An August 22 press release issued by theColombian organization Censat Agua Viva, announced that ECOPETROL, the state-owned petroleum company, will take over petroleum exploration in the Samoré blocks in U’wa territory. The move follows the departure of transnational Occidental Petroleum, which was previously managing the concession of the blocks. The U’wa people have engaged in a long campaign of resistance against petroleum activities in their ancestral territory, gaining in the process the support of numerous national and international organizations. The U’wa have declared that “they won’t stop until all the petroleum companies are out of their territories, and they plea for the help and support of all the national and international organizations in their struggle.”
