In 2011, we celebrated a massive victory for the rainforest. Chevron was found liable for its deliberate pollution of the Ecuadorian Amazon and was ordered to pay $9.5 billion in damages to the affected Indigenous and campesino residents.

The judgment has since been affirmed by six appellate courts, including the Supreme Courts of Ecuador and Canada. But now, if Ecuador fails to defend its court’s decision, this victory is at stake – if we don’t act immediately.

Chevron refused to pay the 2011 judgment and in an illegitimate attempt to escape justice it filed a case before a business-friendly undemocratic international arbitration panel. That panel issued an award in its favor and is now attempting to place responsibility for the gross polluter’s environmental crimes on the Ecuadorian people!

Right now, the Ecuadorian government is rapidly approaching a deadline for justice. By September 28, 2022, Ecuador’s Attorney General must either continue to formally reject the arbitration panel's award for Chevron or it will be forced to assume the damages that Chevron was held liable for after decades of deliberate human rights violations and pollution – making the people of Ecuador pay for the clean up of Chevron’s toxic waste! Ecuador’s economy cannot afford to remedy or pay out the damages owed, and were it forced to do so, it would further Chevron’s impunity for environmental and human rights crimes around the globe. This is a direct threat to climate justice.

Indigenous and campesino communities represented by the Union of People Affected by Chevron-Texaco are calling on Ecuador to act quickly. They need your solidarity to call on the government to hold Chevron accountable! The fossil fuel industry is watching. This must be stopped!

Yes, I will add my voice to demand Chevron be held accountable!