Some of Cassel’s/Chevron’s allegations are indeed so absurd and offensive that they strike many as reflecting racist underlying assumptions. For example, one of the “forensic” reports Chevron submitted in support of its charge that the Ecuadorian trial judge was corrupt simply estimates the number of words in the Lago Agrio record, divides by the words per minute an average person reads, and “concludes” the judge did not have had time to read each and every word in the 200,000-page record before issuing judgment and thus must not have written the judgment. This simply assumes away such possibilities as, say, the court felt it could skim repetitive portions of the record, or relied on executive summaries of lengthy reports, or otherwise choose for itself what to read and what not to read. Other “forensic” reports are similarly specious. Try to imagine this sort of material being used to bring fraud charges against a judge in the United States and you get a glimpse of the sort of double standard that many see as reflective of racist underlying assumptions.

Re the El Universo case, I will just say that the fact that Cassel is left to attack the Aguinda case by referring to the facts of the entirely unrelated matter shows just how desperate he and Chevron are for something, anything to support the Hindenberg of outlandish fraud allegations they have inflated and that is now drifting toward the inevitable.