Ecuador's Correa plans to ask Unasur to unite against multinationals

[protocol rv]

It seems Correa is upset because Chevron won an arbitration case against Ecuador for $700 million USD, wants the Unasur nations to "unite against the transnationals". I'm not sure this is going to work out for him, because Chevron was one of only two bidders in Venezuela's Carabobo bid round, so I doubt Chavez is about to get Chevron upset when it's the only US company willing to say it's going to invest in Venezuela.

[Peace Patriot]

1. Venezuela just signed EIGHT corporations, from as many countries, to develop the Orinoco Belt

and did so on Venezuela's terms. They are Chevron (U.S), Mitsubishi, Impex (Japan), Repsol (Spain), Petronas (Malaysia), three Indian companies, and ENI (Italy).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x30578

These are in addition to big contracts that the Chavez government just signed with Russia.

--

Putin Signs Accords With Chavez in Venezuela Trip (Update1)
April 02, 2010, 9:32 PM EDT

By Daniel Cancel and Maria Kolesnikova

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed billions of dollars in energy, agriculture and commercial accords with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today in Caracas during his first visit to the OPEC nation.

Under the agreements, a group of Russian energy companies including OAO Gazprom and OAO Lukoil will work with Petroleos de Venezuela SA in an $18 billion project to develop an oil field that will eventually produce 450,000 barrels per day, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters on March 31.

(MORE)

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-02/putin-signs-accords-with-chavez-in-venezuela-trip-update1-.html

-------------------------------------

You are a Venezuelan "tea bagger," "protocol rv"! Your information is completely untrustworthy. You have also yet to apologize for your racist remark about an Indigenous man's testimony against Chevron-Texaco in Ecuador, here...

Comment 36, here: “Indian presenting a complaint?”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x30994

[protocol rv]

2. Like I said, Venezuela won't support Ecuador

Let's go over this again. Ecuador just lost a court case against Chevron, and Chevron was awarded $700 million USD. Correa, the Ecuadorian president, was upset, and called for a union to fight the transnationals - evidently Chevron is a nail in Correa's shoe. But Chavez is being cozy with Chevron, the only US company willing to say it will invest in Venezuela's Carabobo round.

As for the indian presenting a complaint, Chevron won the court case. Which means I was right. A court case can't be won by putting an indian on video. It's necessary to show hard data to make an environmental case stick. And this hard data was lacking, which, as I predicted, led to the Ecuador case falling apart and Chevron's victory. Do you get it? Chevron won the case. And they did because the Ecuadorians didn't have the right information to back their case. Or do you think an international court is going to be moved because you dance around dressed in feathers?

Furthermore, I've been doing some reading about these deals Chavez signs with the oil companies, and I've been asking around. Since I happen to be in Venezuela, and I have my trusty cell phone, I can dial people and ask them what they know, or I can stop by their offices and chat.

And what I'm finding is fairly simple: The government signs deals, but nothing tangible happens. And there doesn't seem to be an intent by neither PDVSA nor the foreign multinationals to execute the projects. How do I know this? Because when a large project is being launched, the company begins to issue notice to potential bidders that it is about to launch tenders for services, and this isn't happening. The other action they take is to begin to hire the personnel they would need for the project, and this isn't happening either. And if they're not looking for people, then this tells me one of two things:

1. The projects are over hyped, and these foreign companies (and PDVSA) don't really plan to spend a lot of money yet - they put their foot in the door and are now waiting to see if Chavez falls. Or maybe it's PDVSA - they don't have the money and the banks won't lend them for the projects.

or

2. They plan to do the work 100 % with foreigners hired without taking bids. This means the projects would be executed at high cost and in a very corrupt manner, in a clear violation of Venezuela's laws.

To me this smells of corruption, and it looks like in many cases these fields are being given to multinationals without the proper bids. In the case of the Russians, there was no tender, which is clearly agaisnt Venezuelan law.

But the Russian case is a special one, I suppose. The way my friends who are in the know tell me, the Russians are working this in a chess match with the US. They are peeing in Obama's backyard so Obama won't pee in theirs. And Obama is peeing in theirs to put pressure on Russia to back the US when they go try to put more sanctions on Iran. And the US wants to put pressure on Iran because the Israel lobby says so.

