Gas, Greed, & Devastation- The Guadalajara Explosions (PNW Haunts and Homicides)

On April twenty second, nineteen ninety two, a devastating series of explosions rocked Guadalajara, Jalisco. There was a dangerous mix of gas leaks, government negligence, and flawed infrastructure that led to these explosions that killed hundreds, injured thousands, and left neighborhoods in Guadalajara in ruins. I'm Christina and this is his Spooky Tales. But it's not a normal episode of His Spooky Tales because Carmen was too busy to record and I was dying. So I am featuring an episode from P ANDW Haunts and Homicides that I did a couple months ago where we talked about this terrible accident in Guadalajara, and the reason they talked about it is because Guadalajara is sister cities with Portland, Oregon, which is in the PNW, which is what they talk about on their podcast. We'll be back next week with a normal episode of His Spooky Tales, but for now, enjoy this episode with one of our pod besties, PNW Haunts Homicides. Hi. Hi, say hello to the creepy people. Hi, creepy people. Yeah, Okay, that's the that's pretty much the greeting that they are accustomed to. That's true. Like I haven't heard it. I have, I swear I have. I know this is PNW Holmes and Homicides. It's uh oh, I can't forget the tagline. Cassie will absolutely murder me. It's P and W if you're nicety. Yeah, she gets mad whenever I don't say it though. I just said it like kind of like as a little like joke one time. You hard to keep saying it, and now I have to say it forever. Yeah, that's what Cassie said. So obviously Cassie is not here. Uh you never heard her voice yet. You can't see her if you're watching us on YouTube. But we have the lovely Christina. Yes, and you know what, it's like a perfect replacement because my name also starts with C. I know it'eah. So we're still like CE and C. You know exactly. It keeps it, you know, it feels like it's it's all in the family. Yeah. Yeah. Before we get started, obviously, I want to say thank you Christina for joining us today. If you've been listening for a while, you know that she is one of our pod besties. She took us along for the ride to the Two Girls One Ghost Show. Breathe, Oh yeah, breathe. I forgot about that. Oh yeah, she's just like I just do. That to say, what do you mean you took me along to the light house side I was, I was the third wheel. Yeah. No, we went to the uh the show first. Yeah, and that's where I mean, very briefly we met Sabrina and then of course, like you mentioned, we dragged you up to the point Wilson Lighthouse so that we could do our crossover episode, which if you haven't listened to that we were just talking about before we hopped on that. That was like a really fun episode. We're lucky it got made because also I was very distracted the whole weekend, and I fully thought I was just like on a fun trip because it was so much about Yeah, I was like, oh, shoot, I guess I have responsibilities and things, so but it felt like it was time to find something else to do together. So maybe after we record this episode, we'll get to work on planning another trip. Oh my god, yes, yes. I know we have. We've already talked about like as soon as we were done with that trip. We had more ideas, Parkle. We kept naming places. Yeah yeah, oh my gosh. But you actually have a special connection to the place that we're going to talk about today, which I didn't fully realize until we roped you into this with us. So because I was like, I know generally, but I was like, this specific city, Yeah, that is my hometown. My mom's side of the family were all in Guadalajara. Well there's a little not a suburb, but like a colony that's called Sapopan, which is right by Guadalajara, like literally twenty minutes. So we just say Guallalahara because that's where everyone is familiar with the bigger city. But yeah, that is where I go whenever I go to Mexico. I'm actually gonna be there in January. So that's so funny because I'm like trying to casually drop hints. I'm like, we should go to Mexico. Damn, well you should have just came with me. I know. Well I'm gonna be I go, like once they're tweaty a year or so. I was gonna say, you probably like to visit really often. Yeah, I gotta see my grandma. You know the I am yeah, of course. Okay. So actually immediately as you're pronouncing, I don't like now, I don't even want to say. I don't even want to say. I just say every time like you pause, and I'll say. We should just have like a hand signal because I'm just like guadala, I feel like somebody is like very very uh midwestern grandma. But no, I'm just going to put it out there. You have absolute carte blanche to correct any and all of my pronunciation throughout this because, as we know, unfortunately there there was an incident with a pew yallop that was. From Oh yeah, I forget how to pronounce that all the time. Yeah, but I hyper focus on my pronunciations, and then somehow when my brain spiciness, it meets the dry mouth. Yeah yeah, so jumbled. Yeah. I don't always nail it, and I rarely do. And then people are like, you said, that's wrong. I'm like, all right, and what do you want me to do about it? I'm sorry. I don't even say I'm sorry anymore. Yeah, I mean, whoops, it happened. Whatever. I mean, we're all trying, right, not me? No, No, I mean you're making the effort. But yeah, I mean, on least go back and to go back and like apologize for something that you know you don't mean any harm. You're doing your best. Yeah yeah, sometimes I mean harm. But yeah, I'll stop, I'll stop. No, I love it. I'd like to encourage this more harm. Okayeah, no, just your spiciness. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean there's the potential for a lot of spiciness today because I'm also in sort of an adjustment period with my meds. So oh hey, okay, yeah, I could get robold. My appointment for my refill, so. Oh yeah, yeah, you gotta stay on top of that. It's rough. It's rough. So today we have an og member of the Patreon to thank for suggesting this topic. So thank you also to Aarin. I just had to wait for the stars to align and the dopamine to hit with this one. But as kids say, I believe this one slepts. I don't even know why I put that in. I'm my god, I say that though, Yeah, they say stuff like that. I don't know. It feels like in my head I'm picturing somebody cooler saying it. So then when I put it in my notes, and I'm now trying to read it. I'm like, I feel like a soccer mom. Should I not have said that established as a sister city to Portland, Oregon in nineteen eighty three, Guadalajara is nestled in Jalisco. Oh yeah, haalisko, Okay, I totally didn't know we were sister saying with Portland, Oregon. That's yeah, I know. Yeah, So that was actually why one of the Patreon members was like, oh, I know about this crazy case, and it's like a sister city to Portland, and that's how that's our like workaround. It's our cheat code to go international. I love that. Yeah, I'm curious about this case because. I can't think of one. I'm okay, I'm excited. I was curious if you were going to know about this. I don't know, we were both alive, but I don't know if it'll be something that like you would really have like memory of Probably not. Yeah, my memories already terrible, So I know it's not great. It doesn't get better. It turns out it's worse. Yeah, not agent