Last Friday, I went to see the New York theatrical premiere of Crude (2009 Sundance Film Festival) at the IFC Center.
Crude is a documentary which delves into the 17-year-old fight between the Amazonian people of Ecuador and Chevron.
According to Amazon Watch, "While drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964-1990, Texaco - which merged with Chevron in 2001 - deliberately dumped more than 18 million gallons of toxic waste water, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor. To save money, Texaco chose to use environmental practices that were obsolete, did not meet industry standards, and were illegal in Ecuador and the United States. The result was, and continues to be, one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet...Chevron has never cleaned up the mess it inherited, and its oil wastes continue to poison [its people and] the rainforest ecosystem."
Today, the fight continues among not only Ecuadorians, but Colombians as well.
Yesterday, there was a rally for environmental justice outside The Essex House on Central Park South, New York City. President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe, a representative from Chevron, and other investors were having lunch inside while about 20 people yelled outside that Uribe is allowing genocide.
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