WEBVTT - La Lucha En La Jungla: Pollution in the Amazon 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:26.200 Zoi. Houstina piaguahe president La Nacia Masoni Guadiana. 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:31.560 Houstino Pia Guage was born here in the Amazon. His 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:35.559 father led the Seco Pie nation sometimes referred to as 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:39.160 the Sequoia, and now that job has fallen to Houstino 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.960 and some of his brothers. The Seco Pie's ancestral home 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.639 was splintered by a war between Peru and Ecuador. If 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.200 you're not super up on your South American geography, Peru 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.760 is on the west coast of South America, ecuadors to 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.920 the north of it, Colombia is north of Ecuador, and 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.400 Venezuela is just around the bend further north. All of 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.000 these countries are to the west of Brazil. A lot 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:06.000 of times when people hear Amazon, they think Brazil, but 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.120 the Amazon actually crosses into several other countries. There are 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:15.160 less than seven hundred and fifty people left in Ustino's tribe, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.840 and they're currently under very serious threat from COVID nineteen. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.360 Several have sought refuge in the Amazon, but they may 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.800 struggle to find clean water there. 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:37.520 Rio Aguarico as a Impostexaco. 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.600 With Tiero Petroleo. 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.640 This is a video of Hustino on YouTube. He's standing 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.760 on a bridge over a huge rushing river and he's saying, 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.560 this river, the Aguarico River. Long ago, when they were 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.640 exploring for petroleum, the oil companies dumped thousands of barrels 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.440 of oil into it. 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:55.320 Bi piero. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:03.320 Pianos the aliments. 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:07.920 They dumped toxic water into this river. He means wastewater 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.720 from oil and gastriline into this river that for thousands 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:13.840 of years nourished us. 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:22.440 Joso testigo, the komasido victima, norahente senuer to the cancerdades 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:27.959 non podido aliment is a emoc and bossy. 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.840 I am a witness to how our people have been victimized. 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.680 They have died of cancer, they have died of disease, 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.000 they have not been able to eat well, and that 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:40.000 continues today in Latin America. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.920 Ecuador is seeing one of the world's worst coronavirus outbreaks, 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:45.520 with possibly thousands dead. 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.880 But that on top of various ongoing health issues. Ecuador 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.200 has been a global hotspot during the COVID nineteen pandemic. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.320 Some Psycopi elders have already died from the disease. To 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.040 access clean water and avoid further content act with the virus. 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.799 Houstino and his tribe have been venturing further and further 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.880 into their ancestral lands deep in the Amazon. But those 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.880 lands are surrounded on all sides by oil fields, and 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.040 because they've been breathing air polluted by oil and gas 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.680 refineries and of course cars and other factories too for 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.600 the past few decades, these people are more likely to 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:27.880 die if they do catch the virus. Quarantine looks really different. 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.720 If to really be safe, you have to hide deep 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.720 in the jungle and hope no one dumps oil or 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:50.880 wastewater into the river you drink from. Meanwhile, three thousand 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:55.760 miles away in Manhattan, quarantine also looks really different. For 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.720 Steven Donziger, Hey, yeah. 0:03:58.600 --> 0:03:59.760 Can you give me one minute? 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.200 Yeah, yeah, go for it. Donziger is talking to me 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:07.040 from his two bedroom apartment in Manhattan. We spent May 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.640 and June talking every weekend by zoom him, me and 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.440 my co reporter on this season, Karen Savage. 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:15.440 Hi, Karen, Hey, how are you. 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:16.559 I'm good? 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:17.040 How are you? 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:23.159 I'm good? Back in Boston? Yep, Sorry about that. 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.240 He liked to leave the video on and would spend 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.680 the majority of our time kind of hanging his head 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.680 out the window trying to get fresh air and sunshine. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.760 He's got all the clean water he needs, but sun 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:36.719 and air are hard to come by. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.640 Everyone goes outside, even with the pandemic and with a 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:42.520 face mask in New York right now, and they go 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:44.799 walk in or get exercise or walk in the park. 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:46.360 But I can't do that. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:50.000 Well, we were all calling quarantine lockdown. This year, Donziger 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.119 has literally been on lockdown. He's been on house arrest 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.080 for over a year at this point. To leave his apartment, 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.400 he has to submit a request to the court forty 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.400 eight hours in advance and then provide documentation of where 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.200 he's gone. We'll find out why and what that has 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:07.800 to do with a river in the Amazon. After this 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:16.480 quick break, I want to recommend one of my favorite 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.360 podcasts to you, In the Dark. In the Dark investigates 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.240 critical stories that might not otherwise be told. The second 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:29.080 season covered Curtis Flowers, a black man tried six times 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.000 for the same crime, and Doug Evans, the Mississippi prosecutor 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.479 determined to see him executed. In the Dark's team of 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.159 reporters revealed new facts and evidence which proved pivotal in 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:46.240 the Supreme Court's decision to hear Flowers's case this past spring. Recently, 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.920 the state of Mississippi announced that it will drop all 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.239 charges and not seek a seventh trial in the case. 