Pretty sad, really.

Fair use, for educational purposes.

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Link

Police disperse Colombian Indians thwarting oil dig The Associated Press

BOGOTA, Colombia (June 24, 2000 10:01 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Riot police on Saturday broke up Colombian Indians blocking a road to protest oil exploration by a U.S. company.

A representative of the U'wa Indian tribe claims two of the protesters were shot by police. Their wounds were not life-threatening, Yurisa Tegria told The Associated Press by telephone from Cubara, a town near the Venezuelan border where the incident occurred.

Police denied that account, saying an officer fired one warning shot in the air when a protesters went for his gun. National police operations director Gen. Alfonso Arellano said nobody was hurt.

The Indians were trying to prevent trucks from reaching the construction site where U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. is preparing to drill over a field thought to hold huge crude reserves.

The 8,000-member U'wa nation has been fighting for more than five years to halt the company's plans, at one point threatening mass suicide.

The U'wa say drilling violates the sanctity of the Earth and will bring guerrilla violence to their homeland. The government says the group is being intransigent and argues a major new oil find would benefit most Colombians.

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), June 25, 2000

Answers

I'll bet a few dollars per barrel would mitigate their indignation.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), June 25, 2000.