Nuevo Laredo Mexico - Situated on the Texas border this city has often been in the shadows of the United States. That's why in 1974 the city fathers were excited to learn that a large American chemical transport company had selected approx. 500 acres near the city for a processing station. To everyone on the south side of the border the prospect seemed like a great way to lure some of the bountiful American dollars to Mexico. To the company Chemstore it seemed like a easy way to get around the increasingly restrictive environmental laws that the United States government were setting up.

Several members of the Mexican terrorist group "The Six Fingered Fist"

By 1976 the facility was in full operation. Almost daily tanker trucks would cross the border in Texas and come to off load waste products. Chemstore was employed by over 20 different manufacturers to process and remove toxic liquid and solid waste from worksites. textile mills, plastics corporations, battery manufacturers and even car companies used Chemstore's services as an effective way to rid themselves of the problem of disposing of toxic wastes. Since the storage site was in Mexico, company records were not kept as tightly as they would have been in the States. Mexican local and federal authorities were also less likely to have inspections on the site. It is estimated by the EPA that by 1982 over 350 million gallons of waste and sludge was being kept on the site in rusty 55 gallon barrels, leaking plastic containers and questionable underground tanks.

Hard times fell upon Chemstore in 1985. Increasingly manufacturing plants had been moving out of America. Most went overseas to the Pacific Rim. Those that transplanted to Mexico were able to dispose of their waste products themselves. Faced with a mounting debt, the company declared bankruptcy in 1986. The site was closed down and forgotten.

By 1997 a huge rise in birth defects and cancers caused the city to take another look at the site. The Mexican government, faced with the huge cost of cleaning up the site, demanded accountability from the American corporations that had used the site as a storage facility. Finally the America Environmental Protection Agency took charge of the situation and sent a team to the site in November of 98.

When first arriving at the site several members refused to go into the sprawling abandoned field without full hazmat suits. While waiting for these to be overnighted to them they stayed at a local hotel in Nuevo Laredo. Antonio Satores, a Mexican delegate of the team provides an account of what happened to them that night:

"I was sharing a room with an American scientist. The team was spread out into 5 different hotel rooms. Sometime after midnight, the window of our room was shattered by a thrown object. We quickly awoke and turned on the lights. The object was a 25 gallon barrel of waste from the Chemstore site. Painted onto it was a message."

The message told Satores and the others to stay away from the waste dump. That it was off limits to "gringos and others not like us." It was signed, 'The Six Fingered Fist' The team discovered further vandalism had occurred to their vehicles and the matter was taken to the Mexican government the next day.

The government responded by sending a troop of federal soldiers to the Chemstore facility. They entered the waste site but quickly became disorganized in the sprawl of barrels and canisters. It was at this time that the soldiers were attacked.

"The soldiers came running back to us from the field, "Satores told a local reporter. "Some of them were drenched in a foul smelling liquid and at least one was being carried by two other soldiers. It looked like he had been set on fire."

As the soldiers regrouped, shouting was heard in the field. Satores answered it and was told by the unseen group in the field that they would grant him safe entry into the site to talk.

"I walked into the site without any kind of safety equipment," said Satores. "As I walked forward I passed one soldier laying dead on the dirt. It looked as if his skin had been eaten away by acid. I called out again and a voice told me to come forward. Just then I was grabbed from behind. A blindfold was put over my eyes and I was walked deeper into the field."

Satores was taken far into the site and when he was finally unmasked he was amazed at the sight.

"We were very far into the dump but how far I could not say. I was shocked by the fact that there was a village laid before me of maybe 100 to 200 people. They had made shacks from the discarded barrels There was maybe 10 or 20 big houses and other smaller ones. What amazed me the most was the people. I could tell they were suffering from being in the place. Many wore bandages on their heads from which pus and blood seeped. Others were deformed and looked almost like monsters to me. I even saw livestock, hogs and chickens, looking sickly and pale in the sun."

Satores was brought before the 'chief' of these people and given an ultimatum.

"This man regarded me and I looked back. One of his eyes was filled with a milky cataract and it stared blindly at me. He said, 'Tell your soldiers and your Americans that we do not want them on our land.' I said that they were here to help us clean up this place and that if they surrendered then they would get help. The other villagers laughed at me when I said that. Several of the men shook guns or machetes at me. 'You think we want your help?' the chief told me, 'Where was your help when we were starving in the cities? When we watched our children die from hunger? No, this is our home now. The toxic waste has made us strong. We are better for being here and no one will take that away. Tell your friends that our home is huge and we know every hiding hole and secret place it provides. If they come in here they will die. Just like the soldiers."

At that point Satores was blindfolded again and led away. He was let go near the main entrance of the plant where the other waited. After a short discussion everyone decided to report the existence of the group to authorities.

And as of March that is where the situation stands. The Mexican Army has stated that without proper safety equipment it does not plan to go into the site. The EPA seems to have totally washed their hands of the affair saying that it is now an internal Mexican matter. Martha Gonzales, a reporter for the "The Voice' a Mexican tabloid newspaper has since recorded a short interview with the group that lives in the site and call themselves 'The Six Fingered Fist' They for the most part simply restated the facts told to Satores. Satores himself is now recuperating from exploratory eye surgery in Mexico City. Shortly after the incident he started losing his eyesight and believes that the blindfold he was given in the site was covered with a toxic chemical.

sources

-interview with Martha Gonzales on March 5th, 1999

-phone interview with Antonio Satores on March 6th, 1999

-'Terrorists Seize Toxic Dump' The Voice newsmagazine, Mexico City Mexico, Martha Gonzales reporter; January 10th 1999

- Environmental Protection Agency, 'Hazardous Material Storage; Nuevo Laredo Mexico summery; case #2145 1998

photo courtesy of "The Voice" newsmagazine, Mexico City, Mexico