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.800 Against incredible odds. Flowers is a free man. You can 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.440 listen to in the dark wherever you listen to podcasts 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.480 him Amy Westervelt. Welcome back to Drilled. This is season five. 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.679 L Lucha and La Humbla The Rumble in the Jungle. 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.800 The judge in Ecuador has ordered the oil company Chevron 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.120 to pay more than nine billion dollars in damages and 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.240 other costs. It's the result of a long running lawsuit 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.880 involving pollution in the Amazon Jungle. The damages are more 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:37.600 than exon. 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.360 Back in twenty eleven, Stephen Donziger helped win a big 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.359 case against the oil giant Chevron. As a result, Chevron 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.520 was ordered to pay more than nine billion dollars to 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.080 clean up waste pits of oil and refining fluids left 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.280 in the Ecuadorian Amazon by Texico, the company's Chevron acquired 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.640 in two thousand. But the case didn't end there. Back 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.280 in the ub Us, Chevron took Donziger and the other 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:06.280 lawyers to civil court, finding a racketeering case against them, 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:09.880 otherwise known as a Rico case, and accusing them of fraud. 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.840 Donziger and the other attorneys lost that case back in 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:18.200 twenty fourteen. Put in twenty eighteen, the judge that Rico 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:19.960 case came after him. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:22.640 He ordered me to turn over my computer and cell 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.200 phone to Chevron's lawyers in the middle of a litigation. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.320 And it's sort of like, you know, asking a laurier 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.120 to turn over his or her confidential case file to 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.720 your adversary council right in the middle of a litigation. 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.600 It's obviously a major intrusion into my rights, into the 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:44.080 rights of my clients who are entitled to have confidentiality 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.360 with their lawyer. And I just felt like it was 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.280 an illegal order. So I told them, like, you know, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:58.240 I can't turn this over without violating my ethical duties 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:02.960 to myself to my clients in Ecuador. So I'm going 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:03.760 to appeal it. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.360 Donziger was in the process of filing that appeal when 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:08.920 he heard from the judge again. 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.920 So what happened was I was up in Toronto working 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.040 with the legal team for the Ecuadorians in Canada, because 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.000 that's the country, where there's a lot of work being 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:23.119 done to enforce the judgment against Chevron internationally, and over 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.560 my computer, it came a notification that this judge should 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:31.880 charge me with crimes. I was shocked, to say the least, 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.400 and he had ordered me to appear in court I think. 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.240 A week later, Judge Kaplan charged him with criminal contempt, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.560 but in conjunction with a civil case. So while the 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.240 original case could result in fines, this one could actually 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:46.720 land Donziger in jail. 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:51.280 Basically, there's no statute for it. You know. It's not 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.600 like assault or a burglary or a murder. It's basically, 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:59.880 if a judge decides that a person, a lawyer who 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:06.120 practicing before him, treats the court with disrespect or somehow 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.880 doesn't comply with an order that the judge feels is 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.120 in a sufficient kind of way, the judge can actually 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.080 take that, on his or her own relition, with no 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.080 check on his or her power, can charge a lawyer 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.680 with a crime. That's an awesome, enormous power that is 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.200 easily subject, in my view, to abuse. 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.000 Caplin, a senior US district judge for the Southern District 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.680 of New York, has charged Donziger with contempt for refusing 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.520 to hand over his files and for a few other 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.240 things that we'll get to in future episodes. When he 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.679 got back from Canada a few days after this trip 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.080 he was on, Donziger headed to court intending to ask 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:47.839 for a couple of weeks to give him time to 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.760 hire a lawyer. He thought it would be a pretty straightforward, 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.680 administrative thing. His wife and a couple of friends came 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:54.880 with him. 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.040 The first day. I walked into court in August six 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.760 with my wife and a couple of friends, and I 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.360 was like, you know, this is going to be like 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.560 no problem. I mean, you know, I've been coming to 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.760 court for ten years in this courthouse, and I'm a lawyer, 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.800 and you know I've never committed a crime, and you 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:16.439 know they're just gonna I'm just gonna ask for two 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.320 weeks so I can figure out how to hire a lawyer, 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:20.000 and then we'll come back and we'll figure out what 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.839 we're going to do instead. I realized pretty quickly there 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.040 was like this thing in the air, the hostility of 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:31.040 like the judge and her clerks and the court personnel. 