It was 4 am when a prison guard walking down the halls of the Cereso prison in the resort city of Mazatlan, Sinaloa made a shocking discovery. All the inmates from Module 8 were gone. The alarm was sounded, the warden notified. 4 hours later the news astounded Sinaloa state, Mexico and the world.
97 prisoners had escaped through a narrow tunnel that barely made it five feet out of the perimeteral wall.
All was confusion at the Mazatlan CERESO (Social Readaptation Center in English) the morning of November 14th, 1989. Sometime during the night, ninety seven prisoners had escaped in what was already being dubbed "The Break of the Century" by the Mexican media. Almost immediately, Cuautemoc Conde Garcia, the prison warden, his brother a Judicial Police agent and all of the staff working the night shift was arrested. How had 97 inmates, most of them in prison for drug trafficking charges, had vanished so easily?
Upon inspection they found a small hole in the floor, under a cot inside Cell Number 20. Following the hole and narrow tunnel, they found it led to another opening, mere feet from the prisons walls. Then it was every man for himself, the inmates escaped into the surrounding foliage and hills.
Roadblocks were set up throught Mazatlan and Sinaloa state. One of the escaped was cousin of drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, and others were related to Manuel Salcido Uzeta "Crazy Pig", drug boss of Mazatlan. 2 inmates were quickly recaptured. One was found drunk in the street, beligerently waving a bottle another one was arrested near the jail.
While the inmates sought refuge in the Sierra Madre, Warden Conde Garcia and his brother and other guards were being harshly interrogated at the Attorney General's Offices in Mazatlan. A desk was moved aside at Antonio Rosales de la Garzas office and a board set up on two chairs. On it, Conde and the 25 other guards arrested were tortured using "waterboarding methods". They told Conde Garcia they would drill a hole in his teeth and stick electrical wires to shock him unless he confessed to having being bribed to let the prisoners escape.
At Conde and his brothers home, police confiscated millions of Pesos claiming the brothers had been bribed in other to let the tunnel be built and allowing the escape. Conde vehemently denied this and publicly denounced his torture at the PGR headquarters. He had been shocked with cattle prods in his gums and on his testicles. On November 24, Cuahtemoc Conde attempted suicide by throwing himself off a staircase at the PGR offices. He survived with minor injuries and was taken to the Naval Hospital. There Mexican Navy officials protected him and prevented any further torture.
Months later, Antonio Rosales de la Garza and others were arrested for torture and other charges for the injuries inflicted on Conde and the others. They were sent precisely to the CERESO in Mazatlan.
Months after the escape, reporters for Culiacan newspaper Noroeste visited the prison and the tunnel. Some of the inmates that escaped were fat and robust and could have not fit inside the small openings and narrow tunnel. The reporters alleged that it was all a plot against Conde Garcia, the building of a fake tunnel, the liberation of prisoners through other means, all aimed at destroying Conde, who had been director of the CERESO for a few months. All orchestrated, by unknown Sinaloa state officials.
This claim is also supported by Conde, who to this day refuses to name the officials whom he says are still active politically and have the power "to kill him".
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Guillermo Carrillo Arena: Mass Murderer of Thousands
Architect Guillermo Carrillo Arena oversaw many new government projects that would revolutionize the capital city of Mexico in the 60's and 70's.
New projects that would create jobs, aid the poor, and provide shelter for poor and middle class families in Mexico City.
He oversaw the constructions of many tall buildings in downtown Mexico DF and the people were happy with the construction boom that provided so much for the 18 million people who called the valley of Mexico home.
In 1970, the dilapidated Hospital Juarez was renovated and a new 12 story "Hospitalization Tower" was erected on the corner of Jesus Maria and San Pablo streets, near El Zocalo. Built with two wings, it provided 500 more hospital beds, a maternity ward, surgery hall, and a helipad on the roof. This new hospital would provide care for the needy and poor families of the capital.
In the late 60's the huge Nonoalco Tlatelolco Housing Project was built. Huge apartment towers lumbered over ancient aztec ruins and the colonial church of Santiago near the Plaza of the Three Cultures. These housing units provided affordable shelter for working class families, with some towers providing luxury apartments and condos for well off families.
Across from General Hospital, he was a key architect in the ambitious Multifamiliar Benito Juarez housing project. More than a dozen new apartment blocks were built, all for the benefit of the middle class.
