| "Devela el sentir de las comunidades afectadas por la petrolera Texaco (actualmente Chevron), quienes son enjuiciados por extorsión en cortes norteamericanas. Una muestra clara de racismo y abuso de capital por parte de la multinacional.
Para los abogados de los 30 mil afectados por la contaminación dejada por Texaco-Chevron en Orellana y SucumbÃos, ayer ocurrió algo previsible: Lewis A. Kaplan, juez superior de la Corte Federal para el Distrito Sur de Nueva York, falló a favor de la transnacional dentro del juicio bajo la ley RICO, que -a pedido de la compañÃa- procesaba a los amazónicos ecuatorianos y a sus abogados por supuesto fraude procesal.
Kaplan consideró que la sentencia impuesta por la justicia ecuatoriana por un delito medioambiental, a través de la Corte de SucumbÃos en 2011 y ratificada en todas las instancias contra Chevron, compañÃa que en 2001 compró las acciones de Texaco, se logró por parte de los afectados y sus abogados por medio de una supuesta conspiración.
El juez federal, quien es conocido dentro y fuera de EE.UU. por emitir sentencias polémicas que, por ejemplo, han beneficiado a banqueros y afectado a jubilados, cree que hubo conspiración entre el abogado de los amazónicos en EE.UU., Steven Donziger, y el juez ecuatoriano que en 2011 emitió la condena contra la transnacional, Nicolás Zambrano.
Kaplan, quien en otros juicios igualmente ha sido criticado por ignorar testimonios importantes, tenÃa desde 2010 a cargo el juicio RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), entablado por Chevron contra los indÃgenas y colonos de la AmazonÃa ecuatoriana, a quienes ha tachado de mafiosos, al igual que a sus abogados. (LEA EL FALLO DEL JUEZ KAPLAN EN INGLÉS)
Frente a la decisión del juez estadounidense, uno de los abogados ecuatorianos que representa a los 30 mil amazónicos afectados, Juan Pablo Sáenz, destacó ayer que aquello constituye una burla al Estado de derecho, pero que no servirá para mitigar el riesgo que enfrenta la petrolera ante el inminente cobro de la sentencia dictada en su contra por la justicia ecuatoriana, que finalmente le condenó a pagar 9.500 millones de dólares de indemnización por el daño ambiental."
 Source: http://www.justiceforecuador.com/el-magistrado-kaplan-falla-a-favor-de-chevron/  Â
 U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan  Extracts from Kaplan's RICO judgement, New York, March 3rd 2014 : RICO Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act  "The RICO Statute Applies Here
...
RICO was drafted as a weapon in the fight against organized crime. Some therefore argue that the statute is limited to mobsters of the sort portrayed in The Godfather, Goodfellas, or The Sopranos. That argument is misconceived
...
Hobbs Act extortion, which is a RICO predicate act, requires “obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right†and attempts to do so.1365 As Chevron has not paid the Judgment and nor settled the case, we are concerned here with attempted extortion.
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One of Donziger’s principal objectives from the early days of the Lago Agrio case was to subject Chevron to pressure sufficient to produce a generous settlement prior to judgment. Failing that, his aim was to obtain the largest possible judgment in the hope that the threat of enforcement would bring Chevron to the table or, if that did not occur, that the judgment actually could be collected.
These objectives, of course, are shared by every plaintiff in every lawsuit.
However, this case is far more complicated than this simple proposition. ...
Donziger’s misconduct outside the courthouse went hand in hand with his misconduct within it. Both were parts of an offensive to produce a multi-billion dollar payout.
Donziger’s “brute force†campaign depended largely on his ability to threaten Chevron by portraying the litigation as a likely source of huge liability for the company.
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Evocation of the Exxon Valdez disaster was another such weapon. Donziger’s allegiance to the hyperbolic and highly misleading comparison between the contamination in the Orienté and the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez further demonstrates Donziger’s willingness to disregard the truth in order to inflate Chevron’s perceived exposure. ... The other category of activities designed to pressure Chevron to pay was the use of
the media, NGOs, the disinvestment campaign, celebrity advocacy, lobbying, incitement of official
investigations and inquiries ...
Chevron contends that every act in furtherance of this plan was an act of racketeering activity
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The issue in this case is not what happened in the Orienté more than twenty years ago and who, if anyone, now is responsible for any wrongs then done. The issue here, instead, is whether a court decision was procured by corrupt means, regardless of whether the cause was just.  ...â€
Source: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/chevrondecision.pdf  See also the Chevron RICO Amicus Brief http://www.media-alliance.org/downloads/Motion for Amicus brief-Amazon Watch-2014-0708.pdf  and this article: "Ruling poses serious threat to free speech and democracy" "Chevron and U.S. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan have acted to trample the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens who dare to speak out against human rights abuses, environmental destruction and corporate misdeeds, according to human rights and environmental organizations Amnesty International, Amazon Watch, Friends of the Earth and the Rainforest Action Network, among others". read more.... http://amazonwatch.org/news/2014/0715-human-rights-organizations-file-amicus-brief  | 
