April 22, 1992, 10.03 a.m. Manhole covers begin flying from the streets of Guadalajara’s Reforma district. White smoke streams out from the sewers.
Within minutes, explosions rock the city. Cars and buses are catapulted skywards. Houses collapse. During the next few hours, eight miles of streets are reduced to rubble. More than 200 people lose their lives.
The fallout from the gasoline explosions would affect Jalisco for years to come. Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of that tragic day and the pain is still present in the hearts of those who lost their homes, health or loved ones in the blasts.
For Lilia Ruiz Chavez, 59, who heads the campaign and support group, Asociacion 22 de Abril en Guadalajara, the struggle for justice continues on a daily basis.
Ruiz was riding on a number 333 bus on Calle Gante when it was catapulted into the air by the blast. She lost consciousness and although she survived, one of her legs was amputated. The following year she and five other victims founded the 22 de Abril group. Membership soon rose to 84.
Seemingly indefatigable, Ruiz has campaigned for 19 years for adequate compensation for all of those affected, selflessly devoting over 50 percent of her time to the cause. While it may be hard work, she knows its worth: “If it wasn’t for us – and it gives me great pride to say this – and our constant struggle over the past 20 years, no one would have received anything.”
One of the most striking aspects of the disaster is the ease with which it could and should have been averted. Three days before the explosions, residents of Gante reported the strong smell of gasoline to the city authorities.
Civil Protection and water utility workers were dispatched to the area on April 21. They discovered dangerously high levels of gasoline fumes in the sewers, but the mayor decided it was not necessary to evacuate the area.
The first blasts were recorded the following day at 10.05 a.m., one at the corner of Calzada Independencia and Aldama, and another on Gante and 20 de Noviembre. The first emergency call, recorded at 10.06 a.m., was forwarded to an automatic answering machine.
“The pavement rose up and I was thrown in the air,” recalls Micaela Morales Gutierrez, now 65, who was visiting her mother who lived on Gante. Morales was also with her two-year-old daughter, who tried in vain to pull her from the rubble before more help arrived.
She was left in “very strong pain” and spent 12 days in a local medical center recovering from five spinal fractures. Asked how she feels on the anniversary of the incident, Morales replies, “determined to keep fighting.”
Another victim, Carlos Heredia, now 67, was on his way to work in a car radiator workshop when he was thrown up among rocks and earth, landing wedged beneath a car.
He has not been able to work in the 20 years since. If this had happened in another country, Heredia is sure the victims would have received at least a secure pension.
His only fortune was being handed a prescription when he was treated by a doctor at the IMSS Hospital 46. Without that slip of paper, he would never have been able to prove his injuries were caused by the blasts or claim compensation from the government.
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