Servindi | Beginning at midnight on Sunday, October 24th, thousands of inhabitants of the upper Marañón basin (Nauta district) began blocking the passage of vessels on this important Amazon river near the community of Puerto Orlando.
All: 2010
Ecuador Bishop Criticizes Chevron for World's Largest Oil-Related Catastrophe
Seeks Assistance of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops As Humanitarian Crisis Worsens
Lago Agrio, Ecuador – In another blow to Chevron's image, a prominent Bishop who lives in the area of Ecuador where Chevron is embroiled in a multi-billion environmental lawsuit, has strongly criticized the oil giant for harming local residents with toxic contamination, it was learned today.
Chevron's Misleading Ad Campaign Ignores Toxic Legacy in Ecuador Rainforest
New Video Provides Devastating Proof of Chevron Toxic Pits in Ecuador
Washington, DC – Chevron's abandonment of hundreds of toxic waste pits in Ecuador is being highlighted in a new video by the environmental group Amazon Watch as leaders of indigenous groups from that country blasted the oil giant for launching a misleading advertising campaign designed to cover up its massive environmental liabilities.
Chevron's Ecuador Cancer Problem: 10,000 People at Risk
Oil Giant Faces Up to $69 Billion in Liability for Potential Cancer Deaths
Almost 10,000 people in Ecuador face a significant risk of contracting cancer in the coming decades due to Chevron's refusal to clean up the billions of gallons of oil waste it dumped into the rain forest, a leading American expert has reported to the Ecuador court where Chevron is a defendant in a multi-billion dollar environmental trial.
Chevron's Lead Ecuador Expert Suffers Major Blow to Credibility
Chevron Hit With $19 Million Judgment After Jury Rejects John Connor's Testimony
John Connor, Chevron's lead American expert in its multi-billion dollar Ecuador environmental trial, suffered a major blow to his credibility when a U.S. jury rejected his testimony and delivered a $19 million judgment against the oil giant for causing mental retardation to several Mississippi residents exposed to its leaking gas tanks, according...
Amazon Watch is building on more than 25 years of radical and effective solidarity with Indigenous peoples across the Amazon Basin.
Chevron Hit Hard In Sworn Testimony Over Massive Ecuador Liability
Gibson Dunn Lawyer Flies Into Panic As American Expert Provides Devastating Evidence
One of Chevron's lawyers at the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher flew into a panic during a recent deposition when an American consulting expert began to testify about the massive quantities of toxins dumped by the oil giant in Ecuador, where Chevron faces a multi-billion dollar legal liability, according to court papers filed recently.
Chevron Misleads U.S. Courts with Inaccurate Translation
Chevron has been submitting an inaccurate and misleading translation to U.S. federal courts as part of its effort to evade liability in the multi-billion dollar Ecuador environmental lawsuit, according to court papers filed recently.
Ecuador President Freed as "Attempted Coup" Quashed
Unrest in Ecuador: Police Strike Pushes Ecuador to Verge of CoupPresident Being Held in Quito Hospital by Rebel Police Officials
As darkness falls on Ecuador's capital city of Quito, the only police presence in the streets is that of a group of insubordinate officers who staged a national police strike today that shattered a recent relative political calm in this Andean nation.
U'wa Return to California
Colombian indigenous leaders from the U'wa people visited friends old and new in San Francisco and Los Angeles in late September of 2010.
Amazon in Focus 2010
In this year’s Amazon in Focus, we are pleased to present to you powerful and insightful articles from our campaigners in the field. The journeys and events that inspired these articles demonstrate the breadth of our work and, at the same time, the depth of our connection to our indigenous partners and the rainforest.
Confronting Climate Change: Voices from the Rainforest
We were crowded around a table in a packed cafeteria, the roar of some 20,000 other COP 15 delegates making my translation job all the harder. I was sitting next to Marlon Santi, president of Ecuador’s powerful national indigenous organization CONAIE. On my left was Tito Puanchir, president of the country’s Amazonian indigenous confederation...
Fish and Oil: Sorrow, Survival and Solidarity in Louisiana’s Bayou
I spent the early summer in southern Louisiana, in a region I had never visited before. There was a sense that something terrible had been occurring there for many years, something that preceded the BP oil disaster, irreversible and wrong.
Violent Clashes in Bagua, Peru: One Year Later
A year has passed since a police operation to end 55 days of peaceful indigenous protests in the Amazon basin resulted in a violent clash between military police and the peaceful protesters in Bagua last June 5, 2009. It was the worst violence Peru has seen in recent history, leaving 34 people dead and almost two hundred injured. As Amazon Watch’s...
Reforming the Inter-American Development Bank
We have learned much from our work around the IDB and other banks and know that there is great potential to influence critical actors through North-South collaborations.
Yasuni-ITT: Oil Change or More of the Same?