Carrillo Arena oversaw projects at the National Medical Center, and the building of Hotels and Condos in the crowded downtown area. He was so successful that he was soon named Minister of the Urban Development and Ecology Secretariat (SEDUE in spanish acronym Secretaria de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia) under President Miguel de la Madrid in the early 1980s.
Then on September 19th, 1985 the worst natural disaster to strike Mexico City in modern times, hit.
An 8.1 earthquake rocked the capital city for 90 seconds. Killing thousands of people.
The 12 story Hospitalization Tower at Hospital Juarez completely collapsed, killing patients, doctors, nurses and newborns. Around 500 bodies were pulled from the monstrous pile of rubble.
Two wings of the 14 story Nuevo Leon building at the Nonoalco Tlatelolco housing projects also came crashing to the ground killing more than 400 people, including 5 relatives of famous spanish tenor Placido Domingo
The Gynecology/Obstetrics tower at General Hospital, seven stories in all became a tomb for 100 new mothers, doctors and infants. Countless apartment buildings, hotels and office towers completely failed during the huge quake, which was followed by a 7.5 aftershock the next day.
Across the street the scene was equally devastating at the Multifamiliar Benito Juarez. 3 apartment blocks, the A1, B2, and C3, had completely collapsed, killing, injuring and emtombing dozens of people.
At the ruins of Juarez Hospital and General Hospital, rescue workers found that many of the support beams had unreinforced rebar in them. Many beams didnt even have rebar and most of the materials used were found to be of low quality. The walls in many of the buildings simply crumbled as if made of sand.
Shoddy construction methods, negligence and corruption had led to the failure of many of the buildings designed or whose building was supervised by Minister Carrillo Arena.
Many of the buildings had been weakened and damaged in previous temblor and nothing had been done to repair them. Money granted to make repairs simply "dissapeared.
The public was outraged. Visible corruption and abuse of power by Carrillo Arena and other officials caused the populace and survivors of the mega quakes to rally in the streets and demand his head.
Carrillo Arena attempted to satisfy the survivors needs by creating commisions to investigate and build new housing for those left homeless: only one catch. The housing was not going to be free. Those, left with nothing but the clothing on their back would have to fork over thousands of pesos for new housing designed and provided by the wonderful PRI controlled government.
After much public outcry and evidence of shady deals against him, Guillermo Carrillo Arena resigned as Minister of SEDUE in February 1986.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Jardines del Humaya: Sinaloa's Valley of the Kings
South of the Sinaloan state capital city of Culiacan there is a place famous for its ostentatious mausoleums that resemble small homes.
They are built for a kind of Sinaloan Pharoah: Drug Kingpins.
The Jardines del Humaya cemetary is the final resting place for the who's who of Mexican Organized Crime. Old time kingpins who fell in a hail of police or enemy bullets mixed with the noveau narcos who suffered the same fate.
1970's drug boss Lamberto Quintero Paez, immortalized in Corridos and movies is buried here in a modest glass and concrete crypt. His picture outside the glass doors is surrounded by AR-15 shell casings.
Ex Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Baltazar Diaz Vega who was shot to death by police in Mexico City in 1994 and also praised in the famous corrido "Se Les Pelo Baltazar" is also buried here, his picture showing him in a stetson and riding his beloved horse. Gilberto "El Chapo" Caro Rodriguez, who died in a hail of bullets and grenade blasts in May 1992 also lies nearby, near his aviator nephew Onofre Landell, who was also killed with him.
Gonzalo "Chalo" Araujo; the wife and children of Hector Palma Salazar "El Guero and Arturo Beltran Leyva "El Barbas" also lie here, in Jardines del Humaya. Old time kingpin Jose Ines Calderon Quintero, killed in a 1988 shootout with Federales, and his compadre Ramon Beltran lie side by side in adjacent crypts.
The desceased mafiosos are often buried in mausoleums made of fine stone, some being 2 stories high. One is a minature replica of the Culiacan cathedral. Some cost up to $100,000 dollars.
They have Air Conditioning, lighting, music systems, so that friends and family can enjoy visiting their departed loved ones. Life sized portraits adorn many crypts, showing smiling men holding AK-47s or showing their shiny new pick up or SUV in the background.