like a fine wine, the opposite. And Guadalajara is actually the capital city of that state. In Mexico. Fun fact, both mariachi music and tequila originate from there as well. That is true. Yeah, so party people. Yeah, the hot sauce. Have you seen it? Yeah, that's like the typical when you say someone from Helly school, but they look like it's that tapat the old man on the hot sauce. So that's hilarious. I love that. Yeah, whenever, whenever they say you have a host like Tapatio's eyes that are Tapatios means like huge eyes because they say people form well at HAA and Hally school have huge eyes. I feel like that holds true, Like I do have huge eyes. You have really big eyes, eyes. Gigantic, but like in a good way, not a bad way, not in like a creepy way, like a really beautiful way. While it's not the largest or the most major city in Mexico, it is one of the most populous in all of Mexico. And actually it rings is. And this this statistic, I think is only a handf of years old. They might have moved up or down a notch, but they're ranked near the top twenty in all of the Americas, so North and South America. Yeah, it's pretty big. It's the biggest Inhali school. But yeah, like you said, not Mexico. It's also host to the San Juan de Dios market. Oh man, that market is beautiful. Yeah, it's so beautiful. Yeah. I grabbed a bunch of different pictures and stuff from the market because I'm like, that looks so cool. It's massive, it's huge. Yeah, it's huge. Every floor has yeah, I mean like it's like part of it is outside. Then you go inside and there's like I don't know, three or four floors, I don't remember anymore. Uh, and then you go outside and it just continues and yeah, just so much stuff, so much food. Like it's just it's great. It looks like there's honestly everything there. Yeah, like food and all kinds of different like like clothing and like every type of good imaginable. Yeah. Yeah, but it is the largest indoor market in Latin America. Yeah, it's huge. It's huge. And yeah, if you ever, if you're in we Llalahara, you have to go there. You have to. You must. You heard it here first, So put a pin in the market for now. Just what that simmer? Okay, fair warning, there's not really a smooth way to transition to this next part, just like, really get to rip the band aid off. Okay, I'm ready. Though, it seems fitting that we get into the story abruptly because the events were going to discuss were anything but gradual or subtle. On April twenty second, nineteen ninety two, there were a series of several explosions in the downtown district of Analco Colonia at. Liss Okay, I know it happened, but I know nothing about it. Yeah, I'm excited. I don't Yeah, I don't know. That's just that happened. There were numerous gasoline explosions in the sewer system. Fires continued burning for over four hours, destroying roughly eight kilometers or for those of us that are Stateside, over five miles of city streets, the most badly damaged being Gonte Street. Hundreds of people were injured and hundreds more were killed in the ensuing chaos. Though numerous sources speculate what exactly the tally was, my research indicates it was no fewer than five hundred injured and two hundred left dead. Wow, I know, I'm like, that's insane, And a lot of the source material says that it's probably a lot higher than that it usually is. Whatever like number it is like double it exactly exactly, but again not exactly a strict consensus per se. Some are that it could have been upwards into the thousands, partially due to the hundreds of people that were missing in the immediate aftermath. So, you know, that's such a hard thing because if people are missing right away but then they're found, maybe they were presumed dead at some point, Like, it's not a good situation. No, not to mention that thousands of homes were badly damaged, leaving many stranded on the battered nightmare streets. But let's rewind just a little bit. Just days before the explosions, residents began complaining that a strong gas smell was emanating from the sewers on the streets, but also from their own residential plumbing, and it would progressively worsen in the days leading up to the explosions. The unpleasant odor left residence suffering from nausea as well as a state sensation in their throats and eyes in some cases. So probably not something pooper ree could take care of, right right, Smelly, but not that kind of smelly. Yeah, this sounds toxic, I know, but in all seriousness, the situation in Guadalajara was pretty alarming. Residents of the city were finding gasoline coming out of their water pipes in some places, and though city workers discovered dangerously high levels of gasoline fumes in the sewers, the city was not being evacuated. Oh my god. Okay, but like literal gas was coming out of like the sink. Yes, yeah, in some places. So, and I'm going to talk about it a little bit more as we like kind of explain like the full series of events and more about. Why this is happening, because I'm like, okay, but like why, You're like. Why, but also like there's a there's an element of it too where it's like it's liquid but also like gases. Yeah, right, And I don't know. It's a really interesting aspect of the case to me because there were certain things that I was reading and I'm going, well, why does that matter? And I'm like, oh, because science. Right, Historically not my best subject. I was more like a history English dance me too, pe. Okay, well you had me until you said pe and oh yeah no that was my thing. Yeah. I was very fit too, fit I had a lot of energy that I had to get out, so but no math and science my only bad grades. Yeah, I feel like even math, I'm like, I can tolerate you. Science it's a pen if it's something really interesting. Okay, like like earth science, yes, chemistry hard no hard pass. I literally switched majors from nursing because I couldn't get the basics of intro to chemistry. Oh my gosh, if you want to one or whatever, I'm like, I can't. I can't. It's a lot. You're like, Also, when am I going to use this? But I guess if I don't, I never found out. I did not stick around to find out. You're like, I don't even want to know the answer to that. I didn't. Actually, to be fair, I didn't know I had ADHD back then. So I feel like maybe it would have been helpful to have meds. Maybe I would have finished it a little bit. But even then, I'm pretty sure I have like the dyslexia of math, this calculia, and so I rough rough rough all around rough times. Well, and then there's so much of science that like you need to be able to do the mathing for it all to like kind of make I'm out. I'm out. Are you gonna keep talking about math because I'm leaving? No, there's no math. Let's get practice, no more math. Yeah, She's just like, let's keep this fresh, keep it interesting. The city's mayor was decidedly against the idea of evacuating. He apparently didn't believe there was any real risk of an explosion. I mean, when guts coming out of sinks and there's fumes. I I don't know, but I could see this happening. I could see them downplaying everything to not like because then it looks bad on you, because then was this preventable? Right, and funny you should was then okay, funny you should say that. Well. Yeah, Also, though, sir, are you aware that gasoline is highly flammable. It's not. It's