chapter2

Indigenous communities and campesinos protesting against ChevronTexaco in Nueva Loja, Ecuador for the pollution left in their towns

Chapter 2 of this exclusive report brings you the voices of the struggle, all the campesinos, Indigenous peoples, communities, NGOs, and other organizations and groups coming together to fight for their land, their culture, for their environment, and for their right to live with dignity. We lift up their voices, their stories, and show you how their struggle continues and how you can help.

http://texacotoxico.net/

From 1964 until they were kicked out of the country, Texaco/Chevron contaminated and destroyed million hectares of pristine rainforest and destroyed thousands of lives. So far they have paid nothing, nor attempted to cleanup the destruction that they left in its wake.

Texaco left around 1,000 oil pits open to store their waste, without any type of coating or environmental protection. They also threw waste of all kinds, mainly oil, drilling mud and toxic waters onto the land.

The company is responsible for spilling over 71 million liters of oil waste and 64 million liters of crude oil over more than two million hectares of the Ecuadorean Amazon.

The Indigenous and Campesino communities filed a lawsuit against Texaco/Chevron in New York in 1993, demanding that all the pollution left behind by the company be cleaned up at their expense.

The beginning of the fight for justice in the communities affected by the pollution left by ChevronTexaco

Health problems in areas polluted by Chevron Texaco

83% of the population in the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbios have suffered diseases caused by the pollution left by ChevronTexaco

Sources: A. Maldonado and A. Narvaez (2003), C.M. Beristain, D. Paez Rovira and I. Fernandez (2009), M. San Sebastian, B. Armstrong, J.A. Cordoba, C. Stephens (2001), A. Hurtig, M. San Sebastian (2002)

Studies made to see the pollution left by Texaco in al the surrounding communities

Activists, NGOs and communities documenting the pollution left in the Amazon

Ecuadorean police guarding the inspected area

Activists, NGOs and communities documenting one of the open oil pits left in the Amazon

Kids playing around an abandoned oil well during a demonstration against ChevronTexaco

Indigenous communities and campesinos protesting against ChevronTexaco for the pollution left in their towns

Indigenous communities and campesinos protesting against ChevronTexaco in Quito, Ecuador for the pollution left in their towns

Indigenous communities and campesinos protesting against ChevronTexaco in New York for the pollution left in the Amazon

Demonstration against ChevronTexaco in an oil well in the Amazon. The image reads: Justice Now!

Affected communities, NGOs, lawyers, activists all working together to defend the Ecuadorean Amazon

Affected Indigenous and Campesino communities sue Texaco in New York.

Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (Amazon Defense Front) is created to represent and defend the people affected by the pollution left by Texaco.

Texaco signs a Cleanup Action Plan in which it agrees to clean 162 pools, but no effective cleanup was ever done by the U.S. company.

In a memorandum dated May 7, 1996, the comptroller informed PetroEcuador that totally inadequate technology was used for the treatment of crude oil: open incineration (flaring), dumping wastewater to the environment without treatment, and building unlined oil pits.

Ecuadorean President Jamil Mahuad signed a Deed of Settlement that frees Texaco of any claim by Ecuador after the company's "environmental cleanup." Contrary to what Chevron maintains, this does not invalidate the claims of the affected citizens of the Amazon.

Chevron buys Texaco, turning it into the 2nd largest oil company in the world.

The lawsuit against Chevron/Texaco is transferred to Ecuador on the company’s request.

The affected communities start the lawsuit against Chevron / Texaco in the court of Sucumbios.

Chevron / Texaco starts a lawsuit against Ecuador in the Hague for the violation of the Bilateral Agreement of Promotion and Protection of Investors.

Chevron / Texaco started a series of Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) targeting the victims, lawyers and the Ecuadorean judicial system in New York.