DESPERATE ATTEMPTS by rescuers to reach the victims of Colombia’s worst mining disaster in over three decades cast a grim shadow over yesterday’s second round of voting in the South American country’s presidential election.
Rescue crews are trying frantically to reach 53 miners trapped since a blast ripped through a tunnel almost 2,000m (1¼ miles)below the surface of the San Fernando coalmine in northwestern Antioquia province on Wednesday night.
“I feel great sadness today,” said former miner Luis Alberto Hernandez after he voted in the capital Bogotá, which has a strong police and army presence on the streets. “Miners are exploited here and lack basic protection in a country that is one of the richest in the world in minerals.” Colombia is the continent’s biggest coal exporter and produces most of the world’s emeralds.
Nineteen bodies have already been recovered from the San Fernando mine but local authorities say tonnes of debris are hampering efforts to reach the other men. Moreover, large build-ups of poisonous gases mean the chances of finding anyone still alive are remote. Four more bodies were spotted on Saturday but because of the debris and gases rescuers were unable to remove them.
A state safety inspection earlier this month cited a lack of gas detectors and exhaust tubes at the mine. But the head of the inspection team denied a claim by the country’s mining minister that his report declared the pit “inoperable”.
Grim-faced family members, clutching pictures of their missing loved ones as they waited at the mine for news, were visited by the outgoing president Álvaro Uribe on Saturday. Sympathising with the families he told them “we feel powerless at the moment”. But, he said, rescuers were doing all they could to reach the trapped miners and he had ordered an urgent review of safety conditions in all of the pits in one of the main mining regions.
Mr Uribe was expected to round off a hugely popular eight years as president by having his chosen candidate elected to succeed him.
Former defence minister Juan Manuel Santos was expected to beat Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus, a former two-time mayor of the capital Bogotá. The result was due last night.
Mr Santos won last month’s first round of voting, falling just short of an outright majority. He has pledged to continue Mr Uribe’s policy of “democratic security” which has meant the country’s Marxist guerrillas have been pushed on to the defensive. Homicide and kidnap rates have also been dramatically reduced. From one of the country’s most powerful elite families, Mr Santos also pledged to continue opening up the economy to attract increased foreign investment, winning him the backing of the country’s financial markets.
Mr Mockus, who surprised analysts with the strength of his independent campaign, also pledged to continue the hard line against the guerrillas but sought to capitalise on anger at human rights abuses committed by the military and the corruption that flourished under Mr Uribe. He draws much of his support from the country’s urban middle class that benefited greatly from the improved security of recent years but who want an end to the crony political culture of the traditional political parties that is widely perceived to operate for the benefit of insiders.
“I think together they would make a great candidate,” said economist Estafania Leon. “Mockus represents what the country needs regarding culture, but has an economic plan that I believe is regressive . . . Santos has an economic plan that is very progressive but doesn’t represent that cultural change we need that Mockus represents.”