Its not rare to hear Norteno trios singing songs and corridos or a Sinaloense banda playing music on the birthday of a fallen narco. Mysterious unsmiling men mill about the cemetary, noting who comes and who goes.
But not everyone who rests here is a narco. Manuel J. Clouthier, PAN presidential candidate in 1988 and Sinaloa native also lays here in Jardines del Humaya. He died in a 1989 car crash.
All in Culiacan's Valley of the Kings, the final resting place for many of Sinaloa's Good Ol' Boys.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
One Last Call
November 9th, 1999
The man milled about the Uruapan, Michoacan airport terminal. He was uneasy. A Strange feeling inside him. Thoughts racing through his head. He had recently had a fight with his wife. He felt really bad. He would soon board a flight to Mexico City but he would soon return.
Before boarding his flight he summed up the courage to call his wife. Forget the problems, forget the fighting. Start anew. He dropped some pesos into the phone and dialed the number. No answer, just the machine.
So he left the message: "Baby, its me. Sorry for everything thats happened.I feel like working things out. I dont know, I feel strange. Dont know why. Just wanna call you and say I love you. Ill be back in Uruapan in a few days. I miss you. Love you.
Minutes later Transportes Aereos Ejecutivos S.A (TAESA) Flight 725 from Tijuana landed in Uruapan. It had a layover in Guadalajara where 83 passengers had descended. In Uruapan only he and a few others boarded the DC-9 bound for Mexico City.
He thought about his wife and how they would soon start anew upon coming back from Mexico City. But the strange feeling didnt leave him. He boarded Flight 725 and buckled up. The jet taxied down the runway and took off.
5 minutes later and 14 kilometers from Uruapan airport, Flight 725's captain declared an emergency. The planes slats on the right wing had stuck.
"Slats...slats...slats, slats!" were the last words on the Flight Data Recorder of TAESA Flight 725.
The DC-9 with 18 passengers and crew aboard rolled over on its roof and plunged, crashing onto an avocado orchard and exploding near La Tzararacua, Michoacan. There were no survivors.
The wife watched the report on the disaster on the late news that night. She had heard her husbands final, heart wrenching message on the answering machine.
Stunned and in shock she sat down. She couldnt help but cry.
The man milled about the Uruapan, Michoacan airport terminal. He was uneasy. A Strange feeling inside him. Thoughts racing through his head. He had recently had a fight with his wife. He felt really bad. He would soon board a flight to Mexico City but he would soon return.
Before boarding his flight he summed up the courage to call his wife. Forget the problems, forget the fighting. Start anew. He dropped some pesos into the phone and dialed the number. No answer, just the machine.
So he left the message: "Baby, its me. Sorry for everything thats happened.I feel like working things out. I dont know, I feel strange. Dont know why. Just wanna call you and say I love you. Ill be back in Uruapan in a few days. I miss you. Love you.
Minutes later Transportes Aereos Ejecutivos S.A (TAESA) Flight 725 from Tijuana landed in Uruapan. It had a layover in Guadalajara where 83 passengers had descended. In Uruapan only he and a few others boarded the DC-9 bound for Mexico City.
He thought about his wife and how they would soon start anew upon coming back from Mexico City. But the strange feeling didnt leave him. He boarded Flight 725 and buckled up. The jet taxied down the runway and took off.
5 minutes later and 14 kilometers from Uruapan airport, Flight 725's captain declared an emergency. The planes slats on the right wing had stuck.
"Slats...slats...slats, slats!" were the last words on the Flight Data Recorder of TAESA Flight 725.
The DC-9 with 18 passengers and crew aboard rolled over on its roof and plunged, crashing onto an avocado orchard and exploding near La Tzararacua, Michoacan. There were no survivors.
The wife watched the report on the disaster on the late news that night. She had heard her husbands final, heart wrenching message on the answering machine.
Stunned and in shock she sat down. She couldnt help but cry.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Deadly New Years in Guadalajara
Juan woke up in the middle of the night. His stomach hurt. He had drank countless times before but this time he felt strange. "Man, I need to stop drinking" he thought as many of us have thought when a horrible hangover assaults us.He remembered the previous night's New Years party where he and friends had consumed bottle after bottle of tequila. He went back to sleep.
He awoke again almost at dawn. His stomach hurt even more. Now it burned horribly and when he got up he vomited. He couldnt see straight. He awoke his wife "Vieja, something is wrong, please take me to the clinic".
