BioMed
Herrera reconstructs a deadly 1920 Mexican mine fire, showing how rescue decisions, contradictory records and official silence shifted blame onto workers.
An inquiry can clear the powerful simply by never being asked the damning question. In the book's case, the prosecutor was not told to check whether sealing the shafts with men still alive inside was criminal negligence. The inspector examined some things, ignored others, and fully cleared the owners.
When the official account has declared people dead, those who come out alive are treated as a problem rather than a rescue. The company said no more than ten men remained and all were dead. When the mine was opened six days later, 87 were dead and seven lived, and those seven contradicted the claim that no one could have survived.
Official records can write off deaths by describing the dead as careless with their own lives. The documents said the miners showed "indifference" and "disregard for life," which moved the blame from the people who controlled the mine onto the men who died in it.
Protecting a powerful employer moves the cost onto ordinary people. A government more interested in guarding a foreign company than its own citizens let the matter be covered up. Even so, the book admits it cannot settle who caused the fire or why.
Questions put to investigators only after the scene has been cleaned up guarantee an empty answer. The book's judge sent the inspector his questions once the mine had already been cleared after the fire, so the finding of no fault was built into the timing.
A disaster can unfold while the warning equipment is in perfect order, because no one chooses to use it. The mine's alarm bells never rang, though they were later found to be working. Some people smelled smoke at two in the morning, but the alarm was not raised until six.