In Yaguará, Huila, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) insists that it has hired 100% of its unskilled labor locally and 30% of skilled labor, but individuals in the community have maintained blockades affecting five wells for nearly two months.
In every one of his public addresses over the last week, President Juan Manuel Santos urged Colombians to support the peace agreement, as the government and its supporters gear up for an intense political campaign for the “yes” vote.
The explosive growth of blockades, protests and social conflicts has a direct impact on the finances of the regions responsible for them, and a recent study from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sought to quantify how much these conflicts are costing.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has reiterated its call for dialogue at the Gibraltar gas plant, and that the U’wa community is putting itself and the installation at risk, so the NOC has brought in personnel to secure the facility. It insists that there are no public forces present, although local press reports contradict this.
A conflict between Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) subsidiary Hocol with an indigenous community in Ortega, Tolima has stretched for more than eight months and shows no signs of improvement. Now the municipality is warning it has no resources for public services as a result.
The government and striking truckers signed an agreement last Friday to end a violent and costly 45 day strike, which affected various other economic sectors. Now the first details of the agreement have started to reach press
The government has rejected the takeover of the Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) Gibraltar gas plant by the U´wa indigenous people in Norte de Santander, but ruled out taking it back by force until it has exhausted all other options.
The Constitutional Court approved the government’s plan to hold a referendum to accept or reject the peace agreements made with the Farc.
The U’wa indigenous group which had been blockading the road to the Gibraltar gas plant in Norte de Santander has now entered the facility and forced out 14 workers, the latest escalation in a conflict which has drawn on for 49 days.
The oil industry is not the only sector to suffer from constant blockades and protests. Mining projects, electrical lines and new highways have all suffered delays due to an increasing conflictive community relationship.
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