not just highly preventable, but it's like it's so we're seeable. Yeah. But for some of these people in positions of power, the reputation supersede the safety of the citizens of whatever you're supposed to be caring for, like a city safe. Right, Definitely, I feel like it makes me a little bit nervous going into the next handful of years. Not everyone thinks that infrastructure and all of our systems that are in place to keep society running and functioning are that important. And that's scary. It's very scary. While we're on the topic of flammability, let's take a nerd dive, shall we. Okay, I love these sometimes, and except when they involve math. No math, I promise, Okay, Yeah, let's do it for science, and I promise I'll try to keep this part both the make down for me, yes, brief and relevant and very simple brief and for the dumb bitches please. Yeah, gasoline has a low flash point and high vapor density. It produces ignitable vapors that are three to four times heavier than air and can travel great distances at ground level. And this will be important to our story because it can collect in low places and cause a fire hazard, you know, explosion. Yeah, low places like a stewer. Yes, yes, I hope you can see where this is going. Yeah, but we're going to science some more. So let's talk about flammability versus combustibility. A flammable material is one that ignites easily at normal temperatures or immediately when exposed to flame, whether it's in liquid, solid, or gas form. Gasoline is considered flammable, so pretty volatile. Yeah, like just really want to drive home the point that it's like this, this is dangerous. Yes, yes, it has been driven. I get it. Yeah, I it sounds bad. You're like, this is again. I was with you. Yeah. Combustible materials are generally speaking less volatile, but still require observing safety protocols such as storing attempts below their flash points. And that's literally the end of the science for now, but I will be delving into some interesting aspects of several engineering later. She's like, why, great, more science, not what I said it for. Yeah, I promise that's not as sleepy as it sounds, though, I swear. But now that we've got that out of the way, let's go back to April nineteenth, nineteen ninety two. That's when it's generally agreed that Gonte Street residents first reported a gasoline smell coming out of the guat Aalahara City sewers, along with plumes of white smoke. Oh no, this all sounds terrible and like it could have been like, oh, we're noticing these things, let's take action. Do we do something? I'm asking for a friend you might be able to get past the smell, but I have to imagine that the smoke was pretty goddamn. Alarming, right, right, And then I combined. Yeah, it's like this smells bad. It's making it hard for people to breathe. It's like stinging your eyes. It's like kind of a wicked combo. Yeah, like all no winnow, no winn a exactly exactly. The following day, April twentieth, these reports were investigated and high levels of gasoline and other hydrocarbons were discovered. Keep in mind, this discovery was prior to an announcement being made that the city would not be staging evacuations. So they had this information and they were like nope, and then they did nothing. Yep, oh no, they did a lot of nothing. But why would they. It's not like the sewer system below is a ticking time bomb or anything. Right, it sounds perfectly fine, that's right. And also because the mayor said so, and that's that nothing is secure is always right at absolutely wrong. Yeah, our elected officials always have our best interests in art especially. Yeah. By ten am on April twenty second, man covers began to bounce on the streets this all sounds so bad. Oh my god, it doesn't sound like it could be real, right, Like it sounds out of a movie. Yes, it's like out of Oh my gosh, there's so many that are just like these crazy intense apocalyptic scenes. And that's a thousand percent when I'm picturing. Yeah, and thick column of white smoke came pouring out from the sewer system, similar to a pot that's been left unattended to boil over. Feels a little on the nose, but yeah. Five minutes later, the first two explosions were recorded, one on the corner of Cazata Indepenzia and Aldama Street and the second at the intersection of Gante and de Novembre. Just a moment later, the first emergency call was placed. The third explosion at ten oh eight sent a bus belonging to the Tuts company into the air. Oh my god, launching. Oh bus buses are always so full that it's crazy, No wonder, so many people. Oh my god, this is terrible. I know, I just like and to see the pictures. There were a couple of times where I was like, they are pictures that are really hard to look at, even though it's not particularly like gory. It's not like they're not showing anybody yeah who's been you know, mortally wounded in most of them. But it's just like you just know that that is that's what's happened, and that like there are people that are just like horrifically injured from this. I just was like, I just want to cry, man. So the bus that you know, was just casually flying through the air that was on the corner of Gaunte and Nicolas Bravo. I just honestly the whole time, I'm thinking, like, what is this a set of twister like that? That's crazy? Just what like explosion after explosion after explosion that set a bus off flying and yeah, the city could have been evacuated or this wouldn't just wow. Yeah, So I'd love to tell you that the third time was the charm in this case. But there's more. Yeah, but I think I've led with the phrase several explosions, which, as you probably guessed, Okay, yeah, it certainly implies more than three. Yeah, I would say a few two to three, several is four to five were more. So what's the word for more than five? Oh? No, there was more than five Oh my god, it's not great. It's really it's really upsetting, like and honestly we'll talk about it as well, but like people and rightly so, they were passed. I can only imagine like the aftermath of all this and like knowing that like it could have been prevented. Yeah, I mean, can you imagine any other major city like if you have. I mean, we're talking about a five mile like area of city. That's just like and it's densely populated. And you can tell that in all of the pictures too, you can tell that. And I mean that was also a big part of why I wanted to talk about the market too, because it's always so passed. It is. I I was just saying that. I was like, it's so packed, but it's so big, Oh my god, and it's right there. Well. And then the date of this incident also coincides with a holiday Easter. It was it was Easter, Okay, it was fucking Easter, okay, So yeah, that would have been crowded. There's also like a big, big church around there too, the Cathedral of Galajaa, So only I can only imagine how crowded. Not to mention the historic downtown center is always crowded anyway. Oh, I just it just it. You just can't even like wrap your head around like somebody basically like thinking that anything else is more important than like making sure everybody. The safety of the people, like come. On, yes, yes, I'm like, oh, let me guess he probably doesn't live on Gante Street. Hmm, right right. There was another explosion less than five minute later on Gonzalez Gaio Avenue, and