Chevron guilty in Ecuador

THE transnational oil company Chevron’s guilt stands in the eyes of Ecuador’s justice system, although the amount it must pay those affected by the contamination left in the country’s Amazon region by its affiliate Texaco has been reduced.

The National Court of Justice ruled that the U.S. company must pay Amazonia residents $9.5 billion, significantly less than the $19 billion indemnity imposed by a lower court in Lago Agrio, in 2011.

According to judges in the country’s highest court, Ecuadorian law provides no legal status for public apologies, upon which arguments were based in the Sucumbíos provincial court to support doubling the indemnity.

Since punitive damages are not addressed in national statutes, a public apology cannot be ordered, and consequently no indemnity for failing to comply with such an order can be imposed, the National Court ruled.

The decision to reduce the indemnity did not affect the residents’ or government’s spirits, or their determination to pursue the legal and media battle to ensure that justice prevails.

The Supreme Court ruling confirmed Chevron-Texaco’s responsibility for the contamination of Ecuador’s Amazonia region, reported Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño via his Twitter account, the first official reaction after the decision.

The events show, he said, that real separation of powers and an independent judiciary exist in the country. The news was welcomed by lawyers representing the close to 30,000 plaintiffs, members of the Amazonia Defense Front. Legally, this is an important step and shows that the justice system in Ecuador functions independently and openly, one of the group’s attorneys, Pablo Fajardo, affirmed to the lnational press.

He commented that the ruling provides important support for legal efforts outside the country demanding Chevron’s compliance. Complaints against the oil company have been filed in Canada, Brazil and Argentina.

Another attorney, Juan Pablo Sáenz, decried the National Court’s reduction of the indemnity, but nevertheless welcomed the verdict.

It is a victory, he said to the Andes news agency, because the National Court has approved the work done by lower courts, vindicating all the work done to gather evidence.

Chevron has not only refused to pay the damages, but also sought to cast blame on Ecuador’s government for the contamination, presenting charges against the country’s administration in an international arbitration court.

The company has moreover accused the plaintiffs of attempted extortion, in a federal court hearing held in New York, which, according to the lawyers, was wrought with irregularities and abuses on the part of Chevron.

In September, the Ecuadoran government launched a campaign, entitled Chevron’s Dirty Hand, to denounce the environmental damage caused by the oil company and has invited international figures to visit areas where Chevron’s predecessor Texaco operated from 1960 until 1992.

According to President Rafael Correa, the amount of waste oil contaminating Ecuador’s Amazonia is 85 times greater than that spilled by British Petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.