Pablo Fajardo

An Ecuadorean man recounts -- with the help of a French journalist and artist -- his early life working for Texaco, helping to pollute the Amazon rainforest with oil extraction wastes, and how he later became a lawyer and sued Texaco/Chevron on behalf of the indigenous people who were harmed by the toxic pollution left in the water and soil. That kind of muddled message continues throughout the book as a major victory in a court in Ecuador is basically left unenforceable and allegations of various sorts have been leveled against judges and the plaintiff attorneys.

It's a legal mess of epic proportions that creates such a show as to distract from the victims of corporate malfeasance and Texaco/Chevron's indifference to human suffering. They get a little lost in Fajardo's memoir as he flies around the country and the world for court and media appearances, à la Erin Brockovich, but he does manage to refocus and tell at least a portion of their story amidst his own.… (mais)