by ten fifteen the factory workers on that same avenue began evacuating the area. The fifth explosion was it Gonte Street and Calzata del Eercito. Oh yeah, just before ten thirty. Another neighboring area was also evacuated within five minutes. The sixth explosion occurs at the intersection of De Fabrero and Rio Bravo. The seventh explosion. Every remember, I'm like, oh my god. Yeah, honestly, it just again I cannot, like I don't even know how else to say it, but it's like you just can't believe that it just keeps. Going and they're all like pretty close in time too. They are. Yes. The seventh explosion is at Gonte Street and Silverio Garcia. Shortly after additional rescue personnel arrived to aid the victims in the affected areas, there was an eighth explosion at eleven oh two at Rio Neo Avenue and Rio Grande. Oh my god. This explosion would initiate evacuation efforts in several more neighboring areas. So after the eighth explosion, they finally are evacuating people. Yeah. Eight explosions. Yeah, basically, I think it's I think the very very first evacuation starts after the fifth explosion, right, okay, And I believe that was because it was in a super dense. This is the factory one, yes, one, yeah, okay, m hmm. Yeah, So I think that kind of explains it because I feel like a factory setting is even more dangerous. Yeah. Yeah, I mean there's not a good place to be an explosion. No, not really, god, okay, but there is an end in sight. The two final explosions occurred at eleven sixteen. That's right, in case you lost track two at the same time. Yeah, I mean they Yeah, basically it's possible that they were like maybe a minute apart, but I feeling with all of the chaos, it would be pretty hard to keep. Track, but either are seven and eight or eight and nine or nine and ten like I lost, yes, Oh my. God, yes, ten mother freaking explosions. Wow, I just like it kind of takes your breath way a little bit. Even before the explosions concluded, people throughout the Guadalajara metro area removed manholes in an attempt to allow any residual gases to escape. Additionally, several neighboring areas were notified to be aware and cautious. So there's multiple other neighborhoods that they hate. They hadn't had explode specifically in those neighborhoods or districts, but they were really concerned that it was still a possibility, right, So I mean that just makes it like an even more massive area even more all the. Chaos from yeah, wondering, oh my god, is it going to happen here too? Exactly? I mean, can you imagine. I don't think I would be able to like function, like forget forget fallen asleep that night, you know, Yeah, I mean and this started in the morning, Yeah, but in our whole day. What time were the last explosions Just after eleven It was eleven sixteen am. Okay, So I mean you're talking about a little over an hour, ten different explosions, a little hour of hell. Oh my god. Yeah yeah, I mean it's gonna stay pretty hellish for a minute. Oh yeah, after finding like you know, the aftermath of everything, finding the people, the mess. Yeah, collapse buildings. Oh my god. There were so many collapsed buildings. And it's so crazy though, because you know, again like I haven't visited this part of Mexico specifically, but like seeing where obviously like the blast radius, like there's a defined area, like it's not just going to blow up everything everywhere, right. It's so strange to see where there's like buildings that were completely like leveled, and then like right next to it is like a building that looks like it was totally fine. Insane. I just like the stress of like, oh my god, like hopefully you were, you know, able, you were in one of the buildings that didn't get leveled and you know, then were unharmed and like could just start helping people. Yeah, I mean, horrific, man. The investigation that followed the devastation revealed two contributing factors to the multiple explosions. Okay, so there's a little bit more science, but it's short. I'll sum it up for you right now. So some metals don't mix, just kind of like traditionally, and this isn't the best example because it doesn't feel equally serious. But when it comes to fashion, you might not mix certain patterns, Like you don't wear plaid and stripes just typically, do you? But but like don't do that, Yeah, probably don't. But new zinc coated iron pipes were placed way too close to an existing steel gasoline pipeline, creating an electrolytic reaction similar to the interior of a zinc carbon battery. So these are the kind that we use in like TV remotes, smoke detectors, and a ton of other stuff. Oh, like the normal double A batteries basically, yeah, I mean they're they're in everything. I don't know. We just we interact passively with so many of the like different things that have this type of battery. And honestly, it's the fact that we're talking about what we view as such a an inert or innocuous thing in that regard that like makes it even more scary. Like, yeah, so what happens when these two meets or whatever, Like what is a koreen here. So it's basically creating the same type of reaction that happens inside of a battery, and that is Listen, I told you what kind it was. Okay, Okay, Well I don't know, no, but I actually I do have. There's like it does explain like what it does. Oh, I'm not going to explain the inside of a battery, but I will explain like what it did here if that makes yes, okay, Oh, like I don't know how batteries were. The reaction corroded the steel pipe, resulting in a gasoline leak that permeated not just the ground but also the main sewer pipe. Oh, yes, okay, this is the cause. Of it all. Yes, Oh my god. Yeah. You would think they would know this would happen. I don't know, right, I mean I would think that, you know, people who are in civil engineering should know, right, I mean you would think, oh my god, like who approved this? Honestly, it made me look at batteries a little bit different. I was like, that's what it's doing, right, are the safe? The second factor was the recent rebuild on the sewer piping when the city wanted to expand its underground metro railway system. They were modified to a U shape. Usually, sewer systems are built with the slope to allow gravity to aid in moving waste through the system. For the U shape that they switched over to to work, an inverted siphon was placed so that fluids could be pushed underneath by gravity. So we're kind of just using what we already have problem solved, right well. Inverted siphons require uniform fluid for proper operation when presented with liquids of different densities, as was the case in Guadalajara's system, And honestly, I would imagine this would be true of any any Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's not uniform liquid, right, it's yeah, because it's the sewers sewers. I don't think I need to and I'm not going to explain that further. No, I think we get it. I think we're good. Only the densist would pass through the siphon. What this means is that anything of a lesser density like air and water would pass freely, but leave the lighter density gasoline trapped and continuing to accumulate. Oh and I cannot stress this enough. This is bad. Yeah, No, we're not. Eventually the liquid gasoline that had accumulated would evaporate and the sewer system filled with the explosive