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:34.800 So when a judge like Caplin charges a lawyer with 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:39.760 criminal contempt. They're not allowed to oversee that case themselves. Instead, 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:43.360 another judge is supposed to be selected at random. This 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:46.160 is to cut down on any personal animals or bias 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.479 a judge might have against a lawyer who has disrespected 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:53.839 him or his court. Donziger has accused Caplain of hand 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:57.199 picking the judge for his case. Her name is Loretta Presca. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.840 She's a fellow of the Federalist Society, just like Kaplin 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.320 and Donziger thinks it's all suspicious. Here he is again. 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:09.520 They subjected me to an interview with what's called a 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.040 pretrial Services officer, which is an office and office in 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:17.480 the courthouse that interviews are people charged with crimes to 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.440 determine what their conditions or release and any should be. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.719 And they assess your financial assets and your likelihood that 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.360 you're going to flee. And they were treating me like 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:31.320 I was just like a criminal. They require me to 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.160 give up my passport and like, did you have your 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.839 passport on you or did you No? No, I didn't, 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:38.920 I didn't They They what they do is they give 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.439 you a few days to comply, with the threat of 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:44.880 jail hanging over you if you don't comply. And I mean, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.000 obviously I'm going to give up my passport a order 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.760 by the court. And also I had no lawyer. You know, 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.240 I'm not a criminal defense lawyer, and just because you're 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.800 a lawyer doesn't mean you're a good lawyer for every 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.840 situation by any means. And I needed a lawyer, and 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.000 I told the judge I really don't want to do 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.560 anything without a lawyer. So she found a lawyer for 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.120 me in the courthouse who agreed to represent me just 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.360 for purposes of part of this what's called an arraignment. 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.559 So I had to wait for him to show up. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.280 So this is all happening behind the scenes in the 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:22.199 offices of the courthouse. Meanwhile, Donziger's wife and friends are 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.320 waiting for him, and time is passing and everyone is 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.800 just starting to get really worried. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.040 And I remember we went back to this to the 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.880 jury room, which was empty so we could have some privacy, 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.560 and he looked at me and he goes, he goes, 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.199 You're living a nightmare. And you know, when I walked 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.360 back to that jury room, I passed my wife who 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:49.600 was sitting in the gallery, you know, completely flipped out, 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.240 and she was with a good friend of mine Karen Hinton, 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.600 and I mouthed to them, I said, I think they're 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.800 going to try to put me in jail today. 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.000 At this point, Donziger's memory of this day starts to 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.000 get a little hazy, the way your memory does when 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.600 you're in an incredibly stressful situation. He doesn't remember much 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.920 about standing in front of the judge, but he does 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:14.320 remember the prosecutor. 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.920 There was a prosecutor. There actually three of them. And 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:22.240 this was another very bizarre feature, I think unprecedented, was 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:27.400 the judge Caplan's criminal charges, who first took them to 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.320 the US Attorney's Office in New York. That's the office 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.720 that was the regular prosecutor, and they looked at the 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.880 charges and refused to prosecute the charges, you know, which 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.600 I think speaks volumes about whether they're worthy. Instead, he 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.080 appointed a private law firm, that is, he went to 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.880 a corporate law firm and said, you'd be the prosecutor. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.320 I'll use my inherent power as a US judge to 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:56.120 let you act as the US government. The firm was 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:57.640 called Seward and Kissel. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.920 By the time he left that courtroom, Donziger was terrified 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:03.280 and in a daze. 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:05.240 Basically, they said I had to put up an eight 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.040 hundred thousand dollars bomb, give up my passport, and wear 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.440 an ankle bracelet twenty four to seven and not leave 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.040 my apartment. I was so freaked out. Like by the 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.320 time I walked out of court to go get my 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:23.400 ankle bracelet, I almost was just relieved to be going home, right, 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:26.520 And they could have put me in handcuffs, ankle bracelet 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.720 and shacks, and like I would have been in a 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:31.840 weird way relief to just go to my house. Man, 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.200 I needed to get the hell out of there and 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:38.120 get home and just regroup and get a lawyer and 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.520 figure out my next step. So you know, I then 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:44.520 had to go to this office and I had to 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:46.920 wait around and I got fitted with an ankle bracelet 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:48.600 and fingerprinted. 