Free Trade Zone Explosion Leaves
Trauma in its Wake
Puerto Barrios,Guatemala,-- Shock still lingers
among the population of this shipping and trucking
center along Guatemala's Atlantic Coast following
a powerful chemical explosion on Dec. 3. The explosion
at a warehouse in a government-operated free trade
zone was felt in a six kilometer area and was
accompanied by a strong earthquake.
The chemical cloud that floated over the area for
nearly 24 hours was declared nontoxic by the
Guatemalan government. Nevertheless residents are
fearful of long-term effects. The chemical mix moved
in a semi-circle into the San Gil Mountain above Santo
Tomas de Castilla,says an environmental official, and
then out over the Amatique Bay.
The substance caused powerful herbicide type
burns
on trees and pasture. Some persons exposed to the
fumes are suffering chest pains and in one case
bleeding from the lungs, according to the Guatemalan
Human Rights Attorney General's Office in
Puerto Barrios. People have also reported red spots on
their skin.
Residue form the cloud also has pasted area roofs
and probably entered rivers feeding local water
supplies such as the Quebrada Seca and Las Escobas
rivers. Small farmers located in a chemically-burned
mountainous area known as Tamarindal had about 1,000
head of cattle affected by a lack of pasture. Several
cows have reportedly died either from lack of food or
eating burnt pasture. Dead rats have also been found
in heavily impacted neighborhoods near the explosion
site.
The Nongovernmental Organization Foundation for
Ecologial Development and Conservation (Fundaeco)
found 200 deadfish floating in the bay near Santo
Tomas de Castilla during an inspection of Amatique Bay
on December 8. The mix of chemicals,according to lists
provided by the Free Trade Zone management to the
Guatemalan Human Rights Attorney General, include
sodium chlorate, soda ash and various petroleum
additives,including oil drilling mud. Cosmetics,
cotton bails and alcoholic beverages as well as other
products such as vehicles, dental instruments, and
computers were in the wharehouse. The explosion and
earthquake caused one fatality. Eighty persons were
hospitalized,including one legamputee and a child with
serious head injuries. The child was flown to
Guatemala City by U.S. helicopter.
Those who experienced the explosion's power
attribute the low fatalities to miraculous luck. A
lack of proper safety procedures and inadequate
equipment to handle the emergency were evident, say
members of the Human Rights Attorney General's office
and the government National Environmental Commission.
There is also fear that the government will fail
to
followup up on the disaster sufficiently. "We are
concerned that the government was not very interested
in reality," says Elsa Angelica Blanco of the Puerto
Barrios office of the Human Rights Attorney General.
"Nothing happened and everything is fine. That's what
the president said when he visited."(Guatemalan
President Alvaro Arzu visited the explosion site Dec.
5.) "The president has tried to minimize the impact of
what has happened. We feel that in truth that people
have been very affected by this.The people are living
in fear. There's a lot of trauma in the population."
The Human Rights Attorney General plans a
lawsuit against the Guatemalan Ministry of Labor and
Safety.The suit will charge a lack of labor safety
enforcement. "If they had done their duty they would
have had detected any type of anomalies," Blanco says.
Suits are also planned by Human Rights against
the Government of Guatemala, itself and its parastate
Zone of Free Trade, known as Zolic. The agency will
also demand changes in the Free Trade Zone's
operations. Blanco cites above ground fuel tanks
located in front of an assembly plant as one hazard.
"Its an area that's highly dangerous. Especially for
the women that work there in manufacturing." Injured
workers were also found to be without company health
insurance and were forced to rely solely on the
Guatemalan Social Security Institute.
Twelve diverse companies had merchandise stored at
Warehouse B when it exploded on Dec. 3. But the
cause of the explosion, according to the Human
Rights Attorney General, is attributed to moving of
Zolic-controlled sodium chlorate which was taken in
lieu of payment from the firm Celgusa, a defunct
Spanish lumber company. Documents given to the Human
Rights Attorney General by Zolic list 300 sacks of
sodium chlorate stored in the warehouse since Oct. 5,
1985.
Located next to the Celgusa storage area was
Transnautica, an importer of vehicles and other
articles. Six employees of Transnautica were playing
football outside the facility when the fire and
explosions occurred at 4:30 p.m. Transnautica
warehouse
manager of four years, Ramilio Bardales, 30, was still
in the office and perished as up to nine explosions
ripped through thewarehouse.
