Oil & Water
They don’t mix. Oil companies have been exploiting and contaminating with impunity for over 43 years in the headwaters of the Amazon.
Environmental & Humanitarian Crisis
Severe levels of toxic waste have been found throughout the region, causing widespread illness and ecological devastation.
Five indigenous nationalities have united to form a movement for justice, health, and peace.
Four major river basins in the Peruvian Amazon – the Marañón, Tigre, Corrientes, and Pastaza – are reeling in the wake of over four decades of oil exploitation. Since March 2013 all of these areas have been declared environmental and humanitarian crisis zones. However, the only thing the people have received from the government is scientific proof that their families are slowly being poisoned.
The Quechua, Achuar, Urarina, Kichwa, and Kukama Kukamiria people have been abandoned by government inaction, with zero access to clean water, safe food, or adequate health care.
They have witnessed the devastation of their rivers, lakes, forests, and soils and felt sickness eating away at their families, communities and ancestral way of life. Unable to bear the deafening silence of their government in the face of such blatant social and environmental injustice, their voices are now rising in unity to denounce the pain and suffering that has become their daily bread.
PASTAZA tells the story of the Quechua federation from the Pastaza river, FEDIQUEP, and their dedicated leader, Aurelio Chino Dahua, whose determination has brought his people to their feet to demand that those responsible pay
for their crimes against humanity and clean up the rainforest. The film shows the many faces of those on the front lines of this struggle, professing their love of the Amazon; their grief at its destruction; and their devotion to peace, health, life, and water.
The Amazon is literally the heart of the planet, providing roughly 20% of our fresh water and land-based oxygen, while affecting global weather systems. Additionally, it holds extraordinary biodiversity and is a living library of indigenous knowledge. What affects the Amazon affects us all.