Mexican Senator Accuses Mine CEO of Digging Tomb for Workers

Mexican mining union leader and senator for the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party Napoleon Gomez Urrutia accused businessman German Larrea of being responsible for the Pasta de Conchos mine blast, where 65 miners died.

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Larrea was accused of not making the necessary efforts to rescue the victims, going against the guild's criteria as the search ceased when there were still hopes that those miners were alive. The businessman denies any wrong doing.

Gomez Urrutia denounced that the Pasta de Conchos concession was now being given away 14 years after the blast because Larrea, the head of Grupo Mexico and one of Mexico’s richest billionaires, only seeks to evade his responsibility in the tragedy.

Along with other senators from the MORENA party and members of the Union's Executive Committee, Gomez Urrutia stated that they contiue demanding decent and fair compensations, as well as the investigations to be reactivated in order to determine the responsibility of Grupo Mexico mining corporation and the government of Vicente Fox, who allegedly covered up the chain of interests and the corruption.

The Pasta de Conchos mine blast took place in northern Coahuila state.

The mine was operated by Grupo Mexico, one of Latin America’s largest miners. 

A special prosecutor for the case blamed Grupo Mexico for allowing a deadly mix of methane, heat and oxygen to build up in the mine, failing to build proper ventilation shafts or to neutralize explosive coal dust. Government inspectors who failed to enforce the necessary safety precautions were also implicated.