What is the Colombia PPT OIL INDUSTRY HEARING?

Background

The People’s Permanent Tribunal (PPT) is a non-governmental tribunal, similar to the “public opinion tribunals” that were created to judge the crimes against humanity committed by the United States against the people of Vietnam. The People’s Tribunal is a very important instrument in the pursuit of truth, justice and reparations for victims.

The People’s Tribunal is constituted by a diverse group of 130 men and women, (sociologists, indigenous people, political figures, intellectuals, human rights activists, writers, etc.) of an irreproachable moral character who have the capacity to exercise a high level judicial function); appointed by the Council of the Lelio Basso International Foundation for the Rights and Liberations of Peoples.

The judgments made by THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL are based on international human rights conventions and are rendered with no ties to the political powers that be, the powerful of the world, the state, outside the national judicial structures, and they represent in a manner the ethical conscience of the peoples of the world, of humanity.

THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL has met on 31 occasions to rule on situations in many countries, with regard to entire peoples who are not organized in a state and have suffered genocide at the hands of states and has passed judgment on the policies of multinational companies and international bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL Columbia Session.
Multinationals and Crimes against Humanity

The sacking of natural resources, la privatization of public services, the destruction of the environment and biodiversity, hunger, and many other forms of violence have prevented the people of Colombia from living in dignified conditions.

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA or ALCA in Spanish) and the Free Trade Agreement are treaties that violate the rights of peoples and benefit multinationals exclusively.

In order to protect the sacking of our resources, control over our territory and the exploitation of the population, the Columbian government has implemented tactics of a dirty war, through state terrorism.

The indigenous communities continue to be affected by the implementation of huge projects on their lands, which destroy their customs, their world view, and their lives.

The “Justice and Peace” Act embodies a comprehensive policy of terror that aggravates and perpetuates the impunity with which human rights are violated and crimes against humanity are committed for the benefit of multinationals and national monopolies.

The search for truth, just and full reparations for the victims in an indispensable element for reaching a political solution to the armed social conflict that the country is enduring.

The participation of the public in the recovery of our historical memory is essential, and therefore the proceedings of THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL must be tied to the reconstruction of progressive organizations and communities that have been destroyed by state terrorism. This is a very important step in the construction of Another Possible Colombia.

THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL, will analyze the three main factors of the issue and their interaction: UNDUE EXTRACTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES, SUPPORTED BY A DIRTY WAR OR STATE TERRORISM, AND THE PERMANENT VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL has received indictments and evidence, as well as hearing the specialized testimony of dozens of men of women, regarding the most significant cases of human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by multinational companies in different sectors of our economy. The hearings have produced indictments or interlocutory judgments that will be elements of the full session.

THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL has been analyzing the impacts of multinational policies in the food, biodiversity, mining (gold, coal) oil, public services, and financial system sectors. Likewise, the Tribunal will judge the multinational companies for crimes against indigenous peoples.

The proceedings began in September of 2005 with a preliminary hearing in Bern – Switzerland (Nestlé policy) and will end on July 22, 2008 with a deliberative session that will gather the interlocutory judgments and issue a final judgment on the policies of multinational companies and the Columbian state.

The Hearing on the Oil Industry
OXI – REPSOL- BP and the Colombian Government

Judgment will be handed down on the policies of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Repsol and British Petroleum Corporation will be judged with regard to the negative impact on the population of Boyacá, Arauca, Casanare and Norte de Santander in eastern Colombia and the Colombian state for promoting and facilitating the surrender of natural resources at the cost of the suffering, tragic conditions, and misery of the people of Colombia.

Through these abuses, these companies seek to control the population to quell resistance to the exploration and exploitation of resources, which has included combining several strategies, such as militarizing the area, along with North American mercenaries, declaring the area to be a Rehabilitation and Consolidation Zone to deploy paramilitary groups, carrying out crimes against humanity, and constant legal persecution against social activist organizations.

Militarization of the Region: the oil companies have responsibility in the Columbian conflict, not only because they have financed army battalions to provide security for their facilities but also by exercising direct influence on military decisions such as appointed their commanders and specific operations.

Financing of the 16th Brigade in Yopal and the 18th Brigade in Arauca; the bombing of Santo Domingo –Arauca; the murder in Arauca of the leaders Alirio Martínez, Leonel Goyeneche and Jorge Prieto and several members of the organizations ACDAINSU, ASOCHARTE, ASOVEC and ADUC (the murder of the president of the latter CARLOS MESIAS ARRIGUI) and the extrajudicial execution of Daniel and Roque Julio in Casanare; the penetration of paramilitary groups in areas that are “protected” by the army, the security guard service provided to senior BP officials by well-known paramilitary armed men; the Massacres of Caño Seco, Flor Amarillo-Piñalito - Cravo Charo and La Cabuya; mass arrests in 2002, 2003, 2006; disappearances, torture, and forced displace of communities perpetrated by paramilitary groups in zones of interest for exploration are evident that the influence these companies exert on the state to guarantee the sacking of this resource.

