Chevron in Ecuador

The archive of the Clean Up Ecuador campaign website


Crude Reflections

April 2005

View photos by San Francisco Bay Area photographers Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak, who traveled to Ecuador to document the physical and emotional reality of those affected by pollution and their struggle for justice.

Crude Reflections is available here.

April 25, 2005 Press Release: Photo Exhibit Opens in San Ramon
Artists' Statements and Bios
Promotional Flyer

  • A boy stands on an oil pipeline in the Amazonian jungle near the town of Lago Agrio -> Click to enlarge

    A boy stands on an oil pipeline in the Amazonian jungle near the town of Lago Agrio

  • Nine-year-old, Jairo Yumbo, stands on the road in front of his home in the village of Rumipamba -> Click to enlarge

    Nine-year-old, Jairo Yumbo, stands on the road in front of his home in the village of Rumipamba

  • Angel Toala lies dying of stomach cancer in his home in Shushufindi. He died the day after this photo was taken -> Click to enlarge

    Angel Toala lies dying of stomach cancer in his home in Shushufindi. He died the day after this photo was taken

  • Luz Maria Marin holds the head of her husband Angel Toala the day before he died of stomach cancer in his home in Shushufindi -> Click to enlarge

    Luz Maria Marin holds the head of her husband Angel Toala the day before he died of stomach cancer in his home in Shushufindi

  • Gas is burned off at a separation station outside the town of Shushufindi -> Click to enlarge

    Gas is burned off at a separation station outside the town of Shushufindi

  • Juana Apolo walks out of a cemetary in Andina where her father, brother and sister are buried, all of whom died of cancer -> Click to enlarge

    Juana Apolo walks out of a cemetary in Andina where her father, brother and sister are buried, all of whom died of cancer

  • Maria Machay holds a photo of her late husband Jose Adolfo Moreno who died of a cancerous tumor at her home in San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Maria Machay holds a photo of her late husband Jose Adolfo Moreno who died of a cancerous tumor at her home in San Carlos

  • Modesta Briones in her house near Parahuaco oil well #2. Doctors amputated her lower leg because of a cancerous tumor. -> Click to enlarge

    Modesta Briones in her house near Parahuaco oil well #2. Doctors amputated her lower leg because of a cancerous tumor.

  • Old Texaco oil barrels left on the side of the Aguarico River, near Lago Agrio -> Click to enlarge

    Old Texaco oil barrels left on the side of the Aguarico River, near Lago Agrio

  • Aurelio, a Cofan elder, with traditional makeup and feather adornment -> Click to enlarge

    Aurelio, a Cofan elder, with traditional makeup and feather adornment

  • Jose Adrian Rosero Mendez, sitting outside of his home in San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Jose Adrian Rosero Mendez, sitting outside of his home in San Carlos

  • Jose Adrian Rosero Mendez, sitting with family in San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Jose Adrian Rosero Mendez, sitting with family in San Carlos

  • Jose Miguel Mashumar-Antun standing before flares from the oil facility located on his property, Via Auca km. 42 -> Click to enlarge

    Jose Miguel Mashumar-Antun standing before flares from the oil facility located on his property, Via Auca km. 42

  • Ermel Chavez, President of the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (Amazon Defense Front), facing the flares of the old Texaco oil facility in Sacha during a court-ordered inspection -> Click to enlarge

    Ermel Chavez, President of the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (Amazon Defense Front), facing the flares of the old Texaco oil facility in Sacha during a court-ordered inspection

  • Cofan children playing on oil barrel, Dureno village -> Click to enlarge

    Cofan children playing on oil barrel, Dureno village

  • Pamela Ramirez, sitting with her family at home in San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Pamela Ramirez, sitting with her family at home in San Carlos

  • Pamela Ramirez, sitting at home in San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Pamela Ramirez, sitting at home in San Carlos

  • At her home in Andina, Amanda Armijos, sister-in-law of Juana Apolo, stands in front of a photo of herself and husband Saul Apolo who died of stomach cancer -> Click to enlarge

    At her home in Andina, Amanda Armijos, sister-in-law of Juana Apolo, stands in front of a photo of herself and husband Saul Apolo who died of stomach cancer

  • Amanda Armijos holds the death certificate of her husband Saul Apolo at her home in Andina -> Click to enlarge

    Amanda Armijos holds the death certificate of her husband Saul Apolo at her home in Andina

