Dear Friends,

Yesterday, Mariana Jimenez, a grandmother from the Ecuadorean Amazon, looked over the edge of a boat in the Gulf of Mexico at coastal marshlands choked with dark, sticky crude. The oil had gushed from BP's leaking oil well 5,000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf, some 100 miles from where Mariana stood in the boat, trying to rub the tar-like crude from her fingers.

Mariana is one of four Indigenous and community leaders from Ecuador who have journeyed to the Gulf Coast to stand with local communities affected by the spill and offer lessons based on their own experience of confronting Chevron's devastation of their rainforest home.

BP's Gulf spill has helped shine a spotlight on the dangers of drilling. But all too often, the front-line communities that bear the brunt of our addiction to oil are far from the headlines.

Watch the powerful video and help us amplify the voices of the front-line communities by sharing the video and spreading the word.

Yesterday, the delegation visited some of the front-line communities on the Gulf Coast, meeting leaders from Native American tribes deeply threatened by the oil choking the coastal marshes that serve as nurseries for the fish, crabs, shrimp, and oysters that support their traditional way of life. 

Chief Rosina Philippe of the Atakapa-Ishak Native American tribe of Grand Bayou Village, told us, "People see the oil in the grass, in the marsh, and that's all they see. But it's so much more than that. It's life and death... life and death." She expressed fear for her people's future, while her teenage daughter stood behind.

The Ecuadoreans described their own torment at the hands of American oil giant Chevron, which dumped billions of gallons of toxic wastewater and millions more gallons of oil into their lands, decimating local Indigenous communities and leaving behind a legacy of cancer and poverty.

The Ecuadoreans then shared some of the lessons they've learned from dealing with such an oil disaster, outlined in a report that they brought for the Gulf Coast communities: stay united; don't trust the company to look out for your interests; plan for the long-term; focus on cultural survival.

In conjunction with Amazon Watch and our allies at Rainforest Action Network, the affected communities in Ecuador will formally present the report at a Town Hall forum tomorrow evening with the United Houma Nation, another Native American tribe facing severe affects from BP's oil spill. Entitled The Lasting Stain of Oil: Cautionary Tales and Lessons from the Amazon, the report details some of the hidden health, environmental, cultural, and economic impacts of an oil disaster, as well as lessons for holding the polluter accountable and planning for long-term recovery. Download & read (and share!) the report here.

This week's visit, based on solidarity and mutual support between oil-affected communities on the front-lines, is designed to support local native tribes and other Gulf Coast residents in their recovery, and efforts to hold BP accountable.

From the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador to the Gulf of Mexico, we continue to witness the horrific impact of Big Oil, whether deliberately destructive, or merely reckless, in its quest for ever-bigger profits.

By standing in solidarity with communities from the Amazon to the Gulf Coast who are fighting for cleanup or defending their lands from drilling, Amazon Watch is among the organizations and individuals working to transform this tragedy into a breakthrough moment in the transition to a clean energy future. 

We know you're with us in this urgent project, and hope that you'll join this effort on the Gulf Coast by spreading the word.

Please join us ('like' us) on Facebook, follow our updates on Twitter, visit our ChevroninEcuador.com blog, and share the latest news with your friends, family and contacts across your social media networks.

We'll continue to report on this powerful delegation from the Amazon to the Gulf Coast for the rest of the week, and you'll find plenty of photos, videos, and stories to share.

On the Louisiana Gulf Coast,

Mitch Anderson & Han Shan
Amazon Watch