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My CNN hero
For a while now, CNN has been running CNN heroes series, where people had the chance to nominate outstanding leaders in their communities. Over 7,000 of people from 93 countries were nominated by the readers and 18 finalists were selected by the panel of judges. On Thursday, December 6, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" will select the most outstanding hero in each of the six nominating categories: Championing Children, Community Crusader, Defending the Planet, Fighting for Justice, Medical Marvel and Young Wonder.
I was impressed with every single individual I read about. However, I think I found my hero from the Fighting for Justice category- Pablo Fajardo from Ecuador. Pablo grew up in the Amazon, where he attended night school to finish his high school education while he labored on a plantation during the day. Working for the oil company, he became concerned with unsafe workers conditions and was fired after organizing union.
Pablo just finished law school after waking up at 3 30 every day for six years and his first case is his former employer, Texaco. According to CNN:
Over the more than 40 years since oil exploration began in the Amazon rain forest, at least 12 billion gallons of toxic waste were dumped in an area that was home to six indigenous tribes.The area now records soaring cancer rates, severe birth defects and pollution that has killed the aquatic life, cattle and livestock. The resulting famine is threatening the tribes with extinction. Fajardo faces teams of corporate lawyers from Ecuador's ruling class as he seeks more than $6 billion for the estimated cost of cleaning up the waste.
To read more about amazing Pablo, check out his interview in Vanity Fair or with Oxfam America.
Thanks for your posting. You should also know that Pablo has been working with Amazon Watch during this campaign and we are very excited that he has won. Something you may not have noticed is that CNN REMOVED the link from Pablo's bio on their website that led people to the website http://www.chevrontoxico.com which has the relevant information about the case. We have credible information that they did so as a result of pressure from Chevron! Every single other "hero" on CNN's site had a "How to Help" link (except for the finalist from Cuba).
Amazon Watch wrote to CNN to request that the link be replaced and we have received no response. This evening, Anderson Cooper said on during the ceremony that people could go to the CNN site to "find out more and how to help" each hero, but not for Pablo Fajardo.
In addition, those who watched the broadcast may have noticed that Pablo said the name "Chevron" several times during this speech and the interpreter refused to say the name during his English translation of Pablo's words. That alone is irresponsible journalism.
The blatant hypocrisy of CNN is an embarrassment and they should apologize to Pablo and the thousands of people in Ecuador suffering from the 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater that Chevron is responsible for dumping into the Amazon and into their communities.
Please send a message to CNN and ask them to apologize and re-post the link to http://www.chevrontoxico.com and please visit the site to find out how you can truly help Pablo Fajardo's struggle for justice in what many believe to be the worst environmental disaster in history!
Thank you
Paul Paz y Mino
Managing Director
Amazon Watch
Here is the link to send comments to CNN: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?94