vapors as they progressed. Because density, I feel like Bill Ni a little bit, Bill, Bill, Bill, Nah, this science guy. Oh, don't sue us. No, you know the classroom was going to be lit when they like brought in the TV and put the tape in and it was Bill, and you're like. Yesahh science. A full three days later, panic was at risk of being reignited when multiple neighborhood residents were warned to avoid lighting any flames as this of gas became increasingly pervasive. So this is like four different neighborhoods. Oh my god, So another massive like surface area that now all of a sudden they are like in danger. Yeah, could we be next? Oh? And of course at this point, like it's three days later, everybody knows what's happened. Right, So what's awaiting if actually happens. Yeah. This was later confirmed to be a leek and a Pemex pipe. Keep in mind that prior to the explosions, people had been annoyed and had maybe raised some concerns, but there wasn't widespread alarm because La Nogulera was undergoing their annual spring cleaning, which is a gasoline storage facility under the state owned monopoly Pemex. While we're on the topic of PEMS, the public believed that PEMES was to blame for the tragedy. So basically public opinion is like buck Pemes. Yeah, common uh feeling in Mexico. Oh yeah, Honestly I can believe it, because after researching this, I'm like, Wow, we obviously like we've experienced like in kind of a different like application, but like there have been issues with you know, power lines or other like we have our own issues with our infrastructure and like the utilities and things like that. But I was like, damn, yeah, I think I would feel exactly the same way for sure. And I mean these were pem's own plumbing or whatever, right, gas or whatever lines, So yeah, of course they're going to be blamed. But also like somebody put those pipes in, Somebody should have came and checked to what was going on when people were complaining, like pemics and the government our affault probably is my guess. I mean the worst part is that like city workers actually went and they inspected and they were finding dangerous levels and they were told to dismiss it. I'm assuming and they basically and I mean it was reported on and like all of the local government was aware, but they just didn't do anything. Man, I mean, if sitting on your hands could be an official charge. As the theory goes, it was due in part to embezzlement of gasoline from the facility there. It is, yeah, oh my god, not the price. I know. I was like, this is I feel like. I was waiting for something more corrupt than I'm like, all right, this is already bad, but like when is the corruption going? I know, I was like, this has to be. There's got to be like something that's more of a corruption angle, because like, otherwise how do we get here? It just right, like why, well, yeah, the in what behind it? Otherwise it's just it just doesn't feel like the math is mathing at the end. Capitalism, yeah, pretty much. It's like greed, Wow, it was. It was capitalism all along, I know, synonymous with greed to me basically, yeah, no, one thousand percent. It was rumored that an inspection of the facility by the Attorney General's Office was eminent and the staff was fearful they could be caught with an oversupply of gasoline, rather than face any repercussions because obviously who would do. That, right, face accountability for what I've done? No, I don't think I don't think so. No, they opted to simply dump the excess down the drain. Oh my god. And they didn't think what could happen, what could go wrong? Right dumping all this guys, Oh my god, I just like into your sewer system, like what wow? Because I feel like to me, I was kind of like, okay, everything leading up to this it makes sense, how like the reaction. Like all right, we've got the pipes that shouldn't be next to each other, We've got like this gas leak thing going on that's building up. But like what was. The final like like the final push, like the final oof? Like there it is? Yeah, yeah, I wonder how all this gas got here? Right? Oh my god? Okay, I don't know if you've if you've ever seen this, but there it made me think of this TikTok that it's one of my favorites. It's this guy just like basically he must just presumably he's outside on a walk or something, and it just quickly develops into a jog and eventually he's like full ass sprinting, and the whole time he's singing. I don't want no consequence, consequence, consequence, consequent, but this is this, This is all of that, Yeah, consequences of my actions choice in me right now. I don't even know if that's the right tune, but that's now it's. Not coming across as Wow, look at the stuff we're going to miss out when to Tuck is banned. I know. According to a report by the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission, there was a count of eleven hundred and forty two homes affected. Oh my god, four hundred and fifty shops, one hundred schools. Wow, I know, schools. It's a lot of schools, insane in a five mile radius. Yes, sorry, why is there so many schools? I know, I have so many follow up questions based on the numbers and stuff. I can't help, But wonder if some of that is classified as schools, if it's like maybe like also like childcare facilities. I was going to say that I think some of them are like actual childcare, so it's also not just schools. Yeah, six hundred vehicles. I mean, and like you said, it's it's five miles eight kilometers of just yeah. Also a wild because like so many people people use the public transportation system and taxis like a ton. So I'm like, I'm surprised that there's that many cars. Yeah. Well, and you know that's another one of those things where you know it says vehicles that could include like buses and taxis. I don't know, oh true, not like personal yeah, vehicles. Yeah, I feel like we tend to think of like like if somebody just says a car, I think of like a personal vehicle. But like yeah, because we have no public transportation infrastructure in this country. So no, it's but in Laa it's fantastic, except the buses are crazy, like really and it's like it's like a roller coaster getting into the bus. Really you got to run in because they're gonna like. Run you all. They're busy. They'll literally hit other cars like you know to it's fun though, it's wild ride, I will say. WHOA, I don't know if I have the stomach for that. They don't play no, and I don't have this the mix to drive and while that I had out at all. It's even crazier. So I'm like, I will take my chances with a bus or a taxi, but I'm not ever driving. Yeah, that sounds crazy. It's wild. Also, you'll see like people on a like a motorcycle and it'll be like the dad driving, the mom in front holding a baby, and then like two kids hanging on the. Back, like stop it. Yeah, nobody uses car seats, so yeah, oh my gosh, people still ride in the back of trucks. I feel like, and that's now, so I can only imagine back then, Like. Yeah, I feel like there's certain things like riding in the back of the truck. I feel like there's a lot of places you might sometimes see that, but. Like you're not going to see that driving down the freeway here, No, not usually, and you're not here. Sure's not going to see five people on like a mopad or something. Yeah, but over there you will. It's