  • An unlined waste pit filled with crude oil left by Texaco drilling operations years earlier lies in a forest clearing near the town of Sacha -> Click to enlarge

    An unlined waste pit filled with crude oil left by Texaco drilling operations years earlier lies in a forest clearing near the town of Sacha

  • Colon cancer victim Maruja Garrido sits with her fifteen-year-old daughter Nelly at their small store in Taracoa -> Click to enlarge

    Colon cancer victim Maruja Garrido sits with her fifteen-year-old daughter Nelly at their small store in Taracoa

  • Carmen Guaman (L) holds her 14-year-old daughter Veronica's arm at their home in the community of La Primavera -> Click to enlarge

    Carmen Guaman (L) holds her 14-year-old daughter Veronica's arm at their home in the community of La Primavera

  • Carmen Guaman (L) with her fourteen-year-old daughter Veronica at their home in the community of La Primavera -> Click to enlarge

    Carmen Guaman (L) with her fourteen-year-old daughter Veronica at their home in the community of La Primavera

  • A family washes clothes and bathes in a polluted river near Lago Agrio -> Click to enlarge

    A family washes clothes and bathes in a polluted river near Lago Agrio

  • Flor Valarezo and her daughter Liliana Cecilia, 4, at her brother's home in Sacha -> Click to enlarge

    Flor Valarezo and her daughter Liliana Cecilia, 4, at her brother's home in Sacha

  • Flor Valarezo with her daughter Liliana Cecilia, 4, shows the skin cancer on her leg at her home in Sacha -> Click to enlarge

    Flor Valarezo with her daughter Liliana Cecilia, 4, shows the skin cancer on her leg at her home in Sacha

  • Jose Miguel Mashumar and Maria Claudia Antuash sit with a portrait of their deceased daughters Rosa and Maria Graciela at their home on the Via Auca -> Click to enlarge

    Jose Miguel Mashumar and Maria Claudia Antuash sit with a portrait of their deceased daughters Rosa and Maria Graciela at their home on the Via Auca

  • Uterine cancer victim Maria Garafalo sits outside her home in San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Uterine cancer victim Maria Garafalo sits outside her home in San Carlos

  • Cofan boys travelling down the Aguarico River on the way to Dureno Village -> Click to enlarge

    Cofan boys travelling down the Aguarico River on the way to Dureno Village

  • Maria Bravo stands by an open waste pit and flares in an area where she lives in the Guanta oil field -> Click to enlarge

    Maria Bravo stands by an open waste pit and flares in an area where she lives in the Guanta oil field

  • Secoya community daily life, San Pablo village -> Click to enlarge

    Secoya community daily life, San Pablo village

  • Cofan elder woman standing outside of her home in Dureno village -> Click to enlarge

    Cofan elder woman standing outside of her home in Dureno village

  • Secoya man playing traditional flute, San Pablo village -> Click to enlarge

    Secoya man playing traditional flute, San Pablo village

  • Maruja Piaguaje, Secoya woman, whose son Marcelo Lucitante, died of leukemia, San Pablo village -> Click to enlarge

    Maruja Piaguaje, Secoya woman, whose son Marcelo Lucitante, died of leukemia, San Pablo village

  • Maruja Piaguaje, Secoya woman, whose son Marcelo Lucitante, died of leukemia, San Pablo village -> Click to enlarge

    Maruja Piaguaje, Secoya woman, whose son Marcelo Lucitante, died of leukemia, San Pablo village

  • Uterine cancer survivor Rosana Sisalima with her granddaughter at their home in Recinto Los Angeles -> Click to enlarge

    Uterine cancer survivor Rosana Sisalima with her granddaughter at their home in Recinto Los Angeles

  • Rosa Ana Risalina, San Carlos -> Click to enlarge

    Rosa Ana Risalina, San Carlos

  • Rosa Matango who suffers from skin irritation, rashes and open sores at her polluted farm down stream from the Sacha Central separation station -> Click to enlarge

    Rosa Matango who suffers from skin irritation, rashes and open sores at her polluted farm down stream from the Sacha Central separation station

  • Dolores Morales holds a photo of her nineteen-year-old son Pedro who died of a cancerous tumor at her home in Sacha Central -> Click to enlarge

    Dolores Morales holds a photo of her nineteen-year-old son Pedro who died of a cancerous tumor at her home in Sacha Central

  • With her eight-year-old sister Alexandra Raquel at left, fifteen-year-old Myra Chicaiza sits on the floor of her home in Dureno -> Click to enlarge

