The 2 worst companies in the world with operations in Ecuador.

As in previous years, Ballenita Sí publishes the winners of the "discreditable" Ojo Público award, which is given to the worst companies in the world whose behaviour is voted for by the public. The Ojo Público Awards are awarded by Greenpeace and the Swiss NGO Bern Declaration.

The "Ojo Público" Awards are presented in parallel with the World Economic Forum in Davos, which every year brings together hundreds of senior executives from the largest corporations on the planet.

This time (and as one of the effects of globalization) the 2013 winners: the American bank Goldman Sachs and the Dutch-British oil company Shell also have operations in Ecuador. 

According to the organizations that present these “awards,” in this edition they were awarded to these two companies for “having violated human rights and having committed crimes against the environment.”

Goldman Sachs owns shares (around 30%) in MoneyGram, a global money transfer company, and Shell, which is engaged in the exploration, exploitation and marketing of oil and its derivatives. Both operate in Ecuador.

“This year we are honouring two companies that are exemplary representatives of the members of the World Economic Forum and those companies whose social and environmental crimes reveal the hidden face of a globalisation focused exclusively on the pursuit of profit,” said the organisers during the presentation of the “winners”.

This year's jury prize - chaired by German professor Ulrich Thielemann, known for advocating the Ethics of Economics - was awarded to Goldman Sachs.

“Goldman Sachs is responsible for millions of people falling into poverty, it is responsible for undermining democracy, it is responsible for increasing the gap between rich and poor, it is responsible for increasing the power of business over democracy,” said Greenpeace International President Kumi Naidoo.

"Goldman Sachs manipulates the commodities market and drives up food prices through speculation, driving millions of people into poverty and hunger," he added.

Shell, meanwhile, was singled out for “irresponsible behaviour” and for being involved in the search for hydrocarbons in the Arctic, “something that has been made possible by climate change, which they themselves helped to bring about.”

“Shell has invested $4.5 billion (about a fifth of Ecuador’s total budget) in a foolish, highly risky project that is an endless source of problems that could lead to an economic catastrophe of incalculable dimensions,” Naidoo warned.

Shell, which won the award in 2005 for its polluting activities in Nigeria, and Goldman Sachs, thus enter the Hall of Shame of the Ojo Público Award along with giants such as Wal-Mart, Anglo-Gold Ashanti (with whom the Ecuadorian government has been in talks due to its interest in participating in the country's mining sector), Roche, Novartis, and Bridgestone, among others.