His wife rushed Juan to Guadalajara's Number 6 Clinic in the Polanco neighborhood. Upon reaching the clinic, he collapsed on the tile floor. Juan was dead.
Juan's mysterious stomachaches were not the only ones reported at Clinic Number 6 that New Years morning. 5 more people had been there before Juan, and after Juans death, 10 more people came in, complaning of burning, vomiting and horrible stomach cramps. 4 of them died.
That New Years Day morning in 1968, the city of Guadalajara's hospitals and clinics in the southern neighborhoods had dozens of people reporting the symptoms, which pointed to mass poisoning. The first cases, were of people staggering blindly into police stations or talking incoherently. They were tossed into the drunk tanks, where later they were found to be dead.
More and more people would die on January 1st and 2nd. Dozens were hospitalized the first week of January as city and state authorities scrambled to find the source of the mass poisoning.
Upon investigating they concluded that all the persons affected had one thing in common. They had all consumed cheap homemade tequila. Unbeknown to Guadalajara city authorities, more cases of poisoning were being reported throughout villages and towns in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guanajuato states. The death toll mounted. 40 persons were now dead by the end of the first week of January 1968.
Authorities soon found out most of the victims had purchased bottles of homemade hooch at the small neighborhood store Tendejon La Rosita, in the Polanco neighborhood. The owner was questioned and he told authorities that the vendor of the poison tequila was a man from the country whose name he could not remember.
City authorities quickly raced throughout the city streets using loudspeakers and bullhorns and warning residents to not drink any tequila purchased from La Rosita.
The man was found and arrested and charged with negligence and homicide and illegally brewing tequila, a major crime in Jalisco state, home of the Tequila liquor, which manufacture and distribution is heavily regulated by the Tequila Regulatory Commision.
The man, an illiterate peasant told police he had made the hooch in a still at his home using cans he had found at the city dump, which he assured, he had washed and cleaned thouroughly.
Unknown to the man, one of the discarded barrels he had used to make the moonshine, had been used in a factory to store a highly poisonous and corrosive industrial chemical, which then mixed with the booze. To make matters worse he added deadly methyl alcohol to give his brew a special "kick". The consequences were fatal.
The man, who cried and lamented the horror and death he had caused by wanting to earn a few pesos during the holidays was sentenced to several years in prison.
His fate after that is unknown. But the memories of Guadalajara's painful and deadly New Year celebrations of 1968 are still remembered by those who lived through them.
He awoke again almost at dawn. His stomach hurt even more. Now it burned horribly and when he got up he vomited. He couldnt see straight. He awoke his wife "Vieja, something is wrong, please take me to the clinic".
His wife rushed Juan to Guadalajara's Number 6 Clinic in the Polanco neighborhood. Upon reaching the clinic, he collapsed on the tile floor. Juan was dead.
Juan's mysterious stomachaches were not the only ones reported at Clinic Number 6 that New Years morning. 5 more people had been there before Juan, and after Juans death, 10 more people came in, complaning of burning, vomiting and horrible stomach cramps. 4 of them died.
That New Years Day morning in 1968, the city of Guadalajara's hospitals and clinics in the southern neighborhoods had dozens of people reporting the symptoms, which pointed to mass poisoning. The first cases, were of people staggering blindly into police stations or talking incoherently. They were tossed into the drunk tanks, where later they were found to be dead.
More and more people would die on January 1st and 2nd. Dozens were hospitalized the first week of January as city and state authorities scrambled to find the source of the mass poisoning.
Upon investigating they concluded that all the persons affected had one thing in common. They had all consumed cheap homemade tequila. Unbeknown to Guadalajara city authorities, more cases of poisoning were being reported throughout villages and towns in Jalisco, Michoacan and Guanajuato states. The death toll mounted. 40 persons were now dead by the end of the first week of January 1968.
Authorities soon found out most of the victims had purchased bottles of homemade hooch at the small neighborhood store Tendejon La Rosita, in the Polanco neighborhood. The owner was questioned and he told authorities that the vendor of the poison tequila was a man from the country whose name he could not remember.
City authorities quickly raced throughout the city streets using loudspeakers and bullhorns and warning residents to not drink any tequila purchased from La Rosita.
The man was found and arrested and charged with negligence and homicide and illegally brewing tequila, a major crime in Jalisco state, home of the Tequila liquor, which manufacture and distribution is heavily regulated by the Tequila Regulatory Commision.
