Servio Returns to Hand Watson a Pink Slip

May 20, 2013

Two years ago Ecuadorian farmer Servio Curipoma left his rainforest home and traveled thousands of miles to bring his story to the United States. This month he returns to demand – on behalf of all the Amazonian communities that have been destroyed by Chevron – that John Watson pay a personal price for his region's suffering. Servio is calling on Watson to resign from his dirty post as CEO of Chevron.

You may remember how Servio had us all grasping our seats just two years ago with his deeply personal story of how Chevron 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, which doctors have attributed to drinking water contaminated by toxic crude waste. Since that time, Servio has become an active voice for his community over the past 16 years, demanding that Chevron take responsibility for the contamination that has so severely affected his family.

Read more »

Letters from the (Amazon Watch) Campaign Trail, Part II

May 15, 2013 | Andrew Miller

Dear Daughter,

Yesterday I left the Amazon jungle after an amazing week there. Prior to leaving however, I shared with my Achuar indigenous friends a dream I had about you.

You see, the Achuar live in a unique dream culture that believes in a co-created reality and embraces an eternal vision created and shared by the entire community, whose lives are devoted to reclaiming their rights. They awake early each morning to share dreams with family and make decisions according to what has come in sleep. Elders then tell myths to the children, their oral tradition keeping their collective wisdom alive for thousands of years and helping to define their decisions and future.

Read more »

Xingu: The Belo Monte Battle Continues

May 14, 2013 | Maíra Irigaray

On May 2nd, 200 indigenous people affected by the construction of large hydroelectric dams in the Amazon launched an occupation on one of the main construction sites of the Belo Monte dam complex on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon. They were demanding effective legislation on prior consultations with indigenous peoples regarding projects that affect their lands and livelihoods and the immediate suspension of construction, technical studies and police operations related to dams along the Xingu, Tapajós and Teles Pires rivers.

Read more »

Letters from the (Amazon Watch) Campaign Trail

May 13, 2013 | Andrew Miller

Dearest Daughter, from Dad in the Amazon –

This is my first international trip away from you since your birth eight months ago, and I already miss you tremendously. I fear by the time I return from Peru, you will be a completely different person and will have forgotten about me.

Parting is bittersweet; I want to explain to you the importance of this trip. Perhaps the defining characteristic of my work with Amazon Watch is our relationship with indigenous people who live in remote parts of the rainforest. Starting tomorrow, I'll have the honor of visiting our friends of the Achuar people deep in the Peruvian Amazon, a place they have called home for many generations.

Read more »

A United Cry Against Dams in the Amazon

May 3, 2013 | Maíra Irigaray

Notes from the Amazon Watch Brazil field team, currently in Altamira.
Follow their journey directly here.

Yesterday Brazil and the world witnessed a historic moment of unity and struggle for the Amazon and its people. Some 200 indigenous peoples, riverine communities and fishermen joined at the Pimental construction site of the Belo Monte dam where they continue to occupy the area. They did not come to hold discussions with the construction consortium; they want their agenda to be heard by the Brazilian Federal Government.

Read more »