Friday, August 28th 2009
“President Rafael Correa presented the tax reform bill as a measure for coping with the international crisis. The initiative has four themes: balancing the external sector, channeling private savings toward investment, promoting social justice, and countering tax evasion.”
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Tuesday, September 7th 2010
An update by the San Francisco Chronicle on the Chevron Ecuador lawsuit: Mired in a $27 billion environmental lawsuit in Ecuador, Chevron Corp. has taken the unusual step of trying to subpoena the other side's lead lawyer, arguing that he has committed fraud upon the court. Chevron persuaded a U.S. federal judge last month to grant a subpoena of Steven Donziger, head of the legal team seeking to hold the company responsible for oil-field contamination in the Ecuadoran rain forest. Donziger's attorneys are trying to quash the subpoena. The move is the latest bare-knuckled legal tactic San Ramon's Chevron has pursued in the 17-year-old case. Since February, the oil company has been filing motions in courts throughout the United States, seeking to depose consultants who worked for Donziger and the plaintiffs' legal team. Chevron even won access to hours of unused footage from a documentary film about the lawsuit. Read More »Tuesday, September 7th 2010
Federal judge sides with Chevron: A federal judge has granted a bid by Chevron Corp. to seek more information from a company that assisted in assessing alleged environmental damage in Ecuador, ruling that the oil giant's request for discovery is urgently needed to aid in the defense of two of its longtime attorneys who are facing criminal charges. Read More »Thursday, September 2nd 2010
Shopfloor.org discusses Petroecuador's oil drilling and spills in the country: In this case, the government-owned operator is Petroecuador, which has continued to develop the Amazon region’s oil resources after ending its consortium with Texaco — later bought by Chevron — in 1992. Santacruz, who recently traveled to the Lago Agrio region in Ecuador, reports the reality ignored by the activists, U.S. trial lawyers and, too often, the U.S. media who report on the litigation: During my visit to the oil spills, I found some reforested sites, others being cleaned up, and just a few crude spills collected in pools. At one site, known as the “Presidential Well” after Correa gave a press conference there, I noticed that the pipelines were warm. Petroleum was being pumped, and the spill was recent — I threw a stone that sank instantly. I had no doubt: Petroecuador is currently operating there. So, how can Correa and environmentalists accuse Texaco of a “pollution 30 times greater than the Exxon-Mobil,” when the company left 20 years ago? Recent data reveal that state-owned Petroecuador has caused 1,415 crude spills between 2000 and 2008, an average of one incident every other day. But environmentalists in Ecuador do not care about Petroecuador and continue to point fingers at Chevron instead. Astonishingly, my country’s ecological disaster does not make the green campaigners blink. State-owned companies’ pollution is simply not on their radar screen. They seem to care not so much about my country’s indigenous people as they do about Chevron’s pockets. Read More »Tuesday, September 7th 2010
China's investments in Ecuador have skyrocketed from $56 million to $5 billion in just the last year: China is ramping up its investment in Ecuador as it looks for opportunities in the South American nation, with bilateral deals this year totaling more than $5billion, an Ecuadorean minister said on Tuesday. Read More »Tuesday, September 7th 2010
Ecuador will sell oil to China, following the agreement to loan Ecuador $1 billion: Finance Minister Patricio Rivera said Friday that Ecuador will sell 36,000 barrels a day of petroleum to China over the next four years. Read More »Friday, September 3rd 2010
More on Ecuador President Rafael Correa's trip to Korea: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa Delgado will visit Korea next week for talks with President Lee Myung-bak, the Korean presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Read More »