8.5 Magnitude Quake Rocks Western S America

A massive magnitude-8.5 earthquake has struck western coastal areas of Chile, triggering tsunami warnings for the South American country and neighboring Peru and Ecuador.

The early morning giant tremor hit offshore Chile around 100 kilometers northwest of Concepcion, the capital of Concepcion Province, on Saturday.'

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Chevron Using Six Public Relations Firms to Discredit Indigenous Groups In $27.3 Billion Environmental Case In Ecuador

Chevron has retained at least twelve public relations firms and lobbyists to discredit claims of Amazon indigenous groups on the eve of an expected multi-billion dollar judgment against the oil giant in an environmental lawsuit in Ecuador, according to representatives of the tribes in the U.S.

Although Chevron is near the top of the list of highest-spending lobbyists in Washington, the campaign seems to be backfiring. Politico, one of the most influential publications on Capitol Hill, reported this week that Chevron's lobbying was "drawing fire from environmentalists, media ethicists, state pension funds, New York's attorney general, members of Congress, and even Barack Obama when he was a Senator".'

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FDA Dupes Interpol to Achieve Illegal Kidnapping and Deportation of Herbal Formulator Greg Caton

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today stands accused of taking part in the kidnapping and illegal extradition of a permanent resident of Ecuador, in violation of both international law and Ecuadorian law.

Greg Caton, owner and operator of Alpha Omega Labs (www.AltCancer.com), an herbal products company that sells anti-cancer herbal remedies made with Ecuadorian medicinal herbs, was arrested at gunpoint at a road checkpoint in Ecuador, then transported to an Ecuadorian holding facility to await a hearing on December 14, 2009. Caton was expected to be set free by the Ecuadorian judge at that hearing based on the facts of the case which indicated Caton's permanent residency in Ecuador is legal and valid.

Three days before the hearing could take place, Caton was taken from his holding facility and, with the help of U.S. State Department employees, involuntarily placed on an American Airlines plane headed for Miami. An Ecuadorian judge rushed to the airport in Guayaquil and demanded that Caton be released from the plane, stating that the attempted deportation was illegal, but American Airlines employees reportedly refused to allow Caton to leave the plane, stating that the plane was "U.S. territory" and that Ecuadorian law did not apply there (even though the plane was still on the tarmac in Guayaquil and under the direction of the air traffic control tower there).

The plane then departed Guayaquil and continued its flight to Miami where Greg Caton was held in a federal detention facility to await trial in the U.S.

His crimes? Selling herbal medicine and daring to tell the truth about those medicines on his website.

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In Historic Move, Ecuador Shuts US Military Base

Ecuador has closed down a US military post and obliged the last group of US forces to leave the South American state, ending a decade of 'subordination'.

Upon a ceremony on the departure of American soldiers from Ecuador's Pacific Manta air base on Friday, the country's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi hailed the US troops' exit from the Hispanic nation and dubbed the stay as 'unconstitutional.'

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Ecuador Alleges 'Clear' Signs Of CIA Infiltration

An Ecuadorean presidential commission has concluded that U.S. intelligence services infiltrated the Andean nation's military and police and supported a cross-border incursion by Colombian troops that killed a top rebel commander.
Following the attack on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia camp inside Ecuador on March 1, President Rafael Correa accused the CIA of infiltrating his nation's intelligence services and appointed a commission to investigate.
The body alleged in its report, made public Thursday, that the CIA bought information from Ecuador's military and had prior knowledge of the raid, said Defense Minister Javier Ponce, who read highlights of the findings to reporters.
No one at the U.S. Embassy was immediately available to comment.

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As The World Snoozes, Environmentalists Cheer Turning Nature into "Rights Bearing Entity"

One of the most radical alterations in the self definition of humankind has just occurred in Ecuador and the world snoozes. But the radical environmental movement sees what is happening and is cheering. From a Global Exchange press release:

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