At this point, Chevron’s legal strategy in Ecuador has been described many ways: it’s been called a “smear campaign,” it uses “scorched earth tactics,” it amounts to what you might call a “kitchen sink defense,” it adds “insult to injury” for the Ecuadorean plaintiffs. But the company’s latest maneuver is really the most egregious intimidation tactic we’ve seen yet — Chevron has given up on arguing on the basis of evidence altogether, and is just trying to bully its way out of its responsibility to clean up the Ecuadorean rainforest.
I refer, of course, to the RICO lawsuit Chevron filed against the plaintiffs in Ecuador who filed the original lawsuit — the one Chevron is trying to distract all our attention from — to force the company to clean up its 18 billion gallons of toxic oil waste in the Ecuadorean Amazon.
The video below is of several victims of Chevron’s contamination learning that, of all things, they are now being sued by Chevron. These people are all from the Kichwa village of Rumipamba. (The video is all in Spanish and Kichwa, but there are English subtitles. Transcript below).
[youtube dKoBo8nY5aY 550]
Please help us spread this video. These are the people Chevron is trying to smear, people who have been injured and now insulted by Chevron. It’s time we all stand up to Big Oil — we can’t let companies like Chevron get away with poisoning this Kichwa community, or any community.
Transcript of the video is as follows:
Speaker: Look brothers and sisters this document has come from the United States. This is the lawsuit they have filed against us, the plaintiffs. Here is everything they have sent from there.
Here are our names, brothers and sisters, as you will see.
So that you see that this is real, you’ll see our names here, we’re listed here. What we’re seeing are these names:
Here is: Maria Aguinda Salazar, you’re named here too, sued by Texaco.
Carlos Grefa Huatatoca, you’re being sued as well.
Catalina Antonia Aguinda Salazar, you’re also being sued.
Lidia Alexandra Aguinda Aguinda, being sued.
Patricio Alberto Chimbo Yumbo, also being sued.
Clide Ramiro Aguinda Aguinda, from what I’m reading here, also being sued.
Luis Armando Chimbo Yumbo, Beatriz Mercedes Grefa Tanguila, also being sued.
Brother Lucio Enrique Grefa Tanguila, also being sued, but he’s not here.
Patricio Wilson Aguinda Aguinda, also being sued.
These are our brothers and sisters from this region, from this area, from this community of Rumipamba.
There are a whole lot of other people listed here but they are from different communities, from different regions who are also being sued.
They also live in the region, in the affected area.
So that’s what we’re seeing brothers and sisters…
Now we have to stay alert so that we can fight this.
All together in Kichwa: We reject this! We reject this! We reject this!