Transnautica has filed the first private lawsuit
against Zolic. The suit for 2 million Quetzales
charges that Zolic was imprudent, negligent and
irresponsible in causing the death of Bardales.
While Tansnautica charges the substance was potassium
chlorate, the Zolic documents say it is sodium
chlorate. A lawyer for Zolic, Julio Guerra Lorenzana,
denied all existence of the chemical potasium chlorate
following filing of the suit.
Jorge Wright, of Transnautica's Puerto Barrios
office, alleges the fire began when Zolic began to
move the chemical which had sat untouched for years.
"A person was placed there. And I don't known if he
had any experience or not. He was operating a fork
lift. And there were two Zolic maintenance employees.
There was one person from another warehouse who came
and warned them to be very careful in handling that
material because it's highly dangerous. And they
answered,'Don't worry about it McGyver.' Apparently
a jumbo bag (a bag for moving product by forklift)
broke... there were sparks and they started yelling
fire."
The blaze which couldn't be combatted effectively
with water quickly began to threaten a nearby chemical
storage facility. Veteran Puerto Barrios Fire Fighter
Gustavo Guerra and a crisis team from Texaco,
Shell, Basic Resources and the Santo Tomas Port
Authority fought the fire alongside volunteer firemen
for 24hours to keep it from reaching the nearby tanks
filled with alcohol and aviation fuel.
Activation of the chemical facility cooling
system also prevented a much larger tragedy. The
multiple explosions sent fire balls across the area.
The burnt wreckage of a taxi driven by 60-year-old
Rigoberto Villeda Monroy became a symbol of the sudden
inferno. Monroy escaped uninjured but complains of
recurring nightmares. A flaming truck engine flew into
the Zolic assembly plant area and crashed through the
roof of JIR Manufacturing.
Some 3,500 trade zone employees had ended work
just a half-hour earlier but some employees were still
on the grounds. Glass cuts and bleeding ear injuries
were common. Burning tires flew into area
neighborhoods and a powerful earthquake sent ceilings
and plaster crashing. The force bent metal doors and
destroyed personal possessions. For Sergio Tally the
Zolic explosion hit twice. A flaming tire crashed
through the roof of his house setting a back room on
fire. Meanwhile his wife, a trade zone employee was
injured. "She has lesions that don't let her work
or walk," complained Tally as he repaired his house.
"Problems in a leg, a knee, two ribs." Seven area
neighborhoods were damaged by the fire debris and the
earthquake. In hard hit Coviemport 80 houses out of
300 suffered damage. The Izabal departmental
government initially provided corrugated roofing to
affected residents and a census of neighborhood damage
is underway by the Human Rights Attorney General.
"Right now we're dialoguing with the authorities at
Zolic," says Edwin Rivas, secretary of the Coviemport
Neighborhood Committee in December "The manager of
Zolic has said they're disposed to pay the damages to
the houses. We don't know if they're going to pay 100%
of the damage or not. If not we'll contact our
lawyer and submit a lawsuit. Because this is not just
amatter of suing for material damages but also
personal injury. The environment was contaminated.
We're unprotected in the sense we don't know what's to
come. We don't know if our hair is going to fall out
or what." Samples of water, animals and foilage were
taken and sent to three labs -- those of the
Ministryof Agriculture, University of San Carlos
School of Chemistry and Pharmacy; and Agrilab, a
privatelaboratory. Findings released by the Guatemalan
Government said the samples were all nontoxic.
The National
Environmental Commission (Conama) was critical of the
Free Trade Center. "Zolic didn't have any security
plans. At least they were not using them at this
warehouse," said Wendy Guzman Elizondo, who heads
Conama's Puerto Barrios office. Conama is expected to
criticize the firm's storage policies. "These are
totally different products and shouldn't have been
stored together", she said of the contents of
warehouse B.
Zolic Assistant Manager Lester Vargas says the
26-year-old facility, which houses 52 firms, including
four assembly plants, was well planned. And in the
past year the firm had bought four new fire
engines,(Lost in warehouse B) and planned to install
closed circuit television and other security
improvements. He contends a short circuit may have
ignited the blaze. He noted that traditionally Central
American firms don't insure their employees but all
firms at the trade zone must be insured for product
loss, personal liability and property damage.
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