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The Collapse of Dignity

  • Writer: Michael Connolly
    Michael Connolly
  • Oct 16
  • 1 min read

Updated: Oct 26

The Collapse of Dignity The Story of a Mining Tragedy and the Fight Against Greed and Corruption in Mexico by Napoleon Gomez, BenBella Books (Perseus), 2013. 


Miners Union

The author, Napoleon Gómez Urrutia, was the leader of a miners union for many years, the National Union of Mine, Metal, and Steel Workers of the Mexican Republic. This book describes how he lead his labor union against corrupt businessmen in league with corrupt politicians who colluded against the workers. Problems in the mines: lack of preventative maintenance of equipment, toxic silica dust, acid mists, inadequate personal respirators. Despite repeated warnings by from the miners union, the mining companies ignored safety violations. A methane explosion killed several dozen miners in the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in the state of Coahuila in 2006. The mine owners made kittle effort to rescue the trapped miners. The author was forced to flee to Canada to avoid being assassinated.

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