The murder of Aury Sara Marrugo and Enrique Arellano, Manuel Gustavo Chacón, Rafael Jaimes Torra, Jorge Orlando Higuita, among many others, has not only led to the destruction of the oilworkers union (USO), but the surrender of the resource and the oil industry infrastructure to private capital, in particular to multinational corporations.

Among many other crimes (disappearances, torture, arrests, threats, trials, and forced exile)

Environmental Impact: Oil industry activities have had a negative impact on the environment and put sustainability and life itself in the region at risk. There are no institutional controls and there is widespread corruption sponsored by the oil companies.

Among the salient instances of damage are the disappearance of the geo-strategic ecosystem of the Lipa Lagoon, wetlands and Caño Limón, which are the heritage of indigenous peoples; the destruction of the food chain, the release of highly polluted water into the Arauca River, the alteration of the regional hydrological system in Arauca, the drying up of the Charte, Unete, Cravo Sur and Cusiana Rivers due to the pumping of pure underground water and the deforestation associated with oil industry activities, the generation of polluting gases that have caused severe damage to crops.

There is environmental deterioration in other areas near the oil fields, such as in the Departments of Putumayo (Texas and Ecopetrol), Santanderes (Shell and Texaco), Tolima and Meta (Chevron Texaco).
Ethnocide: oil industry activities have been historically associated with the systematic extermination of indigenous peoples, since the early twentieth century.

Outstanding among these are the Yarigüies in Magdalena Medio by Standard Oil, Guahibos in Arauca by OXI, the Cofane and Siona people in Putumayo by Argosy, and bloodthirsty persecution against the Motilón-Bari people in Catatumbo by BP and the Uwa in Boyacá and the Arauca by OXI.

Sacking of the Resource: the new kinds of contracts that have been being implement have cause huge losses for the Colombian people. In the case of the Caño Limón well, one of the most important in the country, reversion could be effected this year, being return to state control under ECOPETROL. However the government of Álvaro Uribe extended this contract in perpetuity, which means that OXY will be able to extract the last drop of oil from this reserve under this new contract. In addition the Colombian state will subsidize the depreciation of the oil industry due to wear. This simply constitutes sacking of our resources.

Corruption: the oil companies have been a destabilizing factor, manipulating and subjugating the state and the interests of our nation. Historically, the decrees, laws, and articles of the constitution have been drafted to favor multinational companies. There have been famous cases in which oil commissions have been a factor in exclusion, corruption and generalized impoverishment.

All of these crimes and the homicide of activist leaders have underlying political and economic interests that are actively promoting the dismemberment of social movements in the region. Arauca is one of the departments that has had to endure once of the most violent military offensive by the Uribe regime, under an operation strangely called the “Rehabilitation Zone,” under the pretense of recovering “public order,” paralyzing the guerrilla groups and destroying activist organizations. However, the purpose of this state and paramilitary offensive is to secure one of the most important geopolitical regions of the country, one of the most important routes between Colombia and Venezuela; insuring its reserves, its infrastructure and the interests of the multinational oil companies, and controlling the frontier with a country against which a policy of confrontation is being developed. Strategic military measures include the ill-fated expense of 100 million dollars for large tanks in case of a remote but possible scenario of an armed conflict between the two countries.

The fact that it is from Arauca that the most efficient highway system from the economic centers of Colombia to the energy reserves and the Venezuelan markets, make this a strategically important region, especially in the current scenario of diminishing oil reserves in Colombia, making it necessary for the oil companies to ensure control of the infrastructure that will allow them to speculate with the internal oil market.

Added to the huge oil project there are others called Ruta de los Libertadores and Marginal de la Selva, an international dry canal that would run the Caracas – Bogotá – Quito route, and join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The construction of these projects has led to the large-scale displacement of the inhabitants along the route of the highways, since the investors need that there is no kind of pressure to prevent construction and the free flow of goods and natural resources through this rich region of the country, which like other areas, has been declared to be a Special Export Zone (ZEEE in Spanish). This may be the explanation for many massacres committed notably in Santo Domingo, Cravo Charo, Caño Claro, Caño Salas, Betoyes, Quintame, Flor Amarillo, Piñalito, Botalón, and La Horqueta, among others.

These crimes and the terror under which the populations lives every day shall be proved, indicted and judged by THE PEOPLE’S TRIBUNAL during the hearing on the oil industry. The hearing is part of popular justice and any important element of the legal strategy in the International Campaign on the Effects of the Exploitation of Oil Resources: IN FAVOR OF RESPECT FOR LIFE, HUMAN RIGHTS, CULTURE AND THE RIGHT FOR PEOPLE TO REMAIN ON THEIR LAND.

HEARINGS AND PRELIMINARY EVENTS:

Preparatory events for the hearing on the oil industry are taking place through 7 preliminary hearings: Saravena, Barrancabermeja, El Tarra – Norte de Santander, Cartagena, Madrid, Spain, Glasgow –Scotland and in Washington – United States, and there will be a national forum in which a comprehensive plan will be developed to counter this policy of depredation.

www.tppcolombia.info
www.organizacionessociales.org
www.sinaltrainal.org

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