So here we go around again, it seems poor Venezuela is just a small pawn in a geopolitical game which has its root cause in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Zionist inspired American imperialism. The moment the US and the Russians sort their position vis a vis Iran, Venezuela will become expendable for the Russians. Meanwhile, they get to sell Chavez weapons, and jaw endlessly. And to make matters even worse, we have our own Venezuelan government allowing themselves to be played for chumps. Do you really think Rafael Ramirez was telling the truth when he said the area given to the Russians would be producing 50 thousand barrels per day by the end of the year? That's a lie.

Any more points you care to make? As you know, every time you bring up your faded cut and paste material and mention the indian, you give me the opportunity to respond in my serious and elegant fashion.

[Peace Patriot]

5. "As for the indian presenting a complaint, Chevron won the court case." No, they did NOT win it.

"As the Associated Press reported:

"'(Judge Sand's) ruling does not directly affect the lawsuit Chevron is fighting in Ecuador, where a court-appointed expert has recommended the oil company pay up to $27 billion for environmental damages and related illnesses.' (--AP)

"...the judge's decision has nothing to do with the merits of the case against Chevron and the staggering mountain of evidence that shows Chevron's unambiguous responsibility for massive oil contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This is just Chevron's latest legal maneuver to try to evade responsibility for the toxic legacy it left behind in Ecuador that continues to cause suffering, sickness, and death for men, women and children in the indigenous and campesino communities throughout Ecuador's rainforest region."

http://www.chevroninecuador.com/2010/03/judge-allows-arbitration-in-chevron.html

(my empasis)

-----

There has been NO ruling on the merits of the case, and the ruling for arbitration does NOT affect the lawsuit against Chevron. Even the Associated Pukes say so. And, in fact, Chevron is very likely to lose on the merits. That's WHY they have now tried this "arbitration" ploy--after 17 years of litigation brought by 30,000 Indigenous tribespeople. Chevron would not have tried this maneuver if they thought they were going to win.

You are absolutely wrong that "Chevron won the court case." This is an example of the complete untrustworthiness of your information.

[protocol rv]

6. The Ecuador case doesn't count much

Of course they'll lose the case in Ecuador. The courts are in Correa's pockets, and correa is going after Chevron, period. But I'd like to see them get traction to get Chevron in an impartial setting.

The case that counts is the one in arbitration - and the Ecuadorians lost that. And didn't they have a case in the USA, and had it kicked out of court, right? And what do you think Correa will accomplish with his atempt to go after the multinationals? Chavez is in love with Chevron right now.

[Peace Patriot]

7. You said "Chevron won the court case" They did not. Your information is unreliable,

as are your speculations. Now you've compounded your error, saying that "The case that counts is the one in arbitration - and the Ecuadorians lost." The 30,000 Indigenous who brought the case against Chevron-Texaco 17 years ago lost a mere ruling on arbitration. The ruling does not affect the merits of the case and Chevron-Texaco has not won the case. You said, "As for the indian presenting a complaint, Chevron won the court case." Clearly you are referring to that case--though you keep misrepresenting it as "an Indian presenting a complaint." The horrors that Chevron-Texaco inflicted on THIRTY THOUSAND Indigenous tribespeople and on a swath of the Amazon the size of Rhode Island has been well-documented by many experts. Black toxic goo fills the rivers and streams, seeps up from the soil in black oily pools, poisons the water, has killed off fisheries all the way to Peru and destroyed a way of life, and is causing high rates of spontaneous abortions and cancer. But you are a Chevron apologist and a racist. "An indian presenting a complaint?" is your attitude toward this horrible pollution, which has been commonly referred to as "the rainforest Chernoybl."

[naaman fletcher]

3. What is racist about his remark? I have asked you multiple times and you refuse to explain.

So I have to assume that it's not racist at all.

[protocol rv]

4. Maybe he's is mad at me because I'm pro Palestinian?

He seems to be an American leftist, no? So maybe he's one of those leftists who get mad at people if they oppose the Israelis, and I'm for the Palestinians. I heard one of them almost hit Noam Chomsky when he was giving a speech against Israeli settlements, the poor guy had to duck and run. And it turned out the guy who attacked him was running some kind of left wing newsletter.