The man, an illiterate peasant told police he had made the hooch in a still at his home using cans he had found at the city dump, which he assured, he had washed and cleaned thouroughly.
Unknown to the man, one of the discarded barrels he had used to make the moonshine, had been used in a factory to store a highly poisonous and corrosive industrial chemical, which then mixed with the booze. To make matters worse he added deadly methyl alcohol to give his brew a special "kick". The consequences were fatal.
The man, who cried and lamented the horror and death he had caused by wanting to earn a few pesos during the holidays was sentenced to several years in prison.
His fate after that is unknown. But the memories of Guadalajara's painful and deadly New Year celebrations of 1968 are still remembered by those who lived through them.
Inferno and Horror on Ramon Corona Street
Christmastime was in full gear that gray December afternoon. Thousands of Mexico City residents thronged the narrow street stalls surrounding the sprawling La Merced Market, east of the Zocalo. Many shopped for Christmas present, others for candles and fireworks in honor of the Day of the Virgen of Guadalupe, celebrated every December 12th, which would be the next day.
La Merced market is a huge complex of different markets east of the downtown area in the seedy and notorious La Merced neighborhood. Prostitutes and pickpockets abound. The market is divided into several areas: The Meat market, the vegetable market, the flower market, the herb market and the Ampudia Market, which is mostly candy and toys.
None of the unsuspecting people crowding Ramon Corona Street, next to Ampudia Market, imagined the hellish horror that would be unleashed that day.
Illegal Fireworks are often sold in the city and throughout the country. Though forbidden, fireworks form a part of Mexican life and culture. Illegal or Legal, they are easily found hidden under the candy stalls in Ampudia Market. Stashed in a corner, hidden in the countless boxes and crates that crowd Merced market, people fear them but also turn the other way. Improperly handled, they can unleash a holocaust of death and fire. On December 11th, 1988, tragedy rocked Ampudia Market.
Nobody to this day knows how it started, but a fire broke out at a candy stall on Corona Street. A fire that quickly reached a box of illegal fireworks, which then began to burn and detonate. Dozens of people ran terrified at the sound of the exploding fireworks and gunpowder, which started a flash fire that quickly raced down the stalls, incinerating everything in its path: people, paper, candy and more fireworks.
More fireworks exploded as the screams of the victims burning alive were heard all throught La Merced market. Then came the huge blast.
The fire reached a warehouse in a building in Ampudia Market and exploded. Pounds of gunpowder, used in the making of the fireworks, blew up, killing dozens of people. The fire still raged inside the Ampudia building, spreading to apartments on the upper floors. Dozens were trapped behind the iron roll up doors of the market storerooms where they sought refuge from the fire and explosions. These storerooms proved to be deathtraps as many contained even more fireworks, which then exploded.
Red Cross ambulances and firefighters quickly raced to La Merced market and extinguished the fire on Corona Street. The toll was grim. 72 persons had been killed in the blasts and fire, including 12 children and 25 women. 83 more persons were injured or burned and required treatment.
The day after, The Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City mayor Manuel Camacho Solis toured the fire-ruined area. Dozens of relatives of the dead mobbed him demanding justice. Vendors who lost everything tossed down soggy and burned cardboard and debris at the mayor demanding those responsible for the negligence and corruption of allowing clandestine fireworks to be sold in such a populated area.
He declared the sale of fireworks illegal in the Federal District and the Valley of Mexico (Mexico City greater area). None of the vendors responsible for the tragedy had valid permits. Rarely any ever do.
It wasnt the last fireworks related disaster at La Merced or in Mexico. Fires routinely break out at the market, but none have been as devastating as the one on December 11th 1988.
In 1999, a market exploded in Celaya, Guanajuato, due to the burning of an illegal cache of gunpowder and fireworks. 65 were killed. On New Years Eve 2002 the Veracruz city market burned, killing 32.
In 1998, in Tultepec, an illegal fireworks shop blew up, devastating 5 city blocks, and killing 20.
La Merced market is a huge complex of different markets east of the downtown area in the seedy and notorious La Merced neighborhood. Prostitutes and pickpockets abound. The market is divided into several areas: The Meat market, the vegetable market, the flower market, the herb market and the Ampudia Market, which is mostly candy and toys.
