Copyright 1997 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 07-Apr-97 ***
Title: ECUADOR-ENVIRONMENT: Indigenous Groups May Sue U.S. Government
By Mario Gonzalez
QUITO, Apr 7 (IPS) - Indigenous communities in Ecuador that are suing the
U.S. oil giant Texaco for environmental and social damage to the Amazon
jungle also may file a suit against the U.S. government for allegedly
interfering in the case, says attorney for the claimants, Cristobal
Bonifaz.
He alleged that the U.S. Embassy in Quito had pressured the Ecuadorean
government not to back the 30,000 indigenous people involved in the case
against Texaco.
Bonifaz contended in a note sent to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright at the weekend that ''the power and influential contacts of the
functionaries in the U.S. Embassy in Quito will have an impact on
Ecuadorean officials.'' He said he hoped for a quick response from
Washington.
The New York court hearing the charges filed by 120 indigenous communities
suspended trhe case until Ecuador's caretaker government states its
official position. The deadline given Ecuadorean officials by Judge Jed
Rackoff expires at the end of the month.
The trial began in New York, the headquarters of Texaco, in November 1993
but, three years later, Rackoff decided it should be heard in Ecuadorean
courts.
The claimants appealed the decision, arguing that Texaco worked for 25
years in Ecuador's Amazon jungle region through affiliated firms, which
limits the reach of the legal process. Rackoff accepted the appeal on
condition that the Ecuadorean government first made its position clear.
The government is still analysing the role it will play in the trial,
although all signs indicate that it intends to stay on the sidelines,
according to legal sources..
Attorney-General Milton Alava pointed out last week that the
administration of Sixto Duran Ballen (1992-96) had accepted Texaco's
proposal to clean up the environment, spending up to a total of one
million dollars. But the clean-up work was not carried out with the
appropriate technology, according to a special follow-up commission
comprised of experts from the state-run oil firm Petroecuador.
The government of Abdala Bucaram - who was impeached in February -
partially suspended the agreement reached with Texaco for the recovery of
the damaged areas.
The situation remained delicate for the interim government, which is
negotiating the renewal of contracts with foreign oil companies, already
nervous over political instability in Ecuador affecting the security of
their operations.
''The Ecuadorean government is making life difficult for
international oil companies,'' the Wall Street Journal wrote last week.
Ecuador ''has become one of the most frustrating places in the world for
oil multinationals.''
Texaco extracted 1.4 billion barrels of oil from Ecuador's Amazon jungle
region from 1968 to 1992, when it suspended its operations here.
The inhabitants of the Amazon area are demanding eight million dollars in
compensation for environmental and social damages inflicted by Texaco's
activity.
Gina Chavez with Ecological Action told IPS that ''the damage caused by
the oil firms is unmeasurable. The lawsuit represented, more than anything
else, a way of punishing and setting an example,'' because the money in
question ''would be insufficient to resolve all the problems that had been
created.''
Ecological Action has argued that Texaco destroyed approximately one
million hectares of rainforests, spilled 74 million litres of oil and used
obsolete technology which led to the contamination of 18 million litres of
water. (END/IPS/trd-so/mg/ff/sw/97)
Origin: Rome/ECUADOR-ENVIRONMENT/
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[c] 1997, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
All rights reserved
[ Redistributed to NATIVE-L and Usenet newsgroups with permission. ]
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