Chevron in Ecuador

The archive of the Clean Up Ecuador campaign website


A Hero CNN Won't Fight For

By Richard Johnson, New York Post
13 December 2007

CNN isn't very enthusiastic about one of the six "heroes" honored last week on its show, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." Pablo Fajardo of Ecuador was saluted in the "Fighting for Justice" category for his lifelong effort "to force one of the world's largest oil corporations to pay more than $6 billion to clean up toxic waste in the Amazon rain forest." CNN never named Chevron, a big advertiser on CNN, as the oil company. While the CNN Web site has "How to Help" links for all the other "heroes," the link to chevrontoxico.com, the Web site of Fajardo's Amazon Defense Coalition, was removed two days before the show aired. "There are people in CNN who pushed for Pablo to get the award," said lawyer Steven Danziger, who has worked with Fajardo for years. "They are very angry the link was removed." When CNN later reinstated the link, it included Chevron's Web site as well. "Because this is ongoing litigation, we are providing information from both sides of the case," a CNN rep told Page Six. " 'CNN Heroes' honored Pablo Fajardo for his personal commitment and passion to helping his fellow citizens. We have no point of view on this legal dispute."