War Paint and Lawyers: Rainforest Indians versus Big Oil
Greg Palast investigates for BBC Newsnight - TONIGHT
Chevron: "Nobody has proved that crude causes cancer."
Tuesday, November 27, 10:30pm GMT [5:30pm New York Time] - live on BBC2 TV
or on the net at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
BBC Television Newsnight has been able to get close-in film of a new Cofan
Indian ritual deep in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest. Known as
"The Filing of the Law Suit," natives of Ecuador's jungle, decked in
feathers and war paint and heavily armed with lawyers, are filmed
presenting a new complaint in their litigation seeking $12 billion from
Chevron Inc., the international oil goliath.
It would all be a poignant joke - except that the indigenous tribe is
suddenly the odds-on favorite to defeat the oil company known for naming
its largest tanker, "Condoleezza," after former Chevron director, US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
For Newsnight, reporter Greg Palast, steps (somewhat inelegantly) into a
dug-out log canoe to seek out the Cofan in their rainforest village to
investigate their allegations. Palast discovers stinking pits of old oil
drilling residue leaking into drinking water - and meets farmers whose
limbs are covered in pustules.
The Cofan's leader, Emergildo Criollo, tells Palast that when Texaco Oil,
now part of Chevron, came to the village in 1972, it obtained permission
to drill by offering the Indians candy and cheese. The indigenous folk
threw the funny-selling cheese into the jungle.
Criollo says his three-year son died from oil contamination after, "He
went swimming, then began vomiting blood."
Flying out of the rainforest, past the Andes volcanoes, Palast gets the
other side of the story in Ecuador's capitol, Quito. "It's the largest
fraud in history!" asserts Chevron lawyer Jaime Varela reacting to the
Cofan law suits against his company. Chevron-Texaco, Varela insists,
cleaned up all its contaminated oil pits when it abandoned the country
nearly 15 years ago - except those pits it left in the hands of Ecuador's
own state oil company.
What about the Indian kids dying of cancer? Texaco lawyer Rodrigo Perez
asks, "And its 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."
Even if the Indians can prove their case and win billions to clean up the
jungle, collecting the cash is another matter. Chevron has removed all
its assets from Ecuador.
But, this week, the political planet tilts toward the natives as Alberto
Acosta takes office as President of Ecuador's new Constitutional Assembly.
Newsnight catches up with Acosta - who gives Chevron a tongue-lashing.
"Chevron is responsible for environmental and social destruction in the
Amazon. And thats why theyre on trial."
"He LOVES Chavez"
Little Ecuador does not seem like much of a match against big Chevron -
whose revenue exceeds the entire GDP of the Andean nation. However,
behind Little Ecuador is Huge Venezuela - and its larger-than-life leader,
Hugo Chavez. "Acosta," complains one local pundit to the BBC, "loves -
LOVES - Chavez."
And apparently, the feeling is mutual. That is, Chavez sees in Ecuador's
new government, which won election campaigning to the tune of the Twisted
Sister hit, We're Not Gonna Take it Anymore, a new ally in his fight with
George Bush over control of Latin hearts and minds - and energy.
Chevron-Texaco's largest new oil reserves are in Venezuela; Venezuela
stands with Ecuador; and Ecuador now stands with its "affectados," the
Indians and farmers claiming the poisons in their bodies trace right back
to the Texaco star.
Suddenly, the David-versus-Goliath story of Little Indians versus Big Oil
is becoming part of the larger conflict between Uncle Sam and Uncle Hugo.
The outcome is now a cliff-hanger. Indeed, Newsnight has learned that
this month, Chevron will face a new legal challenge by Cofan attorneys
before US securities regulators to investigate whether the company has
fully disclosed to shareholders the massive potential legal liability from
the equatorial Rumble in the Jungle.
Watch the story live on BBC2 or, in the US, on the net at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm after
broadcast - or via a link from http://www.GregPalast.com. WARNING: The
day's news events may require Newsnight to delay broadcast to another
evening.
And this weekend, catch Palast discussing the BBC Report with
environmental crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on RFK's Air America Radio
program, Ring of Fire.
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