Quito, Ecuador – A large delegation of indigenous and traditional peoples from Ecuadorian Amazon affected by pollution caused by ChevronTexaco came to Quito today to expose the truth behind ChevronTexaco’s lies about the terrible pollution—and its cultural, social and economic impacts—that face nearly 30,000 people living in two of Ecuador’s eastern provinces.
The delegates visited the Hotel Colon, where ChevronTexaco had planned a breakfast with national press representatives, and cordially asked Texaco’s medical experts to drink the water samples they had brought from the Amazon, which, according to findings by Texaco experts, is not polluted and safe to drink.
ChevronTexaco’s experts and board members could not hide their surprise and annoyance with the delegation’s presence. Rodrigo Peres Pallares, one of ChevronTexaco’s lawyers, made a presentation highlighting their scientists’ findings, which, he stated, proved that the company was being unjustly tried in a court of law. “With this data”, stated Peres, “we are going to demonstrate that Texaco has remedied the situation in the Amazon.”
Dr. Frank Weilbaur, a hematologist with a long and distinguished record in Ecuador who attended the morning event, asserted that he would continue investigating cases of cancer in the Amazon in the National Register of Tumors maintained by SOLCA, the Society Fighting Cancer in Ecuador.
Luis Yanza, the Judicial Coordinator representing the affected communities in their lawsuit against ChevronTexaco, stated that “ChevronTexaco’s doctors and scientists can say whatever they want, but no one can deny that the people of Eastern Ecuador are dying because of Texaco’s pollution. They are bigoted liars, because if the water that we brought from the Amazon is not polluted according to their own scientists, then why didn’t they drink it?”, asked Yanza, who was assaulted by a security guard.
Humberto Piaguaje, leader of the Secoya Nationality, one of the most affected by the pollution, said that he “brought the water so that Texaco’s doctors and lawyers would drink it, but they didn’t, which shows that the water is polluted, and if they did not drink it, then they are liars.”
*Translated by Amazon Watch
