Peace Brigades International

New Report on the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster

On February 19, 2006, the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster occurred in the North of Mexico after a methane explosion within the coal mine. In February 2018 a new report, called “El Carbón Rojo de Coahuila: Aquí acaba el Silencio” was published in Mexico by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. This report, with some impressive photographs by Miguel Sierra, states the explosion could have been avoided if the mines had been better maintained.

Cristina Auerbach, director of the Pasta de Conchos Family organization supports the local population and community affected by the coal mining and help them with their demands for the right to health and housing. Because of her work, Christina receives threats on regular basis. In 2017 a short documentary was released about her, her colleague Esmeralda Saldaña and their work. It’s called “Pasta de Conchos: The struggle for justice”.

In 2016, PBI Netherlands organised a speaker tour for Cristina Auerbach and Esmeralda Saldaña with the goal to strengthen their international support network and to meet actors involved in the issue of mining, such as Mining Unions specialized in Labour Rights.

You can read the (Spanish) report here.

The video can be found on Vimeo with this link.

Visiting a mining site in Mexico.