U'wa Protest in London

On 18 April an indigenous leader from Colombia joined a protest in the City of London as part of the U'wa’s campaign to save their ancestral lands from oil exploitation. The protest involved a wide range of groups and took place outside the offices of Fidelity Investments.

The Fidelity Group is one of the largest shareholders in the US-based Occidental Petroleum Company, which is set to drill for oil right next to U'wa territory.

A Colombian court last month ordered Occidental to halt all construction work on its Gibraltar 1 well-site on the grounds that the drilling would violate the "fundamental rights" of the U'wa people including their right to life. The company, after admitting they never consulted with the U'wa, said it will appeal the decision. As the President of the U'wa said, "The injunction speaks of the suspension of the project, not the cancellation. We have taken an important step and are happy because we have advanced in our struggle even though this has come at great sacrifice. We must defend the life of the U'wa..."

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