Chevron's Desperation, Evidence Tampering, and Insults to Indigenous Culture Growing in Ecuador Tria

[Judi Lynn]

Chevron's Desperation, Evidence Tampering, and Insults to Indigenous Culture Growing in Ecuador Trial, Says Amazon Defense Coalition

Oil Giant's Lawyers Concoct Fake 'Forgery' to Cover Up Their Own Pattern of Unlawful Activity At Trial

QUITO, Ecuador, Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With evidence growing that it has engaged in blatant misconduct to undermine an epic environmental trial in Ecuador, Chevron is now claiming that the fingerprint signatures of mostly illiterate indigenous persons filed years ago with the court as part of the original lawsuit were "forged" and that therefore the 17-year trial should be nullified.

The Chevron forgery claim, which was rejected as "false and desperate" by the plaintiffs, is part of the company's last-ditch scheme to derail an expected adverse judgment based on voluminous scientific evidence that it created the world's worst oil disaster, said Pablo Fajardo, the lead Ecuadorian lawyer on the case.

"This latest allegation demonstrates again that Chevron will stop at nothing to undermine the legitimate legal claims of indigenous persons fighting for their own survival in the face of Chevron's violent and unlawful assault on their culture," said Fajardo, who represents dozens of communities who charge the oil giant dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into their streams and rivers from 1964 to 1992 when it operated in Ecuador.

"The evidence at trial shows that Chevron has engaged in a pattern of unlawful, corrupt, and fraudulent activity in Ecuador over decades and that this activity has destroyed much of the rainforest and killed many of its inhabitants," he said.

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