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To the citizens of the United States,
We are the mothers of families.
We are fathers who work very hard every day.
We are grandparents who hold on to many memories.
We imagine that you are the same as us
With hearts that beat
With eyes that appreciate the beauty of the world around us,
With feet that walk on the same planet as ours.
We would like to share with you a story that you all should know.
It occurred in a place called the Ecuadorian Amazon almost 50 years ago.
We had clean water, a healthy source of food,
medicinal plants to cure our ailments;
In other words, we lived with dignity and in harmony with nature.
But in that moment an oil company arrived whose name we remember well: Texaco.
We were not familiar with oil
They told us that oil was good, that it would bring progress for the future.
We remember the oil spills, almost daily.
The crude oil would came down the rivers like black sheets.
We remember the toxic waters they dumped in our rivers.
We remember the pain our children felt after bathing in the rivers contaminated with oil.
We remember the illnesses,
the deformations,
the cancer.
We remember those who died.
We do not know you.
We only know the company Texaco, now called Chevron.
We are a people of great courage and humility
who have been in a struggle for many years to demand justice
asking that the company take responsibility for all the harm they have caused.
Last February, Chevron was found guilty
by an Ecuadorian court
for the harm they caused
to our people, and to our lands.
But the company has said it will never respect the court’s decision,
that it will never take responsibility for the damages,
and that it will keep fighting until Hell freezes over.
We want to reach your hearts, so that you know the truth.
Chevron has poisoned us.
It has also poisoned the image of the United States and of its citizens.
On behalf of the thousands of victims in Ecuador,
we write this letter to you,
so that you can do something, now,
and demand that Chevron clean up the poison that they left in our Amazon,
and clean up the image of you and your country.
Thank you.