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Ecuador: Chevron, plaintiffs seek gains as verdict nears
As a verdict nears in the long-running environmental lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador, both sides are ratcheting up the pressure.
This morning, a man who says oil field contamination in Ecuador's rain forest killed two of his children will try to meet with Chevron's new chief executive officer, John Watson. Together with some of his American supporters, Emergildo Criollo will go first to Watson's home in Lafayette, then to the company's headquarters in San Ramon, carrying with him petitions signed by 325,000 people asking Chevron to settle the suit.
"It's been 16 years of legal process," Criollo said Monday, speaking through an interpreter. "People are still dying. They're sick. So we're really hoping this new CEO takes a new position."
There's little sign, however, that Watson will change the strategy set by his predecessor, David O'Reilly, who retired at the end of last year. Under O'Reilly, Chevron fought hard against the lawsuit, which is slowly playing out in the courthouse of the small Ecuadoran town Lago Agrio.