Amazon Indians say Texaco left damage

[Judi Lynn]

Amazon Indians say Texaco left damage

By Gonzalo Solano, Associated Press Writer | October 20, 2005



Cofan women stand near the remains of acontaminated open pit
with oil at the Ecuadorean Amazonian region in the Sucumbios
province, Ecuador,Wednesday, Oct.19, 2005. A lawsuit filed
against Texaco alleges that it chose to save money by dumping
18.5 billion gallons (70 billion liters) of wastewater brought
up during drilling into hundreds of open pits and streams
instead of reinjecting it deep underground. (AP Photo/Dolores
Ochoa R.)


ESTACION GUANTA, Ecuador --About 50 Cofan Indians, some holding handkerchiefs over their faces to fend off an acrid chemical stench, gathered around two contaminated open pits they say were left behind and never adequately cleaned up by the former Texaco Corp.
A 35-year-old Cofan woman stood near one of the black pools. Nearby was a marsh, covered by a dense layer of crude and toxic waste that the Cofan Indians say seeped into streams and rivers used for drinking water by almost half of their 900 people, driving them from the area.

"We are poor people. We want to show the environmental damage from Texaco," Edita Requalme, dressed in a brightly colored traditional blouse and skirt, said in broken Spanish on Wednesday. "Contaminated water makes us ill. It causes skin problems and even miscarriages."

An older Cofan woman, who identified herself only as Laura, added: "We have no animals. We have no land. Everything dies."

A long-running oil-contamination lawsuit, brought by 88 people representing 30,000 poor jungle settlers and Amazon Indians, opened in Ecuador in October 2003 after a decade of winding through U.S. courts.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2005/10/20/amazon_indians_say_texaco_left_damage/

[acmavm]

1. That's the American oil industry for you. Their damn kids don't have to

live there, so screw it. The rest of the world owes them the good life, lots of money, a really great job, the best of food. So what if it's done at some poor person's expense. Who are they to even question the American elite, the corporate executive? Why how dare they?

This country is just so amazingly screwed up.

[slor]

2. Arrest all of those mother fuckers!

and then throw them into that pit! What the fuck is wrong with people, when will too much money be enough for these greedy idiots.

[pinniped]

3. PBS aired a show on oil and showed some of the destruction...

these greedy oil companies did.

[fasttense]

4. Texaco, making billions at the expense of the poor.

I hope these execs feel real proud of themselves. You know they are all getting bonuses. Behind every great fortune is a great crime. It's great to be an American serf.