    With her eight-year-old sister Alexandra Raquel at left, fifteen-year-old Myra Chicaiza sits on the floor of her home in Dureno

  • Dolores Morales sits with her fifteen-year-old son Jose who suffers from leukemia at their home in Sacha Central -> Click to enlarge

    Dolores Morales sits with her fifteen-year-old son Jose who suffers from leukemia at their home in Sacha Central

  • Fifteen-year-old Myra Chicaiza sits with her mother Rosa Mercedes on the floor of their home in Dureno -> Click to enlarge

    Fifteen-year-old Myra Chicaiza sits with her mother Rosa Mercedes on the floor of their home in Dureno

  • Maria Villasis sweeps in front of her barn on her farm near Guanta oil well #8 -> Click to enlarge

    Maria Villasis sweeps in front of her barn on her farm near Guanta oil well #8

  • Maria Villasis shows the scar from an operation to remove her diseased gallbladder at her farm near Guanta oil well #8 -> Click to enlarge

    Maria Villasis shows the scar from an operation to remove her diseased gallbladder at her farm near Guanta oil well #8

  • Cofan elder Esteban Lucitante holds palm leaves and prays for peace before a march against ChevronTexaco in Lago Agrio -> Click to enlarge

    Cofan elder Esteban Lucitante holds palm leaves and prays for peace before a march against ChevronTexaco in Lago Agrio

  • Huaorani women stand near military police before the start of march on the opening day of the trial against ChevronTexaco in Lago Agrio -> Click to enlarge

    Huaorani women stand near military police before the start of march on the opening day of the trial against ChevronTexaco in Lago Agrio

  • Demonstrators march to the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against ChevronTexaco on October 21, 2003 -> Click to enlarge

    Demonstrators march to the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against ChevronTexaco on October 21, 2003

  • Secoya elders march to the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against Chevron Texaco -> Click to enlarge

    Secoya elders march to the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against Chevron Texaco

  • Military police in riot gear stand between demonstrators and the entrance to the courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against Chevron Texaco -> Click to enlarge

    Military police in riot gear stand between demonstrators and the entrance to the courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against Chevron Texaco

  • Ecuadorean Superior Court Judge Alberto Guerra speaks to a packed courtroom on the first day of a trial against ChevronTexaco in the Amazonian town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, October 21, 2003. Indigenous rainforest peoples have filed suit against ChevronTexaco seeking to force the corporation to clean up the environmental contamination left behind from Texaco's oil drilling operations in the Ecuadorean Amazon. -> Click to enlarge

    Ecuadorean Superior Court Judge Alberto Guerra speaks to a packed courtroom on the first day of a trial against ChevronTexaco in the Amazonian town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, October 21, 2003. Indigenous rainforest peoples have filed suit against ChevronTexaco seeking to force the corporation to clean up the environmental contamination left behind from Texaco's oil drilling operations in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

  • Amazonian Indians observe the first day of a trial against ChevronTexaco in the Amazonian town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, October 21, 2003. Indigenous rainforest peoples have filed suit against ChevronTexaco seeking to force the corporation to clean up the environmental contamination left behind from Texaco's oil drilling operations in the Ecuadorean Amazon. -> Click to enlarge

    Amazonian Indians observe the first day of a trial against ChevronTexaco in the Amazonian town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, October 21, 2003. Indigenous rainforest peoples have filed suit against ChevronTexaco seeking to force the corporation to clean up the environmental contamination left behind from Texaco's oil drilling operations in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

  • Texaco Vice-President Ricardo Reis Veiga talks to the press in the Superior Court Courtroom in Lago Agrio on the first day of the trial against ChevronTexaco -> Click to enlarge

    Texaco Vice-President Ricardo Reis Veiga talks to the press in the Superior Court Courtroom in Lago Agrio on the first day of the trial against ChevronTexaco

  • Huaorani women march to the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against Chevron Texaco -> Click to enlarge

    Huaorani women march to the Superior Court of Justice Courthouse in Lago Agrio at the start of the trial against Chevron Texaco

  • A Secoya elder stands in front of a banner reading "Justice" during a demonstration at the start of the trial against ChevronTexaco in Lago Agrio -> Click to enlarge

    A Secoya elder stands in front of a banner reading "Justice" during a demonstration at the start of the trial against ChevronTexaco in Lago Agrio