Teams Picket Chevron Gas Stations Over Firm’s Investments in Angola

More than 100 people divided into teams and picketed about 50 Orange County Chevron gasoline stations Saturday in an attempt to convince the oil company to divest itself of investments in Angola.

The local effort was part of a nationwide protest at about 600 Chevron stations, said David Balsiger, president of a conservative group backing the effort, Restore A More Benevolent Order (RAMBO).

The protesters claim that Chevron’s Angolan operations provide about $2.3 billion to the African country’s Marxist government and frustrate the efforts of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.

Prelude to Atlanta

Balsiger said Saturday’s protests are a prelude to a larger effort at a Chevron stockholders’ meeting in Atlanta next week. Chevron officials couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday.

While 12 fellow RAMBO members marched on the sidewalk in front of a station at Harbor Boulevard and Adams Avenue in Costa Mesa, Balsiger promised that protests would become more fervent if divestment doesn’t occur soon.

“We had some people who wanted to chain themselves to the gas pumps today, but we don’t want to go that far yet,” he said.

Content to Chant

For now, the protesters, who included a real estate salesman, a college student and a representative of a veterans’ organization, were content to chant “Chevron out of Angola” and distribute leaflets to drivers entering the station.

The owner of the Costa Mesa station declined to comment, saying he didn’t want to do anything to “justify” the group’s existence.

No Objections

Earlier in the day, Balsiger’s team had protested at a Santa Ana gas station on North Bristol Street (each team went to about five stations). Owner Mohammad Bonakdar said he had no objection to the group as long as they remained on the sidewalk.

“As a matter of fact, I think maybe they got some people’s attention who drove in and bought gas,” he said.

RAMBO is the current name for a group that first surfaced in 1983 in an effort to have the Soviet Union banned from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The coalition, Balsiger said, includes about 270 groups in the United States, including anti-Fidel Castro group Alpha 66, the College Republican National Committee, Americans for Freedom Fighters, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force and Young Vietnamese for Freedom.

Balsiger said his organization wouldn’t oppose a Chevron sale of its Angola holdings to a foreign power because that would stop what he claims are the firm’s efforts to lobby against U.S. aid for Savimbi.