Canada Union Members Support Ecuadorian Cause Against Chevron Texaco

Throughout 2016 the “Chevron’s Dirty Hand” campaign will bring several celebrities that will support Ecuador

This morning the President and Vice-president of the Canada United Food and Commercial (UFCW), Paul Meinema and Victor Carrozzino toured several rainforest trails where the oil extraction well Aguarico 2 was drilled some 30 years ago in Sucumbíos, operated by the oil multinational Texaco, subsequently purchased by Chevron in 2001

During the 40-minute tour, they received information on the type of operations conducted by the oil company in the zone, as well as on the evident lack of ethics given its failure to remediate the environmental contamination. After verifying with his hands the existence of oil contaminating the soils and water sources, Neiman affirmed the battle of the Canada and Ecuador communities are similar, given the impacts of reckless oil extraction activities on the ecosystems.

This visit was conducted as part of the “Chevron’s Dirty Hand Campaign” initiated in 2013, when president Rafael Correa called to the world’s ‘solidarity’ in its battle against the multinational that was sentenced for the incommensurable environmental and social damages inflicted on the Ecuadorian Amazon and for the claims filed by Chevron against the Ecuadorian State with the intention of evading its responsibility.

During the visit, the foreign visitors were able to hear José Guamán’s testimony; he travelled to Sucumbíos in 1972 in search of better job opportunities. The first two years he worked caring for cattle in zones neighboring Aguarico 2. Now those lands are wasted for agricultural purposes due to the oil contamination of soils and water sources.

He is one of the many victims in this zone, who were not only forced to leave aside their production activities, but also for the social problems derived from this environmental contamination. What he most deplores is his wife’s death some 20 years ago as a result of cancer caused by drinking and being in contact with contaminated waters.

There are around one thousand pits that were never technically remediated, but simply concealed with a layer of dirt to deceive the Ecuadorian State.

There are over one thousand unremediated pits in the Ecuadorian Amazon.