“Justicia Now,” featuring CNN Hero Award winner Pablo Fajardo, is a documentary about Chevron Texaco’s toxic legacy in the Northern Ecuadorian region of the Amazon rainforest.
More than that though, this film features a group of people, Los Afectados (The Affected Ones) who have enough courage to seek justice for the all the ensuing illnesses caused, including cancer.
The lawsuit for this case has turned into the largest environmental class action lawsuit in history.
Pablo Fajardo, who was born in poverty the very year that Chevron Texaco arrived in Ecuador, has remained dedicated to this cause and sincerely hopes that his CNN Award in the Fight for Justice category will help to bring international awareness and attention to this legal case.
Fajardo, a human rights activist since he was just a teen, put himself through law school, earning his degree three years ago in 2004. Acting as the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs in this case Fajardo, grew up with all this contamination, and, unfortunately witnessed first-hand the horrific effects that oil extraction has had on the people as well as on the land.
“Everything the communities live on or off is poisoned. There are epidemics of cancer, every type of cancer in children, babies, women and men. It’s heartbreaking and it’s reprehensible,” actress and activist Daryl Hannah has said of the situation.
This documentary aims to shed light on many of the problems faced in this region, and what they believe to be the cause, such as the amount of toxic wastewater that Texaco has dumped into the Amazon rainforest in the last three decades (over 18 billion), and the way in which it has affected the region.
To view a high quality download of the documentary for free, visit www.justicianow.org or for more information, visit www.amazonwatch.org or www.mofilms.org. In addition to Fajardo, Daryl Hannah, Stuart Townsend and John Quigley are the other celebrity activists featured in this film.
