Amazon Watch Says ''Systemic'' Human Rights Abuses Dominate Chevron Annual General Meeting, Casting Shadow over CEO and Record Profits
Chevron's Victims from Burma, Ecuador and Nigeria Confront CEO
David O'Reilly at Shareholder Meeting
B-Roll and photos of Ecuador pollution and today's protests
available upon request
SAN RAMON, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
In a dramatic face-to-face showdown at Chevron's annual general
meeting, victims of the company's grave human rights abuses from three
continents today told shareholders and senior executives that the oil
major must live up to its corporate rhetoric on human rights and the
environment, and also take decisive action to make amends to the
communities it has devastated.
Community representatives from Burma, Ecuador and Nigeria traveled
for days to participate in the meeting as proxy shareholders, calling
on Chevron CEO David O'Reilly to stop hiding behind lawyers and PR
misinformation, and to recognize and rectify the suffering the company
has caused.
In Burma, revenues from a Chevron pipeline props up the repressive
military dictatorship while pipeline security forces have been accused
of murder, rape and forced labor. In Ecuador, the company is facing a
potential $16 billion damages payout for dumping 18 billion gallons of
toxic wastewater and leaving local communities to suffer a wave of
cancers. In Nigeria, Chevron is accused of massive environmental
contamination and having soldiers shoot and kill peaceful protestors.
Mr. O'Reilly's response today was to deny any wrongdoing by
Chevron and instead blame the victims.
Mercedes Jaramillo, who had traveled by days from her home on a
former Texaco oil concession in the Ecuadorian Amazon, had her
microphone turned off by Mr. O'Reilly who claimed, inaccurately, that
Texaco had cleaned up the area, and attempted to blame Ecuadorian
company PetroEcuador, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority
of the pollution in the area was caused by Texaco, which only handed
over the concession to PetroEcuador once it was largely exhausted. Ms.
Jaramillo is disfigured by a skin ailment doctors have been unable to
diagnose.
Atossa Soltani, Executive Director of Amazon Watch, a US
environmental group working on the Ecuador case, then told the meeting
that Ms. Jaramillo, who lives on a former site supposedly "remediated"
by Chevron, had wanted to say that her skin condition covers most of
her body. Ms. Soltani then asked Mr. O'Reilly how he wants the legacy
of his reign at Chevron to be remembered. "Chevron was the sole
operator," she added, noting that Chevron designed, constructed and
operated the outdated technology that caused devastating toxic
contamination in Ecuador.
For more information and a complete copy of the press release, see
www.chevrontoxico.com.
Amazon Watch
Simeon Tegel, 510-962-0195
or
Mitch Anderson, 415-342-4783
Copyright Business Wire 2008
