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Antimonumento +65

The anti-monument in 2023
Location
19°25′44.13″N 99°09′51.39″W / 19.4289250°N 99.1642750°W / 19.4289250; -99.1642750
Location	Mexico City, Mexico
Designer	Anonymous demonstrators
Type	Antimonumento
Material	Steel
Height	4.5 m (15 ft)
Weight	1 t (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons)
Opening date	18 February 2018 (2018-02-18)
Dedicated to	The victims of the 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine disaster

An antimonumento was installed near the Mexican Stock Exchange Building, on Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. The work included the installation of the number 65 along with the plus sign to honor the sixty-five miners that died during the 19 February 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine disaster in San Juan de Sabinas Municipality, Coahuila. Only two bodies were recovered as of 2018.

Protesters installed the anti-monument at noon on 18 February 2018—the eve of the twelfth anniversary of the disaster—as a plea for justice for the collapse and for justice for the government's inaction. The artwork was never given an official name, and those who installed it referred to it simply as Antimonumento; because of its physical characteristics, it is known as Antimonumento +65, although it is known by other names.

The plus symbol in the sculpture is engraved with the names of the victims, coupled with the phrase A una voz, ¡rescate ya! (English for "With one voice, rescue now!"). The plus symbol also carries the meaning of honoring other miners who died under similar circumstances. The following year, the demonstrators placed a metal cage with sixty-three helmets buried in coal mined from Pasta de Conchos beside the main sculpture.

Background

Pasta de Conchos was a coal mine in Nueva Rosita, San Juan de Sabinas Municipality, Coahuila. It is owned by the Mexican conglomerate Grupo México. On 19 February 2006, approximately at 2:00 a.m. CST (UTC−6), a methane explosion occured inside the mine. Sixty-five miners were trapped. The company reported that each had up to six hours of oxygen to locate a tunnel ventilation system. To avoid additional explosions, rescuers refrained from using electric or gas-powered machinery and instead used tools such as picks and shovels. A monitoring team was not installed to allow for accurate location tracking, and the miners' location was never precise, estimated to be anywhere in a tunnel between 490 meters (1,610 ft) and 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) from the exit, at a depth of 150 meters (490 ft) underground.

Five days later, Grupo México suspended rescue operations and declared that the miners had allegedly died, stating that "there was no possibility of survival after the methane explosion". Before the disaster, there were multiple reports of methane leaks. On 23 June 2006, the body of Felipe de Jesús Torres Reyna was recovered, so it was the body of José Manuel Peña Saucedo on 1 January 2007. Subsequently, Grupo México suspended the rescue of the other sixty-three bodies claiming sanitation and safety reasons. According to a study by the non-governmental organization Poder, Grupo México submitted three technical documents with irregularities requesting authorities to suspend the rescue operation. In two reports, there is a contradiction regarding the amount of water supposedly present in the tunnels, ranging from 25% to 75%, and it is also claimed that the water could be contaminated with hepatitis, tuberculosis, and HIV due to the decomposition of bodies.

History and installation

Various relatives of the victims formed the organization Familia Pasta de Conchos. On several occasions, the group has claimed that Grupo México distorted the events that unfolded the disaster. Following the 2010 Copiapó mining accident, the organization sent a letter congratulating the families for the rescue of thirty-three trapped miners. In it, they stated: "Grupo México and the federal and state governments lied to us. They told us there had been a massive explosion, that the miners had died and even disintegrated. The truth has come to light: the two bodies that were recovered were intact, not even burned".

On the afternoon of 18 February 2018, on the eve of the twelfth anniversary, relatives of the deceased miners protested in Mexico City. They started their demonstration at the Benito Juárez Hemicycle and walked toward Paseo de la Reforma. In previous protests, they carried 65 coffins on their shoulders. However, in this demonstration, about 200 people, including four priests, marched toward the Angel of Independence column and stopped at the Glorieta de la Palma traffic circle, the location of the Mexican Stock Exchange Building. A truck was parked on the avenue and three red metal structures were unloaded, a number six, a number five, and a plus sign. There, they listed the names of the miners, plus Félix Schleevoigth, who worked for Grupo México and died in a similar collapse in 1973, with his body never being recovered. Bishop Raúl Vera and Father Miguel Concha held a mass.

The pieces were fitted, screwed in, and welded, and the foundations were filled with cement on a traffic median of the avenue. It stands 4.5 meters (15 ft) tall and weighs over 1 metric ton (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons). The plus sign has the phrase "A una voz, ¡rescate ya!" (English for "With one voice, rescue now!") engraved in its middle, while the front and the back has the names of the miners and Schleevoigth engraved as well. Guillermo Iglesias, the son of one of the miners, stated that it also serves as a cross, one "they have carried for a long time".

Reception

Notes

1. HIV cannot be transmitted through water

References

1. "Cronología de una infamia" [Chronology of an Infamy]. La Jornada (in Spanish). 13 June 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
2. ^ "Trapped Mexican miners remain out of reach". NBC News. Associated Press. 19 February 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
3. ^ "Tragedia de Pasta de Conchos: 16 años después se inicia el rescate" [Pasta de Conchos Tragedy: 16 Years Later, Rescue Operations Begin]. Expansión (in Spanish). 11 February 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
4. "How Is HIV Transmitted?". HIV.gov. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
5. Salas, Pilar (16 October 2010). "México se cuestiona si dejó morir bajo tierra a 65 mineros tras el rescate de Chile" [Mexico questions whether it allowed 65 miners to die underground after the rescue in Chile]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 January 2025.
6. ^ Antimonumentos: Memoria, Verdad y Justicia [Anti-monuments: Memory, Truth and Justice] (PDF) (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Heinrich Böll Foundation. December 2021. pp. 52–67. ISBN 978-607-99582-4-4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
7. Corral, Adyr (18 February 2018). "Colocan antimonumento por Pasta de Conchos en Reforma" [An anti-monument for Pasta de Conchos is installed on Reforma]. Milenio (in Spanish). Mexico City. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
8. ^ Muñoz Ramírez, Gloria (3 June 2019). "Antimonumentos, la ruta por la memoria amenazada" [Anti-monuments, the route for threatened memory]. Desinformémonos.org (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
9. "Antimonumentos para no olvidar" [Anti-monuments to remember]. máspormás (in Spanish). 27 May 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2025.

External links

• Media related to Antimonumento de Pasta de Conchos at Wikimedia Commons

• Mexico
• Visual arts

Category:2018 establishments in Mexico Category:2018 sculptures Category:Anti-monuments in Mexico Category:Labor monuments and memorials Category:Monuments and memorials in Mexico City Category:Outdoor sculptures in Mexico City Category:Paseo de la Reforma Category:Steel sculptures in Mexico

• Drafts about art and architecture