None of the unsuspecting people crowding Ramon Corona Street, next to Ampudia Market, imagined the hellish horror that would be unleashed that day.
Illegal Fireworks are often sold in the city and throughout the country. Though forbidden, fireworks form a part of Mexican life and culture. Illegal or Legal, they are easily found hidden under the candy stalls in Ampudia Market. Stashed in a corner, hidden in the countless boxes and crates that crowd Merced market, people fear them but also turn the other way. Improperly handled, they can unleash a holocaust of death and fire. On December 11th, 1988, tragedy rocked Ampudia Market.
Nobody to this day knows how it started, but a fire broke out at a candy stall on Corona Street. A fire that quickly reached a box of illegal fireworks, which then began to burn and detonate. Dozens of people ran terrified at the sound of the exploding fireworks and gunpowder, which started a flash fire that quickly raced down the stalls, incinerating everything in its path: people, paper, candy and more fireworks.
More fireworks exploded as the screams of the victims burning alive were heard all throught La Merced market. Then came the huge blast.
The fire reached a warehouse in a building in Ampudia Market and exploded. Pounds of gunpowder, used in the making of the fireworks, blew up, killing dozens of people. The fire still raged inside the Ampudia building, spreading to apartments on the upper floors. Dozens were trapped behind the iron roll up doors of the market storerooms where they sought refuge from the fire and explosions. These storerooms proved to be deathtraps as many contained even more fireworks, which then exploded.
Red Cross ambulances and firefighters quickly raced to La Merced market and extinguished the fire on Corona Street. The toll was grim. 72 persons had been killed in the blasts and fire, including 12 children and 25 women. 83 more persons were injured or burned and required treatment.
The day after, The Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City mayor Manuel Camacho Solis toured the fire-ruined area. Dozens of relatives of the dead mobbed him demanding justice. Vendors who lost everything tossed down soggy and burned cardboard and debris at the mayor demanding those responsible for the negligence and corruption of allowing clandestine fireworks to be sold in such a populated area.
He declared the sale of fireworks illegal in the Federal District and the Valley of Mexico (Mexico City greater area). None of the vendors responsible for the tragedy had valid permits. Rarely any ever do.
It wasnt the last fireworks related disaster at La Merced or in Mexico. Fires routinely break out at the market, but none have been as devastating as the one on December 11th 1988.
In 1999, a market exploded in Celaya, Guanajuato, due to the burning of an illegal cache of gunpowder and fireworks. 65 were killed. On New Years Eve 2002 the Veracruz city market burned, killing 32.
In 1998, in Tultepec, an illegal fireworks shop blew up, devastating 5 city blocks, and killing 20.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Pilgrimage of Death
Every March, the festival in honor of the Holy Virgin of the Rosary gets started in the tiny mountaintop village of Talpa de Allende in Jalisco state. Hundreds of Roman Catholic pilgrims walk to the shrine of Our Lady of Talpa or crowd the aging Dina buses that make the perilous trip down the winding narrow road through the mountains. In 1980, the festival was marked by tragedy, a tragedy that sadly would be repeated throughout the years.
Our Lady of the Rosary is a small figurine made of old maize and corn paste, dating back to the 16th century. Legend has it that one day, the bishop of the nearby town of Mascota ordered the Virgin of Talpa to be sent to the Mascota town church instead of the crumbling basilica in Talpa.
The next morning, the statue of the Virgin of the Rosary was gone. Down the main aisle of the church tiny little foot prints could be seen. Upon inspection at the old church in Talpa it was discovered that the statue was once again on its pedestal at the main altar.
Surely the work of pranksters the Bishop declared. The Indians who lived in the area cried miracle. Once again the statue was taken to Mascota. This time with guards outside the locked doors of the church. Once again, without explanation, the statue would be in Talpa by morning. Talpa is about 20 miles from Mascota and in the 16th century that was a long distance to travel in such few hours.
Every March, a week long festival is held in the village of Talpa de Allende in honor of the virgin. Pilgrims from near and far visit Our Lady at the basilica, the third most visited Roman Catholic shrine in Mexico.
The morning of March 20, 1980, an aging Mexican made Dina bus left Guadalajara packed full of Roman Catholic pilgrims headed for Talpa.
They didnt know they would soon meet their death.