wild. That's wild. The blast measured at seven and seven point one according to the University of Mexico's Richter scale. Wow, yeah, that's high. Oh my god. Yes, I mean it's not like the deathliest we've certainly seen, you know, I think there have been a couple of earthquakes in the last couple of decades that were like a nine on the Richter scale in parts of South America. But like, I don't it doesn't need to be any higher. Seven is like that's crazy. Yeah, So there were trenches up to twenty five feet deep that had been born into the streets. Wow. The colonies that suffered the most damage were the Almost Atlas Olympica and Nalco. At a government sports complex, bodies of some of the victims were laid out on a basketball court under white tarps, many of whom were older women, children. And I'm so sorry babies that I don't even really like babies personal. They're not for me, right, But I mean any life loss tragic, but like a newborn, a baby that hasn't gotten to live that long, and children always it's harder for sure. Yeah, it just feels like, you know, that's someone who cannot advocate for themselves, They can't protect themselves, right, It's so there's a reason they're part of the most vulnerable. Yeah. Absolutely. Total monetary damages were estimated between three hundred million and three billion, So wow, like that's a really wide window there. Millions are already a lot, and then three billion, whoa, yeah. Yeah, and that's in the fucking nineties. Yeah, keep that in mind because like with inflation now, it's like, yeah, no, for sure, just mind blowing. So surely for this magnitude of devastation there must be not only an explanation but also consequences accountability. Yeah yeah, and you would be right, but there wasn't. Well, President Carlos Selinis di Gortiari gave investigators seventy two hours to find the cause of the blast and pledge to quote punish those found responsible. Big talk. The governor of the state of Jalisco, Guillermo Cozio Vidori, accompanied Selinas on his tour and said his government was investigating possible negligence by three city officials for minimizing local residents complaints about the gasmo emanating from the sewers. So this feels a little bit like a dog and pony show. It's kind of like they were the scapegoats. Well, I mean, it's like the president is visiting and then you know, you've got like the governor kind of shepherding him around. Well, they have to. This sounds like an extreme like worse because you know, when there's earthquakes, everyone comes flying in and like it's true. Yeah, but now this, I mean it's like almost to the level of like some of the most devastating earthquakes in Mexico to day, Yeah, same level of like casualties. So I'm not surprised by the governor and the president both being there. I'm madrine, are those three the only responsible? I don't think so, because someone else dumped all that gas into the sewage system, Like, yeah, they probably did it more complaints. Well we know they did, right because people were calling it complaining and I think when done, but like, they truly are not the only ones responsible for this. Well, and I think in this case, like truth be told, these two are like they're out kind of serving the devastation, but I don't think that they're really the ones that are responsible. Like the president isn't responsible for like a local level emergency evacuation, I mean. No, right, but him responding to the aftermath, I could see why he's there, and it would be weird if he wasn't there. Oh, it totally would be. Yeah. And the only reason why I say like that it feels like a dog and pony show is because I think it's the level of like almost like machismo where it's like, oh, we're going to punish them, and it's very like it feels very forceful, you. Know, oh yeah, yeah, but like someone needs to be blamed and like both I mean Mexico and the United States and probably a lot of places are very like a pro punishment type place like send them, feed them to the dogs or whatever. People say, I don't know what I'm saying is right, so someone for of course, I of completely understand in the present like find who's responsible. Yeah, and all this is like being policized at the same time, like it's a very public like you know, him saying all this too, So yeah, I could see all that too. Yeah. I think a lot of people obviously were rightly very upset. I mean people are have lost loved ones, their homes. I mean just a devastating circumstance. So it's like it's not surprising, like of course he's gonna like try to take a strong stance. What else do you not to mention the like what's it called projection of like it wasn't us although somebody failed to find effects and yeah, like oh we're gonna find it, but it's like Spider Man playing on himself, like, yeah, the government is part of the rest this, but they're gonna make a show out of like finding who else was responsible because they don't want to be the ones blamed. Yeah. April twenty seventh, both the mayor, who would subsequently resign from office and the Secretary for Urban and Rural Development were detained on charges related to heeding the warning signs and failing to evacuate the area. Oh good, because they should be responsible. Yeah, okay, I totally agree. I feel like the Secretary for Urban and Rural Development, like that person seems like probably like one of the point people in terms of like yeah, and I was like, who who wasn't bezzling the gas? I mean that's Pemex people presumably, But were they arrested? Well, it's funny, you should say. Additionally, there were four executives reportedly arrested, some with SIAPA essentially that's the local municipal water lords of your just in case you aren't familiar with international utilities, why would yeah, yeah, why would you be? And then there were also some from Pemex that were arrested. So good, Yeah, I have to say if no one is arrested for this? Oh no, I know, can you imagine? I mean, I couldn't picture it being like I'm like, I felt like it could go either way, like either people were arrested or people were not. Like. Well, then three days later, the governor of hi Lusco took a leave of absence, leaving Guadalajara for Spain. He never returned to his role following the tragedy. Wow, Okay, he's like, I quit but first going on vacation. Wow, and never returned. He stayed in Spain. He may have since returned to Mexico, but okay, we gonna go back to Jalisco or no, and he never came back to his post like wow, And yeah okay, oh my god, pretty wild. Wow. Oh and remember how I said you would be right about there being both explanations and consequences for the tragedy. I did say that. Well, see it's not that I lied, per se. But you may not feel very satisfied with the end result on honestly either front. To be honest, the Mexican government has refused to admit fault on their part. Okay, okay, not surprised, yea it is the Mexican government. Nobody it is a government. I was going to say. I was like, I mean, I would say, having covered so many stories in Mexico, like the Mexican government itself, but then you add in like it's just any government, it really is. Yeah, of course they're not going to take a kind of Yeah. What's more, there are forty three thousand page report following the explosions refused to place blame on any of the executives or