|
Frente de Defensa de la
Amazonia/Amazon Defense Front
| FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE |
2004-01-12 |
Luis Yanza, Coordinator of the Legal
Process, 011-593-097-565-193
Ermel Chavez, President of the FDA, 011-593-62-831-930
New President of
Ecuadorian Superior Court Appointed to Preside over
ChevronTexaco Case in Amazon Region.
The People Affected by Texaco are hopeful with the New
President
The people affected by the oil
operations of Texaco are confident that the changing of
the President of the Superior Court of Lago Agrio will not
stop the process that was initiated under the predecessor
on the lawsuit against ChevronTexaco. Various leaders
expressed their positions on the judicial process and hope
for transparency.
“We have confidence that the new President of the Court
will act in agreement with the law and will resolve this
case from the proof that has been presented,” said Luis
Yanza, Coordinator of the Judicial Process for the Amazon
Defense Front, to a local radio station in the Sucumbios
Province.
According to Ermel Chavez, President of the Frente de
Defensa de la Amazonia, “What the affected people hope
from the Court is that the case will proceed with clarity
and honesty. We will be vigilant about monitoring this.”
On January 7, Dr. Efrain Novillo was elected as the new
President of the Superior Court of Lago Agrio, replacing
Dr. Alberto Guerra Bastidas. His first priority will be to
learn about and then resolve this case, refered in many
international newspapers as “the Trial of the
Century.” This case will establish a legal precedent
through forcing ChevronTexaco to clean and remediate the
contaimination created during 26 years of oil operations
in the Ecuadorian Amazon which affected some 30,000 people
including campesinos and indigenous peoples.
The next step in the legal proceedings is the judicial
inspections of the affected areas. The inspections will
begin in February once experts to accompany the judge are
named.
Lic. Jorge Saritama
Secretary of Media and Communication, FDA
Translated by Amazon Watch
|
