Correa : will discuss Chevron case with Argentina

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said he would discuss with his Argentine counterpart Cristina Kirchner a legal dispute with US oil giant Chevron that has spilled over into her country. "We're going to address the Chevron case. It's a private matter. But the company is trying to delegitimize this court action that it lost to our Amazon villagers," Correa told Argentine news channel C5N on Tuesday. "We're not going to intervene. But we are going to stand by our citizens." Last year, a court in Ecuador ordered Chevron to pay $19 billion for years of what indigenous groups and local farmers say was unchecked pollution in the Amazon by Texaco Petroleum, which Chevron acquired in 2001. Chevron has appealed the decision, accusing the judge who ruled on the case of fraud and breach of trust. The plaintiffs have filed lawsuits in Argentina, Canada and Brazil to go after the company's assets in third countries, saying Chevron has virtually no assets in Ecuador that could be seized. Last month, an Argentine judge froze Chevron's local assets. The US company has also disputed that ruling as baseless. Correa met Kirchner on Tuesday in Buenos Aires, but details of the meeting were not immediately made public.