The campaign arms California Latinos with the truth. A state-wide campaign is launched to combat oil companies’ public relations efforts to deceive California Latino communities about the harm they cause while pocketing billions in profits.
Los Angeles, CA – A coalition of environmental organizations in California unveiled “Don’t Let Them Deceive You,” a campaign to expose the lies that big oil producers tell Latinos while fattening their profit margins at our expense.
Led by the community and launched by the grassroots environmental coalition La Mesa, California, the campaign exposes the lies that big oil companies have been telling our community for years while polluting our air, harming our health, and enriching themselves. The campaign encourages public and political support for measures that truly protect the health of California’s Latino communities, including:
- Ending drilling and oil wells in our neighborhoods and among our farms and lands.
- Holding oil companies accountable for cleaning up the mess they’ve left in our communities during decades of drilling in our environment.
- Adopting measures that promote clean transportation, including electric vehicles, electric charging infrastructure, and lithium technology.
“It’s time for the Latino community to confront big oil companies and their lies,” said Martha Argüello, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, a founding member of La Mesa. “We need a transition to clean and healthy energy, and we must make the oil industry clean up the mess it has made in our community. Our communities have borne the brunt of the health and environmental impacts of this industry for too long. NO MORE.”
“Spanish-speaking communities in California don’t need oil companies to speak for them,” said César Aguirre, associate director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network. “Frontline communities of color have borne the externalized costs of oil companies’ health burdens and medical bills for too long. Having been the most affected, these communities deserve to be the catalyst for a just transition, not the reason we fall behind.”
“The climate crisis affects us all, but it has a greater impact on low-income farmworker families in the San Joaquin Valley and similar regions,” said Rey León, CEO of The LEAP Institute in Huron, CA. “The solution lies in developing, creating, and implementing alternatives that combat the crisis while empowering the community through economic, social, and environmental justice. Pursuing a status quo based on oil is untenable for our people, our planet, and our wallets.”
“Electric vehicles play a crucial role in promoting health by reducing air pollution and mitigating the impact of climate change,” said Luis Olmedo, executive director of the Civic Committee of the Valley, an environmental justice organization in the Imperial Valley. “With zero emissions, they contribute to cleaner air, improving respiratory health and overall community well-being. At the Civic Committee of the Valley, we believe that electric vehicles align with a sustainable future that prioritizes both people’s health and the environment. That’s why we’re joining the Don’t Let Them Deceive You campaign.”
“I worked as a domestic worker for 15 years,” said Sandra López, a Los Angeles resident who lives near the Interstate 5 freeway. “About five years ago, I was diagnosed with asthma, and since then, I haven’t been able to do many activities. I can’t spend much time outdoors, and I’ve had to stop working. I no longer have income and can’t help my husband with rent or basic groceries, whose prices have skyrocketed. I observe and compare, and I see that gasoline is more expensive in our neighborhood, maybe because we’re all Latinos here.”