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.440 Then he had to go straight home, no lunch, no 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:52.600 stops along the way. 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:54.840 You know. We finally got out of there like two 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.520 hours later. You know, the hearing had been at ten am, 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.560 so you know, he finally maybe left the court at 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:06.840 one o'clock. And from that point on I had not 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.400 been a free man, Like I couldn't go grab lunch. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:15.240 I had to go right to the subway. I had 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.720 to sort of be that person with an ankle bracelet, 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.760 so you're always aware of the subway whether your pants 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:23.840 are covering your bracelet, which is the bottom of your leg. 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:25.280 People were good at funny. 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.840 That relief he felt to be going home was pretty 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.640 quickly replaced by a panic. He still had to come 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:35.480 up with eight hundred thousand dollars or he'd be put 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.200 in jail, and the judge had given him one week 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.520 to come up with that money. He decided to put 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.440 his apartment up as the bond, and the court accepted that, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:45.400 so he was in the clear. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:50.080 About a week later, Chevron, as I said, their lawyers 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.800 were in court and monitoring my criminal case. So on 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:57.600 the civil reco case, they had convinced Catherine to impose 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:01.440 court costs on me to cover some of their costs. So, 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.360 in addition trying to destroy my reputation, trying to take 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.520 all my money, freeze my bank accounts, and then ultimately 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.280 deprive me of my liberty. So it's part of the 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.920 financial feature of the attack. Chevron had prior to my 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.720 appearance in the criminal contempt case, they had gotten a 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:23.840 eight hundred thousand dollars cost order against me from Judge 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.360 kaplan to pay some of their court costs in any event, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.840 when I hosted the bond secured by my apartment, suddenly 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:36.000 the prosecutor showed up with a new letter saying we're 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:40.960 concerned about it because Chevron has some sort of notice 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.560 of lean on his apartment because of this eight hundred 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.680 thousand dollars cost order that Capitain had issued against me 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.080 like a year or two before. And they said that 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:55.040 as a result, that apartment is not unencumbered and it's 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.640 it's not adequate to post the bond because Chevron has 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.480 a claim on my apartment. So the judge get appointed 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.720 by Kapitla immediately issues in order agreeing with the prostitute 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.240 are giving me forty eight hours to find a substitute bond. 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.240 This stressed me out when Donziger told me about it, 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.400 and it stresses me out again just listening to it. 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.960 If you've ever worried about how you're going to pay 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:27.119 rent or a medical bill or grocery bill, the idea 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.160 of having forty eight hours to come up with eight 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:35.640 hundred thousand dollars or you're going to jail. Wow. And 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:39.040 just a note here that of course, this happens all 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.040 throughout our criminal justice system. There are people sitting in 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.959 jails all over the country right now because they couldn't 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:49.320 afford a bond. Whether it's eight hundred dollars or eight 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.360 hundred thousand dollars, it's a terrible situation to be in. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.040 So at this point, Donziger is having a full blown 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:56.919 panic attack. 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.880 I wrote an email and based we put it out 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:09.719 there and explain the exact situation, and I sent it 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.440 out to five people. It's probably eight o'clock at night, 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:20.600 and the most bizarre thing happened. I got a phone 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:25.200 call ten minutes later. Wow, from a man who lives 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:31.600 in San Francisco that I've known for twenty twenty five years. 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.800 He's probably before this happened. He was one of the 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.960 people I admire most in the world. He's done a 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.560 lot of work in equital for indigenous peoples. And he 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:49.040 called me up and with like literally no questions asked, 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:50.080 he says, I'll do it. 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:51.200 Wow. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.879 I mean, honestly, just thinking about it, you know, it 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:00.639 brings tears to my eyes because well, it's sort of 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:05.040 hard to explain, like when you're really down, yeah, and 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:12.520 you put out a plea to the world, and it 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:18.720 just kind of reinforces your faith because you know, most 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.040 people give a shit, they really care. 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:33.439 So he avoided jail, but he can't set foot outside 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.760 his apartment door without his ankle bracelet going off. And 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.040 like I said before, if he wants to leave the apartment, 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.120 he has to request permission forty eight hours in advance, 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.760 and it might not be granted. It's not an automatic thing. 