Amazonian Indians and Campesinos File Suit Against Texaco
2/24/97
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Ecuador Sues Texaco
Source: Rainforest Action Network
World Rainforest Report, Winter/Spring 1997
ranmedia@ran.org in cdp:ran.news **
Date: 2/24/97
Author: Shannon Wright
WORLD RAINFOREST REPORT, WINTER/SPRING 1997
ECUADOR SUES TEXACO
BY SHANNON WRIGHT,
AMAZON CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR
The billion dollar suit Amazonian Indians and campesinos filed against
Texaco, Inc. in U.S. courts more than three years ago took an encouraging
turn recently when the government of Ecuador filed papers with the court
on December 23, seeking to join the plaintiffs in their bid for a trial in
the U.S. The Ecuadorian government reversed its previous position in
response to the suit1s dismissal on November 12 because, among other
reasons, the Ecuadorian government failed to support the plaintiffs1
request for the case to be tried in the U.S. rather than in Ecuador.
This bold move marks the first time a foreign government has sued a U.S.
oil company in U.S. courts over environmental damages in its homeland.
The Ecuadorian government1s request to intervene as a plaintiff, and the
motion for reconsideration, are both pending before the presiding Judge
Racoff.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador has come under fire for its role in
what appears to be an active defense of Texaco. According to Ecuador1s
Attorney General Leonidas Plaza Verduga, the Embassy1s Chief of Staff
threatened him, stating that if Ecuador did not respect the agreement
signed with Texaco for a partial clean up of the company1s former
concession, 3the American government would take appropriate measures of an
economic nature against the country.y The Attorney General also reported
that the Chief of Staff pressured him to drop its support of the case in
U.S. courts. The Embassy denies the charges.