When Texaco left Ecuador, it spent $40 million to clean up its share of the operations, and the government absolved it of any further legal responsibilities in 1998. But Ecuador’s courts found that the government deal did not cover third-party claims. So when Chevron and Texaco merged…Chevron inherited the legal battle…The company contends it’s the victim of a global shakedown engineered by greedy lawyers, environmental groups and unscrupulous government officials…The battle is far from over…The one thing both agree on is that Ecuador’s landscape tells the story – but what the land is saying is a matter of interpretation…