government officials that were initially no. Who got paid, who got the coin to lie on this long ass report? Yep. Not surprised, so sadly not surprise. I know. I was like, oh god, she's just kind of like flipper lid. No I expect there's this. Yeah, man, you're. Like, actually this fits more in line with what my expectation was. I was more surprised. Actually, this sounds about right. I'm surprised anyone was like arrested at all. I kind of was too, and maybe like in the back of my mind that's sort of where I get like the Doc and Pony show thing, because it's like, right, it's like they they literally did that for show. Oh yeah, I feel I thought at minimum it was super douchey but realistically a major abusive power. Yeah, I feel like we were just talking about, like you know, every government has their thing, and I feel like, on the flip side, one thing that I really hate about the United States government that is super douchey and an abusive power is they won't tell us who really killed Kennedy. Right, they're basically the same thing, except casually multiplied by hundreds, if not thousands of times. One of these things is a little bit more serious. I think I really want to know who killed Kennedy, but like, he's just one dude. Do you listen to Truanon? It sounds they're a little silly, but also like you should listen to their Kennedy series. That's good. Pemmics would make a corporate donation equivalent to two million dollars USD. They should have given more money. Yeah, that's not a lot. I should have paid all the damages and more. Well, and here's the thing. That two million dollars was to be split between the family members who lost loved ones that day or those that were injured. So I mean we're talking about hundreds, if not thousands of people. Yeah, and when you start adding just note enough money. No, no, not to mention people need to like rebuild their homes. Right, No, Christina, I'm gonna be honest with you, Like I don't have a million dollars now, and I don't expect to anytime soon. But I will say this, if the two of us were involved in an explosion, I would certainly hope that our settlement would be more than two million dollars, right right, Like that's it's just that's not enough. No, no, for the number of people affected. No. No, And they did that basically to try to like get a little bit of like good will back. Yeah, like for a good publicity. Yeah. Honestly, it sounds like like, broadly speaking, the public really saw through that. Oh of course, and it's Pemex, Like people already hate pems. Yeah. I mean, like I said, I can only imagine they did this because of the immense backlash from the company because everyone something yes, exactly exactly, but get this, Pemex. One of the driving forces behind this was the fact that they were still reeling from a nineteen eighty four Mexico City propane explosion. Oh god, this is not their first rodeo with explosions. Wow, the explosion that killed four hundred and fifty people and that one they were found responsible for. So they already had like their feet to the fire. Yeah, oh my god. H I'm not surprised, I know. I was just like, wow, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, like, like, of course this happened already somewhere else. And it sounds like there were I mean, it's not maybe something that like it doesn't get reporting on like an explosion would, but it was very common to have very frequent like gas leaks and things like that. So it's like people were aware that there were issues. So this last part that I'll leave you with was at first confusing, especially as I came across considerable discussion about how not evacuating had increased civilian casualties following the deadly events of April twenty second. Just over a week later, protesters gathered outside the governor's palace in Guadalajara as another gas leak threatened the homes and the very lives of many more. After residents of the Alamo District south of Reforma said they smelled fumes, Guadalajara mayor ordered the evacuation of several square blocks. The area is surrounded by about forty factories. That's a lot, including a plant operated by Petrolios Mexicanos known as Pemex. Yeah. Oh my god. So there was a couple of times in the story where I mentioned that they refused to evacuate. Refused to evacuate. Basically, it was, you know, from the time of I think the fifth explosion, where all of a sudden the tune is changing. And ironically the reason why is that they finally got close to those big government and corporate interests. That's when it mattered. Yeah, five explosions, then when it affected them. Yeah, it took me a while to work that out because so much of what I was reading was just like, they didn't evacuate, they didn't evacuate. And then I started seeing stuff about like, well, wait, what's this about they in the factory district after the fifth explosion, and I'm like, ah, these dirty birdies, these motherfuckers. Yeah, I just had a branch hit my window and You're like, oh my god, what was that. Yeah, so that is the Guadalajara explosions. You know, I love a good corruption story. On a Tuesday afternoon. So thank you, I know, really cheerful. A good way to you know, leading up to the Christmas. Holidays, just what we need. Yeah, yeah, very cheerful. Do you want to stick around for taro? Do you want to do the taro reading with me? Sure? I don't use these ones in a while, so they needed a good ship. Okay, I've got Tom spread out any thoughts intuition, I have no intuition. I guess there it is. Oh what is that the night of so? What does it mean? All right? Our keywords for the Night of Swords are daring, chivalry, forthrightness, impatience, single mindedness, and insensitivity. Am I those things? No? No, we always we always try to see if there's like any parallels at all to like the case itself. Some times we do make it about us. That makes more sense. Yeah, okay, I mean there's no hard and fast rules around here. You know you've hung out with us enough? Yes. Yes. Knights often symbolize messages or travel. Some decks, including the writer Waite Smith Tarot show This night rushing help bent toward an adversary or adventure. If he represents a person, you know, he may be someone who's overly aggressive or argumentative who lives in attack mode. Or he might be a spiritual warrior, one who uses his intellect to examine and purify himself. The upright Night may suggest you're passionate about your ideas and believe wholeheartedly in the rightness of your objective. If this card represents an actual person, he's probably a young man who expresses his ideas enthusiastically and may have trouble understanding other viewpoints. He has a quick mind and keen intellect, but may lack true wisdom. Sometimes this night symbolizes an urgent message or an unexpected trip. Oh, like to Spain. Like the guy who left the Spain right, Yeah, and never returned to his job. I feel like this. I mean, I'm sure there's more parallels that you could draw that I feel like. I'm like, that's all I needed here, That's what I needed. Yeah, yeah, Okay. In a reading about money, you may need to act quickly in a financial matter, but don't neglect to study the situation before making a decision too late. Yeah. The upright Night may point to a trip for financial reasons or a message about money. Sometimes he heralds a change