Environmentalists from several Latin American countries filed a
lawsuit against BP in early December. The suit, brought to Ecuador’s
Constitutional Court, is seeking damages from the April 20 Deepwater
Horizon oil rig explosion.
Ecuadorian law grants universal
jurisdiction to courts, giving them power over foreign corporations. The
law recognizes that, as Nnimmo Bassey, president of Friends of the
Earth International in Nigeria, told media: “Polluters don’t respect
national boundaries.” (upsidedownworld.org, Nov. 30)
The
plaintiffs also cited Article 71 of the country’s constitution, which
gives inalienable rights to tropical forests, islands, rivers and air.
The unprecedented provisions state that “natural communities and
ecosystems possess the inalienable right to exist, flourish and evolve
within Ecuador.”
As popular movements continue to make sweeping
change in Latin America, the protection of the environment from
capitalist, imperialist destruction has gained increasing support.
Likewise, environmental rights have gained traction in Ecuador since the
election of Rafael Correa in 2007.
Plaintiffs are demanding full
disclosure of all information relating to the oil spill. The U.S.
government has assisted BP in preventing such a disclosure.
