Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 08/02) - The friendly face of two of the North's biggest corporate players is not seen as so friendly by some in other parts of the world.

Emilio Perez, man right, holding head with hand, was one of the Tabaco residents hurt when Intercor employees, police and army personnel tried to forcefully expel residents from their homes. - EL Heraldo newspaper photo, published Aug. 11, 2001. Photo courtesy of Andy Asmus, Pressure Points.

BHP Billiton and ExxonMobil have been accused by human rights groups in Britain and the U.S. of destroying a town, desecrating indigenous burial grounds and draining rivers while operating the world's biggest coal mine in the Colombian province of La Guajira.

The issue is expected to surface during the Dene Assembly in Fort Simpson beginning today.

In the North, these two prominent multinational corporate players - - BHP Billiton mining diamonds and ExxonMobil pushing for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline - - are expected to bring new economic hope to a region dependent on federal welfare

"For a long time I've been saying these multinational corporations are conducting business as usual here," said Deh Cho Grand Chief Michael Nadli.

"Governments and people have to take notice of that."

Nadli said he'd circulate information on the Colombian issue at this week's Dene Nation assembly.

Graham Nichols, spokesperson for BHP Billiton Canada, said his company's record in Canada speaks for itself but he wouldn't comment on the Colombian project.

ExxonMobil could not be reached by press time.

Armando Perez, a human rights lawyer representing the Wayuu people, mestizo (Metis) farmers and displaced residents of Tabaco - - a town he says was destroyed by a wholly owned ExxonMobil company this year - - is seeking support from Northern First Nations leaders who deal with the corporations here.

"They've committed war crimes in the classic sense," said Armando Perez in a phone interview from his home in Tamaquito Coloi, Maicao, Colombia.

Perez said the mine, called Cerrejon Norte, provides no benefits for local residents.

Australia-based BHP Billiton and U.S.-based ExxonMobil have a sketchy record in other parts of the world, according to human rights groups.

BHP Billiton left an environmental disaster in Papua, New Guinea, critics say, while ExxonMobil has become a global environmental pariah to some for its campaign to stop Kyoto.

The companies are fighting a May 7 Colombian supreme court order by Justice Sylvio Bernado Trejos Bueno to relocate and rebuild Tabaco because the destruction was illegal, said Perez.

According to Perez, a Seattle-based human rights group and independent media reports from Britain, employees from ExxonMobil-owned Intercor, 500 soldiers and 200 police officers tried to clear out the town of Tobaco on Aug. 9 and 10, 2001, acting on a court order obtained by Intercor.

In two days, they destroyed 29 houses, beat residents with clubs, injuring 10 including community leader Jose Julio Perez. One man, Emilio Perez, was beaten unconscious. The events were captured on film by a local journalist and reported by British-based Mines and Communities Network.

The town of 300 families sat on major coal deposits, according to Perez.

Intercor completed the demolition of the century-old town in January of this year and offered residents U.S. $1,000 for their homes, according to Pressure Points.

On Feb. 1, a consortium of BHP Billiton, Anglo-American and Glencore International bought Intercor from ExxonMobil to retain 100 per cent ownership in the Cerrejon Norte coal mine.

Coal is the third largest export for Colombia according to the country's Ministry of the Interior.

The 60-kilometre long, open-pit mine made around US $650 million for Colombia last year, according to statistics available on the mine's Web site.

Because ExxonMobil no longer has an interest in the mine and the consortium took over Intercor a month after the final clear-out of the town, the companies' have a way out of the order, said Perez.

But Perez fears other indigenous communities in the vicinity could go the way to Tabaco if the supreme court order is not carried out because the mine plans to expand.

According to Pressure Points, the construction of a port and railroad connecting the mine to shipping destroyed Wayuu burial sites and a fishing village in the mid-1980's.