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dam-l URGENT ACTION: Stop Oppression of Embera in Colombia!!!

Dear friends,

We hope that you can sign this letter,
by today (Friday, Feb. 4), or please write a letter
of your own. I am sorry for the cross-posting
and also for the short notice.

Thank you,
Monti Aguirre

***
Berkeley, February 3, 2000

Dr. Juan Mayr Maldonado
Minister of the Environment
Calle 37 No. 8-40
Santa Fe de Bogota
Colombia
Fax: : 57 1 288 9788
E-mail: Jmayr@minamb.gov.co


Dear Dr. Mayr,

The undersigned organizations would like to express our indignation and
protest the serious abuses being committed against the Embera-Katio by
senior officials of the Ministry of the Environment.  Allegedly the
Vice-Minister of the Environment has ordered the harassment of the 170
Embera-Katio who have established a camp in front of the ministry's
building.  We have learnt that the police are preventing people entering or
leaving the camp, therefore denying the people access to water and food and
the use of lavatories.

The Embera-Katio who are camped in protest outside the ministry are waiting
for you to meet with them and begin negotiations on a mutually agreed plan
to mitigate and compensate for the impacts of the Urrá Dam. The
Embera-Katio would not have been forced to set up camp outside the ministry
if:

* the law relating to projects in indigenous areas had been respected;
* the Ministry of the Environment had respected international norms of best
practice for the construction of dams;
* there had been a genuine consultation process with the Embera-Katio which
respected that they are an indigenous group and as such individual
agreements can not take place in relation to development projects;
* the consultation process had taken place in a climate devoid of death
threats and killings;
* if the ruling of the Constitutional Court had been complied with;
* if you had acted in good faith and had set up meetings for the
negotiation of a mitigation plan prepared with and accepted by the
Embera-Katio and the dam-affected fishing and peasant communities;
*if the Ministry of the Environment had not illegally granted the
environmental license which allowed the filling of the reservoir, therefore
overruling the ruling of the Constitutional Court.

Because of this and other reasons 170 people are waiting for you outside
your building to begin a genuine negotiation process.

You have been honored with the Goldman Environmental Award, given to those
who excel in their environmental work; you are the President of the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development,  and you played a very important
role at the recent negotiations on the Biosafety Protocol in Montreal.  But
the way that the Ministry which you represent has proceeded with the
construction of the Urrá I Dam, mocks all the responsibilities that you
have accepted when you embraced the principles of the above mentioned
organizations.

We urge you to reconsider your position and to respect the mandates of the
law and the human rights of the communities affected by Urrá Dam.



Signed,

International Rivers Network


cc:
(I am getting additional names/addresses by tomorrow)
 "IUCNsuramerica" <samerica@uio.satnet.net
"CROMOS" <redaccion@cromos.com.co>,
"EL COLOMBIANO" <elcolombiano@elcolombiano.com.co>,
"EL ESPECTADOR" <redactor@elespectador.com>,
"EL MUNDO" <elmundo@elmundo.com>,
"EL PAIS" <diario@elpais-cali.com>,
"EL TIEMPO" <bibmer@eltiempo.com.co>,
"EL UNIVERSAL" <buzon@eluniversal.com.co>,
"EN VIVO" <envivo98@multinet.net.co>,










^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Monti Aguirre
Latin American Campaigns
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, CA. 94703 USA
Phone:   510 . 848.11.55 and 707 . 591 .91.49
Fax:     510 . 848.10.08
e-mail:  monti @irn.org
http://www.irn.org