The bus was travelling at high speeds on the curvy, rain slicked road. Right near Cruz de Romero, a sightseeing spot in the mountain, topped with a huge concrete church, the bus driver lost control of the overcrowded bus. The bus smashed into the rock wall on the side of the highway and flipped over, tossing passengers to and fro inside the metallic coffin on wheels. The bus then plunged off the highway into a rocky wooded ravine, falling 600 feet.
Bloody broken bodies, pieced of seat and luggage spilled out all over the ravine and the bus practically disintegrated into a pile of smashed steel. The few motorists on the dangerous road who witnessed the tragic accident quickly notified the Federal Highway Police and authorities in town. Talpa de Allende, being a small isolated village and lacking a proper hospital, phoned in Red Cross ambulances from Mascota and Ameca, 4 hours away.
Paramedics and police upon arrival at the accident in ravine found a gruesome scene. Bloody muddy corpses of men women and children strewn around the rocky ravine. Candles and rosarys, mixed with pictures of the Virgin and bibles littered the ground. 43 persons had died. Another 15 were injured.
Police Commander Jorge Zamudio of the Federal Highway Police via phone interview with local news informed the horrendous accident was due to "excessive speed and lack of precaution in the rain". 43 persons had died in the terrible pilgrimage of death.
Tragically as cranes were being used to lift the bus' wreckage out of the ravine, a big rig carrying watermelons also lost its brakes going down the Cruz de Romero curve. The tractor trailer hit 2 ambulances and a police car, tumbling down the same ravine as the bus, hitting rescue workers and policemen working the first accident. Three were killed, and 2 more required hospitalization.
Our Lady of the Rosary is a small figurine made of old maize and corn paste, dating back to the 16th century. Legend has it that one day, the bishop of the nearby town of Mascota ordered the Virgin of Talpa to be sent to the Mascota town church instead of the crumbling basilica in Talpa.
The next morning, the statue of the Virgin of the Rosary was gone. Down the main aisle of the church tiny little foot prints could be seen. Upon inspection at the old church in Talpa it was discovered that the statue was once again on its pedestal at the main altar.
Surely the work of pranksters the Bishop declared. The Indians who lived in the area cried miracle. Once again the statue was taken to Mascota. This time with guards outside the locked doors of the church. Once again, without explanation, the statue would be in Talpa by morning. Talpa is about 20 miles from Mascota and in the 16th century that was a long distance to travel in such few hours.
Every March, a week long festival is held in the village of Talpa de Allende in honor of the virgin. Pilgrims from near and far visit Our Lady at the basilica, the third most visited Roman Catholic shrine in Mexico.
The morning of March 20, 1980, an aging Mexican made Dina bus left Guadalajara packed full of Roman Catholic pilgrims headed for Talpa.
They didnt know they would soon meet their death.
The bus was travelling at high speeds on the curvy, rain slicked road. Right near Cruz de Romero, a sightseeing spot in the mountain, topped with a huge concrete church, the bus driver lost control of the overcrowded bus. The bus smashed into the rock wall on the side of the highway and flipped over, tossing passengers to and fro inside the metallic coffin on wheels. The bus then plunged off the highway into a rocky wooded ravine, falling 600 feet.
Bloody broken bodies, pieced of seat and luggage spilled out all over the ravine and the bus practically disintegrated into a pile of smashed steel. The few motorists on the dangerous road who witnessed the tragic accident quickly notified the Federal Highway Police and authorities in town. Talpa de Allende, being a small isolated village and lacking a proper hospital, phoned in Red Cross ambulances from Mascota and Ameca, 4 hours away.
Paramedics and police upon arrival at the accident in ravine found a gruesome scene. Bloody muddy corpses of men women and children strewn around the rocky ravine. Candles and rosarys, mixed with pictures of the Virgin and bibles littered the ground. 43 persons had died. Another 15 were injured.
Police Commander Jorge Zamudio of the Federal Highway Police via phone interview with local news informed the horrendous accident was due to "excessive speed and lack of precaution in the rain". 43 persons had died in the terrible pilgrimage of death.
Tragically as cranes were being used to lift the bus' wreckage out of the ravine, a big rig carrying watermelons also lost its brakes going down the Cruz de Romero curve. The tractor trailer hit 2 ambulances and a police car, tumbling down the same ravine as the bus, hitting rescue workers and policemen working the first accident. Three were killed, and 2 more required hospitalization.
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