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.400 I'm tracked twenty four to seven even around my own apartment. 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:53.760 My ankle bracelet, which kind of is very big and 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:58.160 feels like a garage door opener, you know, on my ankle. 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.359 I call it the black claw. It talks to me 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.359 sometimes wakes me and my wife up in the middle 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:09.200 of the night when the battery runs low. It says 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:13.600 this weird kind of Caucasian male voice that's taped comes 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.600 on and it says, uh, something like I've heard it 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.560 so many times. I getected exactly right now, but it 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:29.960 says something like battery low recharge unit, battery low recharge unit. 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.439 And it just keeps repeating it over and over, so 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.240 you know, I have to get up and go. There's 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.760 a base where the battery the other batteries charging it 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:41.640 have to change the battery in the middle of the night. 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.840 But the crazy part about that, I mean, you know 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:47.320 that might happen once every couple of weeks when I 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.000 don't get the timing right or the battery didn't charge right. 0:20:50.960 --> 0:20:53.439 But like literally every night I go to bed like 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.760 worried it's going to happen again. 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.760 Donziger has still not had a trial. The charge against 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.080 him is a mist to mean. He's been on house 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.600 arrest for more than a year. I spoke with him 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.159 just a few days before his trial is supposed to happen. 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:10.880 He's been asking for it to be postponed again because 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.280 the COVID restrictions make it impossible for his lawyers to 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.239 show up. There's been a hole back and forth. The 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.640 court seems to be pretty intent on pushing the trial forward, 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.720 and Donziger is really really worried that their whole goal 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:26.320 is to just put him in jail. 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:31.520 Oh right now, it's the week before labor d eight, twenty. 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:37.480 Twenty, and I have my criminal contempt trial without a jury, 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:41.679 without my lawyers because they were just disqualified as scheduled 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.840 for six days from now, and the judge is trying 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:45.440 to force. 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:49.159 Me into trial, taking extraordinary measures to put me on trial, 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:53.800 in my opinions, so they can incarcerate me and basically 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.520 a proceeding that would be totally unfair and unconstitutional. 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.280 When we spoke before about this possible ability, he said 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:04.040 he's worried about what might happen to him there. It's 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:08.320 not just about being locked up, especially during a pandemic 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:12.320 when COVID rates are quite high in prisons. This past 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.840 year has not been good for his mental health. 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.360 I have an adolescent son, of thirteen year old son, 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.720 a wife and a family and very uncertain future. It's 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:24.919 enormously stressful. 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:25.600 YEA. 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:32.800 It affects your sleep, It affects your outlook, it affects 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:38.680 everything about life. It's very psychologically destabilizing, and I would 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:41.600 argue it's designed to be. I mean, that's why they're doing. 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:51.560 So. 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.000 We know how dons that are wound up with an 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:58.639 ankle bracelet under house arrest in his Manhattan apartment. But 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:02.879 you might still be wondering why why would an oil company, 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:07.720 as Donziger alleges, go to this much trouble to shut 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:11.040 him down. On our next episode, we're going to get 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.040 into all of that and how the heck this all happened. 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:18.200 This is a story with a lot of different sides, 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:21.080 and sometimes even people who seem like they'd be on 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:24.160 the same team don't see eye to eye in any 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:27.399 way at all. Ultimately, after reading thousands and thousands of 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.600 pages of court documents and spending dozens of hours talking 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:33.080 to people involved in the case, I think I probably 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:39.600 agree most with this guy. Okay, yeah, that's Alec Baldwin. 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.680 Somehow he wound up involved in this case too. 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.479 There's only one issue that needs to be discussed here, 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:47.280 and that is what is the right thing to do 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:48.760 on behalf of the ecuador And people. 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:51.760 Of course, not everyone agrees on what exactly the right 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:54.920 thing to do for the Ecuadorians is. Either to try 0:23:54.960 --> 0:23:57.439 to suss all of that out, we'll head back to 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:00.399 Ecuador and back in time, all the way to the 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:13.560 nineteen sixties, come back for that. Drilled is an original 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:18.520 production of the Critical Frequency podcast Network. It's reported and 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:21.640 produced by me Amy Westerveldt. My co reporter on this 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:26.119 season is Karen Savage. Our editor is Julia Ritchie. Mixing 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:30.720 and mastering by Mark Busch. Additional reporting from Emily Gertz, 0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:35.399 additional production help from Sarah Ventry. Original score was composed 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:39.639 by b Beeman. Matt Fleming created our beautiful artwork for 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:43.200 this season. Our fact checker is wood On Yon, our 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.640