Berito Kuwaru'wa

Berito Kuwaru'wa is a member of the Colombian U'wa people. He was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1998 for his role as spokesperson in conflicts between the U'wa people and the petroleum industry.

Early life In 1963, when he was a small child, Kuwaru'wa was kidnapped by Catholic missionaries to live at a mission and be indoctrinated into Western culture. He was given the name Roberto Cobraría and taught to read and write Spanish, until several years later where his mother managed to rescue him. Distressed by the experience and impassioned by the missionaries' disregard for his people's culture, Kuwaru'wa cites his time living in a mission as what began his campaign to fight for U'wa rights.

Occidental Petroleum In 1992, Occidental Petroleum, or Oxy, an American hydrocarbon exploration company, received a license from the Colombian government to search for oil in U'wa territory, violating a 1991 ruling by the International Labor Convention that asserts that community consent must exist for resource exploitation to occur on their territory.

In response, Kuwaru'wa and the U'wa people publicly and internationally expressed their opposition towards all oil operations.

Kuwaru'wa would also take the campaign to the Inter-American Commission in 1997 to argue that Oxy's exploration of U'wa land violated their rights to a clean environment and living conditions.

Kuwaru'wa travelled to the United States in 1996, to demonstrate to Occidental executives through song that the traditional territory of the U'wa would not be ceded. This song related the U'wa creation mythology and sacred beliefs to petroleum, and how the U'wa consider petroleum extraction to be sacrilege. Kuwaru'wa travelled internationally, gathering attention and support for his cause worldwide.

In 1997, Kuwaru'wa was attacked by hooded men, who threatened him with death to force him to sign an oil drilling authorization agreement. When he refused, he was beaten and pushed into a river, where he nearly drowned. The Organization of American States (OAS) subsequently ordered the Colombian government to protect Kuwaru'wa. resulting in additional pollution in the surrounding area.

Exercising their legal rights of ownership of La China, the U'wa people occupied the damaged pipeline site, refusing to permit any repairs on the pipelines until the Colombian government addressed their demands to prohibit oil excavation companies to enter their territory. In an effort to dissuade the Colombian government from forcibly removing them from their land, Kuwaru'wa reached out to their international partners to raise awareness and push for a peaceful resolution with the government.

Activism and beliefs As a spokesperson, Kuwaru'wa expressed the U'wa belief that God intended for the U'wa to protect the natural environment and that humanity's survival depends on the health of the earth. To the U'wa people, oil is the earth's blood, and to harvest it would be attacking earth and all of humanity.

Kuwaru'wa urges petroleum companies and other stakeholders to reflect on the future impacts of oil drilling and other related industries. He warns of uncontrollable consequences such as irregular weather patterns, earthquakes, and hurricanes as a result of the earth's disturbed equilibrium.