Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - The Bishop of Saltillo, Mgr.Raul Vera Lopez, has warned that until the federal government bans the so-called "Pozos coal" (coal wells) for the extraction of coal and and will not force coal mining companies towards a more rigorous approach to safety standards, workers will continue to die from accidents at work, such as what happened last Tuesday, with the explosion that occurred in the number 3 well of the company Beneficios Internacionales del Norte (Binsa).
The Bishop has called on the authorities, especially the Secretaries of Labor and Social Security and the Economy, to stop ignoring the facts and to end this situation of "modern slavery" suffered by the miners. He also asked the Ministry of Economy not to grant permission to operate in these conditions, because, he said, "the illegal wells, become tolerated tombs." In an interview with a local newspaper (La Jornada), Mgr.Vera Lopez said it is a mistake to say that one tolerates the activity of the wells because they are sources of employment, when in fact "they are sources of exploitation and death ".
The Bishop also criticized the statements that a district manager issued to a number of radio stations on the impossibility to fully control the territory, due to the lack of a sufficient number of inspectors and for the difficulty to detect mines. "It is still an excuse," said the Bishop. "How can you say you do not know where the wells are , when they can be seen . Maybe Lozano (in charge of the area) has never been to a mining area in his life."
Mgr.Vera in the end claimed that if the authorities really had the will to act against the "employers of wells, with very few inspectors " one could close everything, " adding that many things you do not want to see, because they are covered by “corruption,” where in the Pasta de Conchos area 65 miners have died and another 63 have been left buried. (EC) (Agenzia Fides 06/05/2011)
