Ecuador Court Case on Hydrocarbon Particles Sprayed by the Company Petroamazonas EP

Summary

In 2020, the public Ecuadorian company Petroamazonas EP presented the request for precautionary measures against cohabitants José Daniel Jungal and Nancy Cárdenas Hernández. Petroamazonas EP claims that the cohabitants would not allow the company to continue restoration work from an accident involving the spraying of hydrocarbon particles through a venting system, which affected an area of approximately 650 square meters. Later that year, the Judicial Unit for Family, Women, Children, and Adolescents of the Francisco de Orellana canton granted precautionary measures for the danger that it verified on the rights to nature and to live in a healthy environment. On November 30, 2020, the Judicial Unit for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents of the Francisco de Orellana canton accepted the request for revocation of precautionary measures presented by the affected party. It declared that the precautionary measures could generate a loss of evidence for the investigation of the alleged commission of a crime. Petroamazonas EP appealed in 202, but the court confirmed the revocation of the precautionary measures. The Constitutional Court reviewed the decision on the revocation of the precautionary measures and it selected the case for development of jurisprudence.