Indians protest oil drilling
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, October 12, 2006
TIBU, Colombia – Hundreds of Bari Indians, most clad in loincloths and carrying bows and arrows, came down from the hills in their first march ever Thursday to demand that the state-owned oil company stop drilling on sacred land abutting their reservation.
The 700 protesters rallied in one of Colombia’s most war-ravaged regions on Columbus Day – commemorated as “Dia de la Raza” or “Indigenous People’s Day” in much of Latin America – to remind the world that they have been decimated and forced into isolation by oil drilling.
“Don’t forget that this is our territory,” a Bari chieftain, 55-year-old Atrigbuanina, said as the Indians laid a plaque in front of Tibu’s heavily fortified police station. “Why is the Colombian state not respecting our rights?”
Ecopetrol, the state-owned oil company, is racing to find oil deposits so Colombia can avoid losing petroleum self-sufficiency by 2011. The company recently said it wants to sell a 20 percent share to a foreign investor to help spur exploration.
But the Indians demand a halt to exploratory drilling. They had hoped for a meeting in Tibu with a government delegation, but authorities canceled it abruptly, concerned the march had been infiltrated by rebels. State government and local military and police leaders attended the march nonetheless.
The Bari chose Oct. 12, which commemorates Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas, because it’s the date Indian rights groups consider the start of a genocide against their peoples. Activists marked the day in Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
“Fuera Ecopetrol” – Ecopetrol Out! – the Indians chanted as they marched down Tibu’s main street carrying banners and thrusting bows and arrows into the air. Naked children marched with their elders, and some women wore only skirts.
The Bari want Ecopetrol to halt drilling and planned seismic probes in an area where – although outside their reserve – they hold noncompetitive marathons of 20 to 25 miles.
The Bari’s religion involves “paying tributes to nature for providing air, water, fish and other elements that allow people to live,” said Ashcayra Arabadora, a member of the Bari’s ruling council.
He said oil companies began to extract crude from the region in 1932 after decimating the Bari, whose numbers in Colombia have plunged from 16,000 then to 3,000 today. Some 9,000 Bari live in Venezuela, he said.
