Little Indians, Big Oil

BBC Newsnight has been able to get rare footage of a new Cofan Indian ritual deep in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest.
Known as "The Filing of the Law Suit," these natives of Ecuador's jungle, decked in feathers and war paint and heavily armed with lawyers, are seen presenting their official complaint seeking $12bn from Chevron Inc - the international oil giant

Greg Palast reports

Read it here

And don't forget to click the link under the picture of the Indians to see Greg's typical Investigative Noir film,

or watch the film on Democracy Now on a better screen and including an interview with Greg and Rafael Correa.

Oh That Rafael Correa, What a Card!!!

Ecuador wants military base in Miami
Mon Oct 22, 2007By Phil StewartNAPLES (Reuters) -

Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa said Washington must let him open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador's Pacific coast. Correa has refused to renew Washington's lease on the Manta air base, set to expire in 2009. U.S. officials say it is vital for counter-narcotics surveillance operations on Pacific drug-running routes."We'll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami -- an Ecuadorean base," Correa said in an interview during a trip to Italy."If there's no problem having foreign soldiers on a country's soil, surely they'll let us have an Ecuadorean base in the United States." The U.S. embassy to Ecuador says on its Web site that anti-narcotics flights from Manta gathered information behind more than 60 percent of illegal drug seizures on the high seas of the Eastern Pacific last year.It offers a fact-sheet on the base at: http://ecuador.usembassy.gov/topics_of_interest/manta-fol.htmlCorrea, a popular leftist economist, had promised to cut off his arm before extending the lease that ends in 2009 and has called U.S. President George W. Bush a "dimwit".But Correa, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, told Reuters he believed relations with the United States were "excellent" despite the base closing. He rejected the idea that the episode reflected on U.S. ties at all."This is the only North American military base in South America," he said."So, then the other South American countries don't have good relations with the United States because they don't have military bases? That doesn't make any sense."