Leaders of Achuar indigenous communities from the Peruvian Amazon addressed the annual shareholder meeting of Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) in Los Angeles today, expressing their hope that Oxy would soon resolve the ongoing issues arising out of its thirty years of oil production in Achuar territory.  EarthRights International (ERI) represents five Achuar communities in the U.S. lawsuit Maynas Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum, which alleges environmental pollution from oil spills and toxic wastewater discharges, as well as heavy metal poisoning which the Achuar believe has resulted from exposure to these toxins.

Gerardo Maynas Hualinga, one of the plaintiffs in the Oxy litigation, traveled from his home in the Corrientes River basin of northwestern Peru to Los Angeles for the annual meeting.  His daughter, Elena Maynas, is one of many Achuar children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, and he joined the lawsuit on her behalf.  Mr. Maynas is now the president of the Federation of Native Communities of the Corrientes (FECONACO), the representative organization for thirty Achuar and other indigenous communities in the Corrientes basin.  He was joined at the shareholder meeting by several Achuar leaders from communities in the neighboring Pastaza River basin, who are themselves now facing the prospect of oil development by Talisman Energy, as well as Lily La Torre Lopez, a Peruvian indigenous rights lawyer.  The U.S.-based NGO Amazon Watch, which is also a plaintiff in the Oxy case, hosted the Achuar leaders.  (Read Amazon Watch's press release.)

After witnessing Oxy's presentation to its shareholders regarding its advanced oil technology, Mr. Maynas highlighted the substandard technology that Oxy used in the Achuar territory.  "I've seen from your presentations here today that Occidental has very good technology, and they use it around the world," he told Oxy's leadership and shareholders.  "Unfortunately, they didn't use that technology in the Peruvian Amazon, and because of this my people are suffering."

The Maynas v. Oxy litigation is currently on appeal to the federal appeals court for the Ninth Circuit, which heard arguments in the case in March.  A Los Angeles federal district court ruled in 2008 that the case should be litigated in Peru, not in the United States, and the Ninth Circuit is currently reviewing that decision.  At the March hearing, ERI's Legal Director Marco Simons argued that the Achuar have a right to seek justice in Oxy's own hometown, and it would not be inconvenient for Oxy to litigate there. (Listen to an audio recording of the argument.)

Oxy's environmental practices in Peru’s Corrientes River Basin, where the Achuar live, were extensively documented in the 2007 report, A Legacy of Harm: Occidental Petroleum in Indigenous Territory in the Peruvian Amazon, which ERI co-authored with the Peruvian indigenous rights organization Racimos de Ungurahui and Amazon Watch.

The Maynas v. Oxy case, No. CV-07-5068, was filed in May 2007.  Along with ERI, the plaintiffs are represented by the Los Angeles firm Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP and San Francisco lawyer Natalie Bridgeman. A decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to be issued in late 2010 or 2011.