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Threats Against Julio Prieto

URGENT ACTION                                                      

Ecuador: Fear for safety
PUBLIC     AI Index: AMR 28/005/2006    
08 June 2006
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ECUADOR    
Guadalupe de Heredia (f)
Her family
Dr Alejandro Ponce Villacís (m)                 ]
Dr Pablo Fajardo Mendoza (m)         ] Members of the legal team representing
Ermel Chávez Parra (m)              ] indigenous communities in action
Cármen Allauca (f)                 ] against ChevronTexaco
Luis Yanza (m)                ]

New name:    Julio Marcelo Prieto Méndez (m)

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Six of the people named above are members of a legal team representing
indigenous communities taking legal action against the multinational oil
company ChevronTexaco for failing to clean up the pollution allegedly caused by
decades of drilling in the oil-rich Sucumbios region. Guadalupe de Heredia is
their Press Officer. On 19 May, Julio Marcelo Prieto Méndez’s office was broken
into, in what appears to be the latest attempt to stop him and his colleagues
from carrying out their work. Amnesty International is seriously concerned for
their safety.

In the early hours of 19 May, security guards informed Julio Marcelo Prieto
Méndez that his office, in the capital Quito, had been broken into. Nothing was
apparently taken despite the fact it contained expensive equipment. However,
someone had gone through the paper files. Julio Marcelo Prieto Méndez filed a
complaint with the attorney general’s office in Quito on 28 May. It is not
known if the police have investigated the incident.

In 2005 and 2006 Amnesty International has documented several acts of
intimidation, death threats and attacks against six of those named above. The
organization has also received reports of a previous break-in at the offices of
Alejandro Ponce Villacís. On that occasion the burglars took three computers
and a hard disk, leaving behind other valuable equipment and money.

On 22 December 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the
Ecuadorean government to provide protection to four of the lawyers named above,
Alejandro Ponce Villacís, Pablo Fajardo Mendoza, Ermel Chávez Parra and Luis
Yanza. On 28 April 2006, human rights non governmental organisations (NGOs)
petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to extend existing
precautionary measures to Guadalupe de Heredia. To Amnesty International’s
knowledge the Ecuadorean government has still to provide any of them with
protection.

AI Index: AMR 28/005/2006              
8 June 2006

© Copyright Amnesty International

VANITY FAIR
Jungle Law: Politics & Power

"One of the problems with modern society is that it places more importance on things that have a price than on things that have a value. Breathing clean air, for instance, or having clean water in the rivers, or having legal rights—these are things that don't have a price but have a huge value. Oil does have a price, but its value is much less. And sometimes we make the mistake."

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NEW YORK TIMES
   Rainforest Jekyll & Hyde

"The systematic way that they disposed of toxic waste in Ecuador was to dump it into open-air pits that they dug out of the jungle soil, or directly into rivers, streams and swamps in one of the most delicate ecosystems on the planet"

Myths QA 20SEP06.pdf (55.70 KB)
 
Does Chevron respect the law and human rights in Ecuador? You decide.  On its website Chevron pledges to “conduct business in a socially responsible and ethical manner” and “to respect the communities” where it operates.  But Chevron’s defense in the historic environmental trial in Ecuador’s rainforest (“Lago trial”) – where damages could be in the billions of dollars – can hardly be considered “ethical” or respectful of human rights.

Purveyors of Chevron's Fraud

Rodrigo PEREZ PALLARES

"Children all over the world get cancer"

Rodrigo PEREZ PALLARES

CHEVRON ATTORNEY WHO SIGNED FRAUDULENT CLEAN-UP AGREEMENT ON THE OIL GIANT´S BEHALF THEREBY SELLING OUT THE HEALTH OF HIS OWN PEOPLE. SAYS THAT: "CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD GET CANCER."