The Ishpingo, Tambococha, Tiputini oil fields are Ecuador's largest. According to estimates, they could yield up to 900 million barrels of heavy crude. But in a cruel twist of geologic fate, they happen to lie beneath one of the most biodiverse places on the planet – Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Glacial Retreat: Ecuador's Ticking Environmental Time Bomb
Cayambe's receding ice mass highlights how global warming could leave some of the world's poorest people without water
The Guardian UK | Where, just 25 years ago, there had been a three-kilometre long, 60-metre thick avalanche of ice, tumbling off the peak, we gazed down on bare, black rock. A whole valley once filled with ice was mostly empty. The snout of the glacier was 1,800 ft higher than it had been.
Profile in Courage: Berito Cobaría
Berito burst onto the international scene in 1997, when he first traveled to California to face down Occidental Petroleum. The Los Angeles-based oil company had been scheming to drill for oil on U'wa territory, against the vociferous opposition of the U'wa. Berito's charismatic message inspired Amazon Watch – along with dozens of sister...
Photos from Our 2010 Annual Luncheon
Roberto "Berito" Cobaria and Gilberto Cobaria from the U'wa people of Colombia were our guest speakers. James Cameron joined the luncheon by video to present A Message from Pandora, a special feature about the battle to stop the Belo Monte Dam.
Steven Donziger Response to Chevron's Campaign to Deflect Attention from Its Liability
"Chevron's efforts to smear those acting to hold the oil giant accountable for its criminal misconduct in Ecuador is a long-running tactic of the company. I am the fourth lawyer to represent the Amazonian communities in Ecuador who has been the target of what I believe is abusive legal action by Chevron; this is all part of the company's strategy...
Federal Judge Hits Chevron Over Ecuador Litigation Tactics
Says Oil Giant's Legal Motions Are "Spiraling Out of Control"
A federal magistrate judge in Tennessee told Chevron yesterday that he would sharply limit any further discovery of a scientific consultant for the Amazonian communities suing for the clean-up of what is believed to be the world's worst oil-related disaster, according to court papers in the case.
Chevron Faces Tens of Billions in Clean-up Costs; Potential Death Toll Put at 10,000
Top American Technical Experts Weigh In On High-Profile Damages Case
A group of highly respected American technical and medical experts, using conservative assumptions, have concluded that it could cost Chevron up to tens of billions of dollars to clean up oil waste discharged into Ecuador's rainforest and compensate local communities for the damage it caused over the 26 years it operated a large oil concession...
Brazilian Version Released of the Google Earth Animation on the Belo Monte Monster Dam
Today, a Brazilian version of the powerful 3-D Google Earth video about the Belo Monte Monster Dam was released. Narrated in Portuguese by Brazilian actor Dira Paes, the video will take you on a breathtaking tour of the Xingu River Basin and show you what will happen if this monstrous Belo Monte dam is built.
New Damages Assessments Due Thursday in Ecuador, but Chevron Refusing to Participate
Judge Has More than 100 Expert Reports as Oil Giant Continues to Obstruct Judicial Process
New damages assessments from both Chevron and the Amazonian communities are due in Ecuador's court Thursday, but Chevron has indicated it likely will refuse to participate despite complaining previously it never had the opportunity to submit its own damages report.
Lawsuit Targets Chevron "Dirty Tricks" Operative Over Ecuador Video Corruption Scandal
Chevron's Diego Borja Faces Deposition in U.S. Over Activities In Ecuador
Chevron employee Diego Borja, the oil giant's self-proclaimed "dirty tricks" operative in Ecuador, has been targeted with a subpoena and deposition demand in California where he now lives on Chevron's payroll within miles of its global headquarters, the Los Angeles/San Francisco Daily Journal reported today.
With Discovery Bid, Ecuador Turns Tables On Chevron
San Francisco Daily Journal | The Republic of Ecuador, which has seen its judicial system come under attack by Chevron Corp. in the last year, has taken a strategy from the oil giant's legal playbook in an effort to defend itself in an arbitration in The Hague.
Response to Fortune.com Article
Roger Parloff's legal analysis in Fortune is one-sided and fails to adequately capture the enormous financial risk faced by Chevron in Ecuador, even if one accepts his erroneous theory about fraud regarding an expert damage assessment.
Chevron Fraud Evidence Mounts in Ecuador
Bogus Lab Tests, Threats against Plaintiffs Counsel, Ex Parte Meetings with Judge Paint Nasty Picture of Oil Giant's Litigation Tactics
Evidence of fraud by Chevron is mounting in Ecuador, dealing the oil giant a potentially crippling blow as it faces a potential multi-billion judgment for environmental damage, representatives of the Amazonian communities asserted today. "Chevron's true complaint is not with the Ecuadorian courts, but with the evidence of its own wrongdoing"
"Hero" Lawyer Pablo Fajardo on Taking on Chevron in Ecuador
The Harvard International Law Journal recently published a thoughtful article by Pablo Fajardo, the acclaimed human rights activist and lead counsel for the 30,000 indigenous people and farmers of the Ecuadorian Amazon working to hold American oil giant Chevron (formerly Texaco) accountable for what he calls "serious violations against the...
The September Eye on the Amazon Is Out!
The latest version of our Eye on the Amazon enewsletter is out and online. Among other developments, it highlights the historic agreement the Government of Ecuador has made with the United Nations to create a trust fund in exchange for refraining from drilling for oil in the Yasuni National Park.
