Ecuador

From 911Encyclopedia:

In April 2002, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (->) claimed, that there is "a bit of a problem with al-Qaida itself and some Hezbollah elements" in Ecuador's remote jungle region near the borders with Peru and Colombia. Foreign Minister Heinz Moeller immediately responded, that Ecuador knew nothing about the U.S. claims. Ecuador is the second largest producer of oil in Latin America, after Venezuela. Fifty percent of Ecuador's national budget is funded by oil earnings (primarily the U.S. company Texaco and Ecuador's state-run company Petroecuador). Several tribes and environmental groups are still suing the U.S. oil company, Texaco, for $1.5 billion in damages. In Ecuador, drinking, bathing, and fishing water contain toxins much higher than the safety limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Due to many reports, oil companies that drilled in the rain forest were responsible for "felling thousands of acres of trees, dynamiting the earth, spilling vast amounts of oil, destroying habitats, and fouling rivers." Another fight is between the Indians and Dallas- based Maxus Energy Corporation, who was constructing an underground pipeline that will pass through the territory of the Huaorani and Quichua tribes and the Yasuni Park in the Oriente. Indigenous groups are calling for a 15-year moratorium on oil drilling, which would include repairing the environment. Sources and all important cases here: http://www.american.edu/TED/ECUADOR.HTM