ECUADOR: Indigenous groups lose appeal against TEXACO

Several Ecuadorean indigenous organizations, including the Asociación Interétnica de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP), Organización Kichuaruna Wangurina-Orkiwuan, Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Medio Napo (FECONAMN) and the Federación del Pueblo Yagua del Bajo Amazonas y Bajo Napo (FEPYBABAM), have lost an appeal in their nine year-old case against TEXACO, Inc. The plaintiffs allege that extensive property and environmental damage and increased risks of cancer and other diseases have resulted from TEXACO’s operations in their region. The United States Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling dismissing two class-action lawsuits on the grounds that “the United States was not the proper place for the litigation, and that Ecuador would be a more convenient location.”