in your resources. If the reading is about your job, this card can represent a business trip. Sometimes it means a job change or a shift in work related responsibilities. Say like abandoning your work related responsibilities. Yeah that's yeah. Wow. The night may also caution you to hold your tongue and bide your time. Diplomacy is important, though, Well okay, okay, well I don't know that. I feel like the love connection bullet point makes a lot of sense for this case, but I feel like the rest of that felt like some of us for sure affable. Yeah. Yeah, I mean the whole thing with like the Taro reading anyway, is just that it's like, you know, what do we see? It's like kind of it's almost like you know, paint by numbers, like you know what parallels we can draw? And yeah, yeah, this is so much fun. Yes, thanks for having me and telling me about this terrible disaster. I know, I'm like, oh man, I didn't really think about it, but in hindsight, I'm like, sorry, this is something happier. I know, it's like a horrible thing that happened in a place. That you love, but honestly, I love talking about horrible things that happened at place I love. I mean clearly me too. That's like kind of our whole brand. So right, yeah, but when I saw that you had multiple, multiple episodes about like Guadalajara, like hauntings and things, I was like, she can handle it. I can and I did. She can handle it. I know. I started listening through because I was like, oh damn, she's got I think. I was like in Spooky Tales, I was like, I think there's like three just for. Yeah, there's in that Charlone yeah alone. Yeah, it's just a very haunting place. Beautiful but haunting. So many stories. I'm surprised there's not I haven't found one connected to this disaster, and that's surprising. Yeah to me. I mean it's in our lifetime. Yeah, it's not like it happened yesterday, but I would not be surprised. A few months before in my lifetime. So what, I was born in August ninety two. This happened in April ninety two. Right, Oh my god, I forgot. You're a fetus, a baby. I'm just a baby, thirty two year old baby. Oh my god, Christina, Yes, oh my god. I was born in the eighties, so yeah, so you're old, Yes, I'm very, very very old to the young ones. I'm old too, so it's okay, we're like elders. No, I know, and I could do without that. I don't really need that. I feel old enough when I wake up every morning and have back. Oh my god, you get me started on back pain. So Christina, obviously we need you to plug all of the things, about all of your things, your projects. Yes, two shows now or do you have a show, a secret show that even I don't know about? Two two? I was like, if you start a third podcast? Oh? I tried, and then I was like, no, this is too much. I can't keep up with it. It was it's a lot of work, too much, too much work. Yeah, well, if you like haunted places, myths, legends, true crime, then check out Spooky Tales. I coasted with my twin. We talk about all those things, but with a focus on Latin America. So it's a lot of stuff that maybe you haven't heard about if you're listening to things in English that happened and I don't know the United States, So yeah, that's a lot of fun. Who even cares about that place? Lame? Uh? And then my other podcast is called Estorias Unknown that's history in Spanish Eastorias, and then Unknown it's an English The podcast just the name is half the Spanish, and we talk about Latin American history or history to Latinos Latinus in the US, and it's like things like, oh my god, why I didn't I learn that in school. So if that's sounds like something interesting to you, then yeah, check that one out. I also coasted with my twin. And I love it. What else if you like more serious not people telling each other a story. I do produce and write episodes for Horror Story. You do, okay, So I knew you were holding out. Oh it's excited. I do work for Scary FIM for Edwin Yeah yeah, and then True Scary Story. I edit, like story edit on that one. So that's other work that I do, honestly work that I do with too much to name. So seriously, well, I knew about Scary Story, I didn't know about Horror Story. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's exciting. Yeah, you can tell when I took over because the quality just you know, shut up through the roof, through the roof. Yes, I haven't listened to the news show yet, so I have to do that. I love history. Oh yeah, it's I mean, it's a lot of depressant stories, and like, I don't know, some people like to hear very incited version of history where they're like, oh, this is very biased and you're wrong, and I was like, I'm sorry, I'm telling something that happened, and if you don't like what happened doesn't mean that it's biased, you know. And it's a lot like oh my god, I can't believe the United States they're this. So yeah, I can come off as like, oh, this is like you just hate America first of all. Yes, but I mean, yeah. We kind of sucked, Like yeah, internationally, we've had some pretty bad good. Look, yeah, but yeah, it's like that's fair. You know, the Salvadoran Civil War, the Guatemalan Civil War, the international adoption in Chile and Guatemala, which has both both been super corrupt. So episodes like that, the bathriots happened in Opaso in nineteen seventeen. So yeah, just things that you're like, Wow, why didn't learn about this? Thank you so much for coming on with us and doing the story with me. Thanks for inviting me. I have a crapy Yeah, say oh, I think that was pretty good. That would get to me. I don't know it did it did. As soon as we finished it, you started glitching out and you had robot voice. Oh no, that was so funny. Oh Man. As Book Tells is hosted by Christina and Carmen, produced and edited by Christina, researched by Christina Carmen, and with the help of Don shout out with Don. If you aren't enjoying the podcast considerably, going to say five star review, we would really appreciate it. If you don't want to the a five star review, just don't leave a review. But don't leave anything lower than that, please, I'm just kidding. You can reach out to the podcast at at s Booktees at gmail dot com. You can go to our website at bookitos dot com and fill out the contact form. If you want to support the podcast, you can join our Patreon where we send exclusive stickers, have bonus episodes. Eight dollar members get an exclusive key chain. It's super cool. I got new ones and these ones are huge. And if you you want to support but you can or don't want to join the patreon, that's fine too. You can also get some merch you can find shurets to say a spooky and old English letters. There's a beanie. I love the beanie. There's also a hat. There's a no Mamus shirt, which is a fan favorite. There's a lot of options, crap tops, sweaters, it's almost swetter weather. We're nearing a spookie season, so yeah, get your hoodies. You're gonna need them. If you don't want to do all that, that's fine too. You can just listen like you're listening now, and that's the best support that you can give us. Like I always say in our ad break and yeah, if you like history, you can follow Estoia's Unknown Mining, Carmen's other podcasts, and you can find as Spooky tails on all of our socials at Spooky Tells All. This is in the show notes and we appreciate every single listen. Thank you so much. Stay as Spooky