most sacred of our laws."
-- U'wa Statement, August 10, 1998
We are grieved and shocked by the tragic news of the murders in Colombia of our three colleagues and fellow activists Terence Freitas, Ingrid Washinawatok, and Lahe'ena'e Gay and offer our heartfelt condolences to their families and friends. Terence Freitas was a dear friend of all of ours and a dedicated activist who had devoted the last two years of his life to supporting the U'wa people of Colombia to defend their rights and traditional territory from oil exploration by Occidental Petroleum. Terry served as the coordinator of the U'wa Defense Working Group. No one outside of Colombia has done more to support this struggle than Terry.We call for a full investigation by the US government and independent human rights observers into the deaths of our three colleagues. We call on the State Department to ensure that the possible role of paramilitary groups is fully investigated, and we call upon the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) to clarify their involvement, if any.
The U'wa people's rights and ancestral land remain under threat from the proposed oil project. The U'wa have expressed repeatedly and in adamant terms their opposition to this project. Occidental's application for a drilling license is currently pending with the Colombian Ministry, and a decision is expected at any time. The well sites in question fall within an area the U'wa consider their ancestral land. On several occasions last year, Terry reported being followed and observed by individuals believed to be associated with paramilitary activity. On the same trip, Terry was forced to sign a statement by the Colombian military, which essentially absolved the Colombian military of any responsibility for his safety. He interpreted this as an intimidation tactic. The deaths of our friends underscore the need for immediate steps to peacefully end the escalating violence in oil regions and against human rights advocates in Colombia.
We reaffirm the U'wa's demand that Occidental immediately withdraw their application to drill on ancestral U'wa lands and call on Occidental to consider its role in the ongoing cycle of violence in Colombia.
Oil and violence are inextricably linked in Colombia. Thirteen of the fourteen Colombian military battalions implicated in human rights abuses by Amnesty International received U.S. weapons or training. Occidental's Caño Limón pipeline has been attacked by guerrillas more than 500 times in its 12 years of existence. In response to this guerrilla tactic, the government has militarized oil production and pipeline zones, in the process persecuting local populations whom the government assumes are helping the guerrillas. Arauca, the area where our friends were killed, has one of the highest rates of documented human rights abuses by paramilitary forces loyal to the governments.
We resolve to carry on the work of Terry, Ingrid and Lahe' in defense of the U'wa people. Their deaths will not be in vain.
For more background information on the U'wa struggle, please consultuwa.moles.org , www.ran.org , www.arcweb.org
Members of the U'wa Defense Working Group:
Amazon Coalition, Amazon Watch, Action Resource Center, Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund, EarthWays Foundation, International Law Project for Human Environmental & Economic Defense, Project Underground, Rainforest Action Network, Sol CommunicationsU'WA DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
March 6, 1999
Contacts:
Steve Kretzmann (510) 421-5130-mobile, 510-705-8982, 510-339-6933
Shannon Wright (415) 398-4404, ext. 316 or (415) 920-9809
Atossa Soltani, (310) 456-1340
Melina Selverston (202) 785-3334
Source: Rainforest Action Network and The Wire - Breaking News from the Associated Press
FOR PERSONAL, NON-PROFIT USE ONLY. NOT TO BE EPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE SOURCES