Human Rights Group Calls on ChevronTexaco To End Investment With Burma's Dictator

Project will "completely undermine all progress on improving its reputation and expose it to a wave of lawsuits, bad publicity, and shareholder anger" One week before ChevronTexaco's annual shareholder meeting in Los Angeles, the US Campaign for Burma has announced it plans to launch a campaign to demand the company drop its soon to be acquired investment with the ruling military dictatorship in the Southeast Asian country of Burma.

ChevronTexaco announced on April 4th that it had reached an $18.4 billion deal to buy Unocal Corporation, thus acquiring stake in the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline in Burma. ChevronTexaco has so far flip-flopped on its intention of shedding the stake, leaving the company among the very last US companies still doing business with Burma's cruel dictator, Than Shwe. The project is co-owned by Burma's Ministry of Oil and Gas.

According to those living in the region, the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline has brought immeasurable suffering on the people of Burma and substantially strengthened the ruling General Than Shwe. Human rights organizations including Earthrights International have documented a
situation tantamount to slavery for those villagers unfortunate enough to live in the area where the pipeline was constructed. Soldiers of the ruling dictator also displaced hundreds of villages along the pipeline route. Villagers faced gruesome torture, rape and extra-judicial killings. In addition to effects on the local population, money earned from Unocal's investment in the Yadana pipeline has aided the military regime's purchase of weapons and has helped it to fund an increase in the the size of its army to nearly 500,000 soldiers. Since Burma has no external enemies, the expansion has been carried out to assist in crushing the country's democracy movement. Unocal's investment in Burma has also helped to line the pockets of Than Shwe and his cronies. Their lavish lifestyles stand in stark contrast to the dire poverty the country's citizens find themselves in. Than Shwe's regime spends so little on healthcare that one in ten Burmese children die before they reach age five. "ChevronTexaco is purchasing a nightmare for its management and shareholders," said Aung Din, co-founder of US Campaign for Burma. "If they keep the pipeline, it will hang on the company's neck like a lead weight and completely undermine all progress they have made in improving their reputation."
Aung San Suu Kyi--the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient and leader of Burma's democracy movement--has repeatedly called on Western companies to not invest with Than Shwe's regime.

The efforts are modeled on the 1980s anti-apartheid movement, which brought heavy financial losses to companies which insisted in operating in South Africa before Nelson Mandela was released from prison. The international movement for democracy in Burma has pressured approximately ninety companies to cut ties with the country. Among these companies are Pepsi, Amoco, and Premier Oil. Massive international boycotts, shareholder anger, and press reports of human rights violations led to steep financial losses for those companies who tried to continue doing business in Burma, damaging the reputation of the companies to such an extent that withdrawal proved their only option.

Unocal had the notorious distinction of being the largest US company to maintain a substantial investment in Burma and has faced a protracted, seven year lawsuit over claims that villagers suffered serious human rights abuses during the construction of the pipeline. The case made Unocal a vilified company and brought major objections from its shareholders. After spending tens of millions in its defense of dollars over seven years, Unocal ultimately settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

In contrast to Unocal, Texaco decided in 1997 to end its after operation in what was widely interpreted as a move to end nationwide protests against the company and in response to the implementation of US economic sanctions on Burma's military regime. The move allowed Texaco to avoid a raft of boycotts, lawsuits, and investor anger faced by Unocal. Should ChevronTexaco not take the initiative in divesting from Burma, the US Campaign for Burma has pleged to organize nationwide pressure on ChevronTexaco businesses. "Surely, ChevronTexaco shareholders will be disappointed to lose money over a project that's not even essential to the company," added Aung Din. Additionally, ChevronTexaco has opened itself up to possibility of more lawsuits from villagers harmed during the construction of the pipeline. Observers understand the settlement between villagers and Unocal to be "very substantial", which is likely to lead to more villagers filing cases against the company's new owners, ChevronTexaco.