Relational Investors, a hedge fund, worked with CalSTRS, California's state pension fund for teachers, to fight against overgenerous executive pay at Occidental Petroleum, an oil company.

ECONOMIST: Shareholder activism

But in May 2006 Ecuador seized the fields of Occidental Petroleum, claiming that the company had violated its operating contract.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Yet mitigating the risk of default is the fact that Ecuador's ability to service its debt has improved in recent months, as high energy prices, increased taxation of the oil sector and the state's take-over of Block 15 previously run by a US company, Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), are boosting the fiscal surplus and foreign reserves.

ECONOMIST: Ecuador's radical new president promises big changes