Postal address Postbus 9208, 3506 GE Utrecht
Embassy of Mexico in the Netherlands The Honourable Jorge Lomonaco Tonda, Ambassador Nassauplein 28 2585 EC THE HAGUE
Date
Ext ension number
February 4, 2011
030-2738276
Our reference
102/HvdK/AN/ah Subject
Global action trade union actions
Dear Mr. Ambassador, In the early hours of February 19, 2006 a fireball exploded in the bow els of Grupo México’ s Past a de Conchos coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila, t riggering cave-ins all along the 2.8 km number eight shaft and trapping 65 miners hundreds of met ers below the earth. When 33 miners w ere trapped underground at t he San José mine in August 2010, the Chilean government sw ung into action and 69 days lat er all 33 w orkers w ere rescued. In stark contrast, rescue ef forts w ere stopped aft er only five days in Mexico, w hen f amilies w ere only a f ew metres aw ay from t heir trapped loved ones. As Grupo México and the Mexican government halted rescue eff orts, disconnecting the electricity making any continuation of the search impossible, they also made it impossible to carry out a proper investigation into t he cause of t he mine collapse, believed by many t o be illegal saf ety conditions in t he mine. Almost five years later, t he bodies of 63 of t he 65 miners t hat died at Past a de Conchos remain buried and the Mexican government has failed t o investigat e or prosecute those responsible. Their w idow s and f amilies have never been properly compensated. Since February 2006, t he Mexican government has systematically and repeat edly violat ed Mexican law and international standards in an attempt to crush the Mexican Miners’ Union. The union’ s democratically elected General Secret ary has been f orced t o lead Los Mineros from exile in Canada as t he Mexican Government and Grupo México continue a sham legal process against him.