Emergildo Criollo Delivers Letter and Petition to Chevron Headquarters

Was Emergildo able to successfully deliver the petition at Chevron’s headquarters?

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If the people in PAN really cared so much about the rainforest you’d be there, in Ecuador, working to clean it. Instead you get your picture taken and whine about injustice. Get off your lazy behinds and practice what you preach.

[...] Published by briannacc, March 3rd, 2010 global warming 0 Comments On Sunday, Emergildo Criollo, an Indigenous leader of the Cofan people in Ecuador, traveled from his home in the Amazon [...]

[...] Filed Under: Uncategorized by prokinetik — Leave a comment Mar 04, 2010 On Sunday, Emergildo Criollo, an Indigenous leader of the Cofan people in Ecuador, traveled from his home in the Amazon [...]

Emergildo was able to deliver a powerful letter from his community and the petitions of over 325,000 people from around the world at Chevron HQ. Very unfortunately, he was not able to deliver the message directly to new Chevron CEO John Watson. However, we are confident that Watson is getting the message loud and clear. Now, it’s up to him to do the right thing and clean up Ecuador.

And to, A Real Worker, we are working closely with the people of Ecuador to get the company responsible for the toxic contamination (Chevron) to clean it up. Chevron has billions of dollars that they spend on PR and legal teams, rather than cleaning up the massive oil pollution that CONTINUES to poison people. If you’re interested in going to Ecuador and helping with much needed humanitarian efforts there, we’d be happy to connect you with people there who are providing potable water and health clinics to people who are suffering because of Chevron. I also urge you to send a note directly to Chevron to “really care about the rainforest” and pay for the clean-up Ecaudor.

Amazonia!

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A Real Worker –

The people at RAN *DO* care. That’s why they are fighting for justice. Chevron must take responsibility for their polluting actions and what the suffering they have caused the indegenious people of Ecuador. There are members on staff that have gone down to Ecuador to assess the damage. But if people are constantly fixing the environmental and public health problems that these corporations are creating, there will be no incentive for these corporations to stop. Businesses, most often, are ultimately concerned w/ their bottom lines. Their decisions won’t change unless there is pressure to do so by consumers and the public.

This is Silvia Garrigo from Chevron. I want to thank RAN for the opportunity to meet with Emergildo, Maria, and Mitch earlier this week. Spending an hour together in our headquarters and hearing Emergildo’s story was a valuable experience. We can all agree that his personal story is moving and heartfelt. And we can all agree that there are unacceptable environmental conditions in Ecuador’s Amazon. While there may be many areas where we do not agree, it is important for us to listen to each other. We believe RAN and Chevron can share common ground on some important points. Thank you again for meeting with us. We look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue.

A response to Silvia M. Garrigo, of Chevron:

On Tuesday, March 2nd, Emergildo Criollo, an indigenous leader from the Ecuadorean Amazon met with Chevron executives at the company’s headquarters in San Ramon, CA, accompanied by campaign staff from Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and Amazon Watch. On Thursday, March 4th you wrote publicly about the meeting (here, on your Amazon post blog, and Twitter).

Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network requested to meet personally with new Chevron CEO, John Watson, in order to allow Emergildo the opportunity to deliver a direct appeal, and tell the story of how Chevron’s contamination has affected him and his family. Emergildo was also delivering 325,000 petitions from more than 150 countries in support of his appeal to Chevron to clean up Ecuador.

John Watson did not receive Emergildo and he was met instead by Chevron public relations executives; Rhonda I. Zygocki, Vice President for Policy, Government and Public Affairs, and you,Silvia M. Garrigo. Manager for Global Issues and Policy, Gary Fisher, General Manager for Corporate Public Policy, and Don Campbell, Manager of External Communications.

Emergildo was accompanied by supporters from RAN and Amazon Watch, two organizations that work in support of the communities in Ecuador who are demanding remediation of Chevron’s oil pollution, and compensation for the horrific health and environmental impacts. Maria Ramos, director of RAN’s Change Chevron campaign, and Mitchell Anderson, Director of Corporate Accountability campaigns for Amazon Watch accompanied Emergildo into the meeting with the Chevron executives.

Today, Chevron wrote about the meeting on the company’s official blog with the misleading title, “Important First Steps – Chevron and Rainforest Action Meet, Share Common Ground.”

You wrote, “We can all agree that [Emergildo's] story is moving and heartfelt. And we can all agree that there are unacceptable environmental conditions in Ecuador’s Amazon.” The comment concludes: “We look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue.”

After delivering his letter and the 325,000 petitions to the Chevron executives, Emergildo told supporters, “I traveled from my home in the rainforest in Ecuador to Chevron’s headquarters to ask the company to clean up the toxic contamination that killed two of my sons, and has caused suffering for my people and thousands of others. I went to Chevron CEO John Watson’s home to ask him personally to clean up the toxic mess in Ecuador, but they sent only company spokespeople to hear my story.”

We have always been open to communication with the company but it is hard to understand what Chevron means by ‘common ground’ while the company continues to evade responsibility and blame others for the devastation in the Ecuadorian Amazon,” said Mitchell Anderson of Amazon Watch. “Chevron appears to be cynically trying to score public relations points from the brief meeting with Emergildo Criollo. The meeting was an opportunity for Emergildo to tell his devastating story and ask Chevron to stop the lies and clean up its toxic mess once and for all.”

“We will consider our dialogue with Chevron ‘constructive’ only when they agree to fulfill the communities’ consistent demands that the company fully remediate its contamination, compensate them for the health and environmental impacts, and provide access to potable water and health care,” said Maria Ramos of Rainforest Action Network.

Emergildo’s letter was addressed to Chevron CEO John Watson, who was also the target of the 325,000 supporting petitions. The affected communities and their supporters are asking that Mr. Watson lead the company in a new direction by ending the attempts at evading responsibility and satisfying the affected people’s demands for a clean-up.

After delivering his letter, Emergildo expressed disappointment that Mr. Watson failed to show up, as well as hope that a solution is possible. “I am glad that I was able to come here and share my story,” said Criollo. “But Mr. Watson must understand that people are still dying. Chevron, clean up Ecuador now.”

30,000 residents of Ecuador’s rainforest region are plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit that was first filed in 1993 against Chevron-owned Texaco, which dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into Amazon waterways and the forest, and abandoned more than 900 unlined waste pits filled with crude oil and toxic waste amidst the communities. Abundant scientific evidence shows massive contamination throughout the area where Texaco was the sole operator of the oil fields from 1964 until the company left in 1992. The indigenous and campesino communities continue to suffer an epidemic of illness, cancer, birth defects, and premature deaths due to the contamination.

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It is time for Chevron to pay. It is unbelievable that they just don’t listen to the cry of thousands of people around the world and specially of the affected populations.
I am a law student and I am writing a legal article about the lawsuit in the U.S. Please let me know how I can help.

[...] over 325,000 names from over 150 countries, calling on Chevron to clean up its mess in Ecuador. Having traveled from his home Emergildo visited Mr. Watsons home, where there was no answer. He then traveled to Chevron World [...]

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[...] left behind in their lands. I’ve written profiles of two of them here before; Cofan leader Emergildo Criollo was in the U.S. in early March to help deliver 350,000 letters of support for cleanup in Ecuador to [...]