The 5,000 members of the U’wa Indian tribe in Columbia have threatened to jump off a cliff to their deaths if Occidental Petroleum Corp. drills for oil in their ancestral territory. During the past week, tribal leaders and hundreds of activists have demonstrated outside Occidental’s Los Angeles headquarters and its annual shareholders meeting in Santa Monica. Occidental has not yet drilled on the land in question but is exploring it at the request of the Columbian government, which technically owns the land. In March, three American activists helping the tribe protect its land were murdered, and U’wa leader Roberto Cobaria has been kidnapped and beaten by thugs who tried to force him to sign a drilling agreement.
