The people affected by the oil operations of Texaco are confident that the changing of the President of the Superior Court of Lago Agrio will not stop the process that was initiated under the predecessor on the lawsuit against ChevronTexaco. Various leaders expressed their positions on the judicial process and hope for transparency.
“We have confidence that the new President of the Court will act in agreement with the law and will resolve this case from the proof that has been presented,” said Luis Yanza, Coordinator of the Judicial Process for the Amazon Defense Front, to a local radio station in the Sucumbios Province.
According to Ermel Chavez, President of the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia, “What the affected people hope from the Court is that the case will proceed with clarity and honesty. We will be vigilant about monitoring this.”
On January 7, Dr. Efrain Novillo was elected as the new President of the Superior Court of Lago Agrio, replacing Dr. Alberto Guerra Bastidas. His first priority will be to learn about and then resolve this case, refered in many international newspapers as “the Trial of the Century.” This case will establish a legal precedent through forcing ChevronTexaco to clean and remediate the contaimination created during 26 years of oil operations in the Ecuadorian Amazon which affected some 30,000 people including campesinos and indigenous peoples.
The next step in the legal proceedings is the judicial inspections of the affected areas. The inspections will begin in February once experts to accompany the judge are named.
Lic. Jorge Saritama
Secretary of Media and Communication, FDA
Translated by Amazon Watch
