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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
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 day, 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

Reception

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.

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