Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin. This is the audio version of each episode of

the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English. You can watch every episode at the Empire a U.S. court handed Chevron Texaco of victory that lets it hide billions

and assets in the U.S. that it owes to indigenous peoples in Ecuador, who have been ruined

by the corporation's intentional polluting of their ecosystem. With this new ruling, the U.S. declared it is now a safe haven for Chevron's

billions. It's the latest win for Chevron as it uses various schemes to reinforce its refusal

to honor the lawsuit at lost in 2011, when it was found liable for nearly $9 billion in damages

to the planet and people.

I went to the Amazon to see for myself what was behind this unprecedented battle,

where one of the richest corporations in the world has been fighting for decades

to avoid returning a fraction of the profits to the land they were recklessly extracted from.

What I found was a story that's largely hidden, but constitutes one of the biggest

environmental disasters in the world, with even bigger implications in regards to corporate

impunity for crimes against humanity and nature in an era of growing unchecked corporate power.

The environmental significance of the Ecuadorian Amazon cannot be overstated.

It has such mind-blowing biodiversity that more species exist in the Amazon basin than anywhere

else on Earth.

It's home to tens of thousands of species of insects, plants, and trees, with double the amount of distinct species of birds than in all of North America.

While in the rainforest, I was mesmerized by the constantly changing array of remarkable flying and crawling creatures.

The region is also rich in cultural diversity.

It's home to thousands of indigenous peoples who have fished, bathed, and drank from its waterways,

living in harmony with the environment for many thousands of years.

But after just 30 years of Texaco's presence, that peace between humans and nature was radically altered.

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