Indigenous Groups May Sue U.S. Government
4/7/97
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Headline: Indigenous Groups May Sue U.S. Government
Source: InterPress Third World News Agency
Copyright 1997 InterPress Service
Date: 4/7/97
Author: Mario Gonzalez
*** 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.
[c] 1997, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
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