Ecuador Movies and Videos

Ecuador Life at Its Purest – 7 minutes

A stunningly beautiful video celebrating the unique beauty of this diverse country where 4 different worlds coexist—the Amazon, the Andes mountains, the Pacific coast and the Galapagos Islands. More animals and plants per square kilometer than any other country in the world.

Highlights the wildlife, cities, natural wonders, waterways and culture. One-fifth of Ecuador is protected park.

Ecuador:  The Tribes vs Chevron-Texaco – 28:44

This film focuses on the movie, “Crude,” whose director Joe Berlinger says, “I’m not a judge or lawyer or scientist.”  He seeks to show a balanced view of the issues involved in the oil contamination.

From the film:  Chevron claims that 40 years ago Texaco helped the Ecuadorian government discover oil and was a partner with Ecuador.  In 1977 Petroecuador was in the majority and in the ‘90’s Texaco spent $40 million to clean up their mess in a government-supervised clean up.  Then Ecuador formally released Texaco from any liability due to its oil operations in Ecuador.

Joe Berlinger:  “There’s no moral justification for what was done originally. . . You don’t go into this pristine rainforest environment and release toxins into the drinking water, into the environment where people have lived in harmony with nature for millennia.  That’s the larger message of the film."

Amazon Watch – “All of us depend upon the rainforest. . . There are both domestic and international  methods to protect for that. . . Indigenous people  have the right to free, prior and informed consent  before anyone comes into their territory to extract resources.  That includes their own government.”

The film points out that while the Correa government is sympathetic to indigenous rights, there are mining laws that contradict principles of the new constitution of Ecuador.  The southern Amazon is awarded to mining concessions.  Sara Latorre , Institute of Ecological and Political Economy in Barcelonia, calls it, “schizophrenia.”

Chevron Texaco:  Ecuador’s Black Plague - 5:16 minutes

Statements from the movie: 8 indigenous nationalities in the Oriente of Ecuador  have been systematically poisoned by Texaco oil operations. 

2.5 million acres of rainforest are devastated.  

Twice the amount of oil spilled by  the Exxon Valdez. 

Texaco left almost 1000 open toxic waste pits.

Death and disease from the dumping has severely affected the native population and contaminated the environment.

A broken pipeline leaked oil into the Napo River for 2 days, turning the river black for 300 kilometers.

Amazon Crude on 60 Minutes – May 04, 2009 – 8:35 minutes

“They treated Ecuador like a trash heap,” reports Doug Feldman, scientific expert for the people suing Exxon.  “It wouldn’t have happened in the United States.”  He shows that pipes were deliberately left to pour into streams for decades, clearly smelling of oil pollution.

Chevron says the responsibility for cleanup belongs to Petroecuador, Ecuador’s state oil company.  They call themselves the “Los Affectados,” the affected ones. Texaco admitted dumping billions of gallons of salty, chemical-laced production water.

Richard Cabrera, an geological engineer hired by the Ecuadorian court, came up with the figure of $27 billion for cleanup, health, new water systems and compensation from cancer deaths.

One Ecuadorian judge will decide the case, based on Texaco’s insistence that the case should be tried in Ecuador.  They won and in 2003 Chevron’s lawyer said the Ecuadorian court didn’t have jurisdiction to try the case.

Ecuador Movie – 1:57 – March 22, 2009 - WEAREtheCHANGE

Beautiful still photographs  and candid shots of Ecuador – its people, habitations, nature.  A glimpse of life in Ecuador.