Ecuador's president on Saturday threatened to expel foreign oil firms which launch legal challenges against his government. Facing billions of dollars worth of legal claims for failure to complete contracts, Rafael Correa issued a blunt warning to the firms.
"The policy is going to be: gentlemen if you bring legal cases against us, very well, but you will get out of the country," he said during a television and radio address. Ecuador faces claims totalling around 13 billion dollars before the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Many of the claims come from foreign businesses, notably France's Perenco and, from the United States, Occidental Petroleum and Burlington.