Chevron & Ecuador: The Real Story
Last week, The New York Times reported:
Chevron won a major victory. A federal judge in Manhattan ruled that a two-decade legal effort to punish the company was marred by fraud and corruption, making it increasingly likely that the oil company would be ultimately successful in beating back the legal and financial challenge.
There’s $9.5 billion up in the air, and the oil giant Chevron will do anything to make sure it doesn’t have to pay up.
Greg Palast, who has covered the story for BBC Television says,“The judge is completely, utterly full of s**t.” Palast, who investigated the story for BBC Television and Democracy Now! went to Ecuador and found something quite different.
Here’s an excerpt from Palast’s report:
What about the Indian kids dying of cancer? Texaco lawyer Rodrigo Perez asks, “And it’s the only case of cancer in the world? How many cases of children with cancer do you have in the States, in Europe, in Quito? If there is somebody with cancer there, [the Cofan parents] must prove [the deaths were] caused by crude or by petroleum industry. And, second, they have to prove that it is OUR crude – which is absolutely impossible.” The Texaco man stated, “Scientifically, nobody has proved that crude causes cancer.”
Read the full Palast investigation, “Chevron Runs from Judgment in Ecuador.”
Watch the BBC documentary yourself and, download the film for free.
Watch Palast’s report from the Amazon for BBC , War Paint and Lawyers: Rainforest Indians versus Big Oil on the DVD Palast Investigates: From 8-Mile to the Amazon. Get the signed DVD or Download it for FREE.
[Here’s a clip of Palast Interviewing Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa]
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Greg Palast’s investigation of Chevron’s oil drilling operations in the Amazon for BBC Television Newsnight is included in the DVD compendium Palast Investigates. Get a signed DVD or download the film for FREE. Subscribe to Palast’s Newsletter and podcasts. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
Has anyone figured out why so many people, including children, in the United States have cancer? Is it GMO foods, chem trails, too many vaccines, plastics, polluted water and air, crude, or a combination of any of these? What’s causing the cancer epidemic in the world today? Why isn’t anyone working on that? I knew an old man who cured his own terminal cancer. He lived to 103. What caused it in the first place no one did anything scientific to find out. I don’t think they want to know.
Prolly a good thing trial wasn’t held in Texas. Courts there would have given Ecuador to Chevron and split the rest of South America between the big 3 awl companies.
“Ecuador is no longer insane.” Beautiful. Greg Palast is a treasure. Thanks for posting this, Zach.