From a sweltering Amazonian town surrounded by former Texaco oil fields, Servio Curipoma, a cacao farmer, arrived last evening in New York City to tell the story of how an American oil company devastated his lands and drinking water, causing a public health crisis that continues to this day. Servio lost both his parents (his mother’s heartbreaking story is told here) and a sister to cancer that doctors have attributed to drinking water contaminated by toxic crude waste. Since that time, Curipoma has become an active voice for his community over the past 14 years, demanding that Chevron take responsibility for the contamination that has so profoundly affected his family.
Please watch and share this short video. A brief, but powerful look into the life of one man – and another example of how Chevron (formerly Texaco) turned the northeastern Ecuadorian Amazon into a crude oil wasteland.
And, if you haven’t already, please sign the solidarity petition!
Servio is part of a delegation of two other inspiring leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon, traveling on behalf of 30,000 affected people in Ecuador, to demand that Chevron finally own up to its responsibility in Ecuador buy cleaning up its toxic legacy.
Over the next week in New York, DC, and San Francisco, Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network, will be organizing public events, briefing with lawmakers, pension funds, and the media as part of an international campaign to hold Chevron accountable.
Please share this short video, and sign the solidarity petition! We hope to garner 30,000 signatures over the next week to support each and every man, woman and child affected by Chevron’s toxic legacy in Ecuador. We will deliver these petitions signatures at Chevron’s shareholder meeting on May 25th in San Ramon, California.
