The U.S.-based oil company Chevron now says it has evidence of a “bribery scheme” linked to the $27 billion lawsuit the company currently faces in Ecuador. Both the New York Times and Washington Post have lead reports on the matter this morning. The Times says that businessmen using “pens and watches implanted with bugging devices” appear to have captured suspicious talks among some top Ecuadorean officials—including the top judge in the case and the sister of President Rafael Correa. The discussions include the idea of distributing $3 million in kickbacks to certain political operatives in the country, including the president’s own party, were Chevron to lose perhaps the most high profile environmental damages case ever. Chevron released the recordings, which show the judge in the case saying he planned to rule against the oil giant by January, on its website Monday. Thus far, those representing the plaintiffs have rejected the veracity of the recordings. “I suspect this is a Chevron sting operation; there needs to be an investigation into Chevron’s role in this as much as the judge’s. I find it awfully odd that these individuals would secretly film meetings using James Bond devices like a spy watch and a spy pen,” said plaintiffs’ lawyer Steven Donzinger. The Post adds to the reporting, writing that in one recording, Rafael Correa’s aide, Patricio Garcia, suggests that “lawyers from the executive branch had been sent to help the judge write his decision” in the Chevron case. The two men who provided the recordings are a Chevron logistics coordinator who is Ecuadorean and an American man with apparently no link to Chevron.
Also this morning, both the NYT and Wall Street Journal report on new oil policy changes being proposed by Brazil’s Lula da Silva that would assign that country’s state oil company a primary role in new oil field development. The NYT writes “the country’s new regulatory framework represents a nationalistic shift for Brazil,” as the South American country seeks to double its oil field reserves through the development of more deep sea fields off its coast. Lula called the new oil policy proposal a “New Independence Day” for his country as private companies would become “subservient” to Petrobras, in the NYT’s words. Lula also said he hopes to spend newfound oil wealth on education and poverty programs in his country. The goal is to “make Brazil become richer, more developed, from the scientific point of view, from the educational point of view, from the point of view of social policies. All of this because of oil,” the WSJ quotes Lula as saying. The plan still requires congressional approval, however, before going into effect.
It has been another quiet news day from Honduras. Reuters reports that close Zelaya ally, Hugo Chavez, is now conceding that a reinstallation of Mel Zelaya to the Honduran presidency seems unlikely. “Regardless of whether Zelaya returns or not, and really, at this point, that's hard to imagine, Honduras will keep up the fight,” Chavez told Venezuelan television via telephone from Libya. But Reuters also notes that Zelaya is expected to be in Washington, D.C. today to meet with the OAS. [VOA adds that these meetings will include face time with Sec. General José Miguel Insulza, followed by talks with U.S. officials later in the week.] And the Spanish news agency, EFE, adds that the U.S. will announce its official statement on whether the toppling of Zelaya constituted a “military coup” sometime this week as well (most likely today or tomorrow). Such a statement thus would correspond with the Zelaya visit and would end all direct aid to Honduras, including “the operations of the 600 soldiers stationed at the Soto Cano” base in the country, says EFE.
In other items of news, the AP says Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe seems to be getting over the case of swine flu that he contracted, but it appears his defense minister Gabriel Silva may now be showing symptoms of the virus. On more substantive matters, the Miami Herald offers an interesting piece about how security gains in the country have made Colombia safer for biking enthusiasts. On Cuba, OAS Sec. Gen. Insulza also answered questions about the island Monday, telling reporters he doubted that Cuba would choose to return to the inter-American body anytime soon. “We hope they will do so, but we don't think that they will do so in the near future,” he remarked. The Miami Herald adds that neither is it likely that the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba will be ending anytime soon. “President Obama's decision in April to lift the limit on visits by Cuban Americans to their homeland was seen by some as a sign that the embargo, centerpiece of U.S. efforts to isolate the island, might be nearing its final days But, “Don't count on it,” says the Herald’s Lesley Clark in a piece that interviews a number of D.C. Cuba experts and congressional members. And the LA Times reports on a new Oliver Stone film, “South of the Border,” that makes its debut at a Venice film festival this week. Stone says his intention with the film was to “supply a counterpoint to the prevailing U.S. image of [Hugo] Chávez, who's frequently represented in stateside op-ed pieces and political cartoons as a bellicose dictator-cum-comic opera figure.”
Finally, an opinion worth reading in the Miami Herald by conservative writer Carlos Alberto Montaner who argues that Latin American countries are far from establishing a tradition of fairness and justice in legal proceedings. “Few Latin American countries are exempt from [these] judicial vendettas. The victor attempts to liquidate the vanquished. In those nations, the law is not an instrument to regulate civilized coexistence but a mace to crush the adversary's head,” he argues.
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