Mexico, Sep 15 (Prensa Latina) Work to rescue 63 corpses of miners who were trapped 14 years ago in the Pasta de Conchos mine in Santa Rita, Coahuila, will begin immediately, sources from the Mexican government confirmed today.
The disaster occurred on February 19, 2006 when several tunnels collapsed in the Nueva Rosita coal mine, operated by Grupo México, the largest company of its kind in the country.
Its owner, billionaire Germán Larrea Mota Velasco, is accused by the Union of Miners of doing practically nothing to rescue the remains of the workers, blocking all management in this regard, misrepresenting the facts, hiding the causes of the explosion and not paying compensation to affected families.
The businessman has not been tried for this or many other ecological crimes such as dumping pollutants in the Gulf of California, spilling sulfuric acid in rivers and seas of Sonora and other 127 infractions documented by environmentalists and the Miners’ Union.
He has never even apologized for his ecocide and continues with the current contracts despite his black history of a polluting company, according to information from the organization Grupo Poder and the union whose leaders were persecuted as denounced by its leader, Senator Napoleón Urrutia .
After many and insistent claims from relatives and the union, the federal government and relatives of the miners who died in 2006, signed the day before an eight-point agreement to initiate a rescue that could have been made at the time of the accident, according to Urrutia , instead of stopping the works as ordered by Larrea Mota.
Witnesses still survive of the repeated notifications to the company of the gas overload at the mine that the owners apparently dismissed, which is the probable cause of the accident, according to the union.
Yesterday’s agreement is between the government and family members and the company is not mentioned, which continues to operate in the country as if nothing had happened, union sources indicate.
After that meeting, headed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the participants decided to immediately start the rescue of the bodies through the Federal Electricity Commission.
Likewise, starting today, Tuesday, the process of comprehensive reparation, both individual and collective, begins, which includes the payment of compensation, the execution of public works, the tribute to the victims in a memorial yet to be built, as well as a Friendly Settlement Agreement in accordance with the provisions of the Inter-American Human Rights System.
Original Article: https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=59787&SEO=mexico-will-begin-rescue-of-miners-buried-14-years-ago
