Voices of tragedy in San Pedro Garza García: ‘Everything moved like an earthquake. I thought I was going to die’

The Mexican state of Nuevo León is in mourning. The collapse of a stage during a political rally attended by Jorge Álvarez Máynez, the presidential candidate for Citizens’ Movement (MC) in San Pedro Garza García, has left the final stretch of his campaign mired in helplessness and dismay, with a little over a week left until Mexico’s election day. The tragedy has cost at least nine lives and left 189 people injured, according to Governor Samuel García. Less than 24 hours after the collapse, echoes of the tragedy still ricocheted through the emergency room at Clinic 21 of the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS), where dozens of people spent the night waiting to hear news of their family members, victims of the event that took place at the El Obispo baseball field. On Thursday the site of the accident was deserted, strictly cordoned off by the National Guard. While in the national media, condolences are starting to dissipate as thoughts turn to who bears the responsibility for the tragedy, among the victims and those who survived the collapse, deep pain and lacerating disbelief continue to be the primary sentiments. No one ever imagined that something like this could take place.

“It all happened in a matter of minutes, it was cloudy when we went on stage,” remembers Víctor Martínez, an MC candidate for legislator in the local district 18 in San Pedro. Martínez was one of the people who were at center stage when the collapse took place. To his left was senatorial candidate Martha Herrera, Máynez and Lorenia Canavati, who was marking the end of her campaign for municipal president in El Obispo. “Everything moved, as if it were an earthquake and you could hear something like the crash of thunder, but I think was the stage itself that made the noise,” he remembers. In footage of the moment, Máynez and Canavati ran in opposite directions, while a projection screen moved forward as a strong gust of wind toppled the structure. Martínez slipped, fell backwards and was trapped. “I was buried on stage. I covered my face so that none of the beams would fall on me. I saw cables and lights flying everywhere and at that moment, I thought I was going to die, that my time was up.”

For a moment, everything went silent. Then, Martínez began to hear voices again. He was alive, but he says he couldn’t see anyone. He remembers that he crawled out from under the debris and perceived the chaos. “When I got out, I began to shout the name of my wife and I remember how everyone was shouting names, the names of people they were looking for. I will never forget that, it was terrible,” says the candidate. Once he found his partner and son, he turned his focus to trying to help. There were people underneath the sound equipment, many people running from one place to another, trying to locate their family members. “I did everything I could, but at a certain point I felt like there was nothing more I could do, that it was all being done,” he says. “Twelve hours ago we were thinking about the end of the campaign, that was the most important event for us, and suddenly, the story changed completely. We are a campaign with a message of happiness. Today, we’re not feeling the strength to carry on,” he says.

“I was with my five-year-old granddaughter, right up against the stage, in front,” said a neighbor who lives in the neighborhood of El Obispo and who requested to remain anonymous. The woman, who runs a small clothing shop two blooks away from the baseball field, says that she doesn’t usually attend this kind of event. The neighborhood was excited, primarily because it had been announced that Bronco, a band with legendary status in regional Mexican genres, would play to end the rally. Like every other year, the heat has been suffocating in recent days, and when that Wednesday afternoon turned out to be less stifling, the woman decided to check out the event. “It looks like it will rain, what do you think, mami, should we go?” she asked the little girl. The grandmother and granddaughter weren’t even going to stick around to hear the music, they stayed a few moments to see the candidates, who were already up on the stage, and then tried to find gaps in the crowd to head home. “It was packed,” she says, gesturing with both hands.

The residents of El Obispo can’t remember an event this large taking place in the area. The meeting space was a wide, dry esplanade with few trees. It’s more of an empty lot than a baseball field. It’s not the San Pedro Garza García of tall buildings, costly homes and cars, the most expensive municipality in Latin America. Its residents say that this is the other San Pedro: the one of industrial parks, corner stores and tortilla shops. It is, however, as much or even more plastered with electoral propaganda as the more widely known sections of San Pedro. The field is littered with Canavati’s campaign signs, scattered crowd barriers and collapsed metal beams from the stage. Even the tour buses that were to transport the day’s musical talent remain parked in the field. The scene is expected to be reviewed by the state prosecutor’s office, which has opened an investigation to clarify what took place that day.

“And then came that big gust of wind and that loud noise … when I saw everyone, the first thing that came to mind was that it was a shooting, we didn’t know what was happening,” says the local resident. “Feet were flying, everyone began to run, there were people who were crushed,” says the woman, her facial expression unmoving, her tone of voice firm. “I didn’t know where I was, I could only think about my little girl, that I didn’t want her to die,” she says, unable to hold back tears. “I had to find my little girl, I wound up two blocks from my home, I don’t know how.” The woman takes a breath and looks out the window before saying goodbye. She says that later, she has to accompany a neighbor whose daughter is in the hospital.

Outside of IMSS Clinic 21, in central Monterrey, Icela Carolina has been waiting for news of her mother for 18 hours. “She messaged me around five in the afternoon, she told me she really wanted to see Bronco and that she was going to meet up with a friend,” says the 17-year-old girl, sitting on a cot with three of her family members. The last thing they told her is that her mother’s right foot and arm are broken, and that in a few hours, they would carry out the first of three surgeries related to a blow to her mother’s head. “They found her on the ground, she was trapped under a structure, but she’s already conscious and is making progess,” says Susana Hernández, the girl’s aunt.

Only one family member can stay with the victims and several families have built a small campground of plastic chairs on the street in front of the hospital’s emergency care unit. “Family members of…,” shouts a nurse from the hospital door to provide the latest medical update. Just beside the entryway, Angélica González, Ángeles Tobías and Blanca Montejano are waiting to receive news of their three friends: one has died and two are hospitalized. “I didn’t go, but you could see it all from my house: the air kicked up, then the lights went out and you heard lots of screams, lots of crying, lots of sirens like the police,” says 62-year-old Tobías. “The entire neighborhood is very sad, many neighbors knew someone who lost a family member, who is injured,” says 51-year-old González.

“My sister-in-law and mother-in-law are inside. I have many feelings, you don’t want to sleep, eat, you don’t want to do anything,” says 55-year-old Armando Jiménez, who is part of a group of 15 people who are waiting for the release of their loved ones. With him are 66-year-old Francisca Vargas, who is praying for her godmother. Everyone is a bundle of nerves: they put their hands on their head, stretch their back, shake out their feet and look for refuge from the sun as the thermometer hits 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Underneath a white tent, state government workers survey the needs of the victims’ families. They say that, beyond crutches and wheelchairs, one of their principal concerns is mental health. People are in anguish. At least a dozen individuals are still hospitalized.

“It was a tragedy, we all have to learn from this so that it doesn’t happen again,” says Martínez, though he insists that gusts of wind as powerful as those that swept through on Wednesday are not common and that the accident was caused by abnormal weather conditions. “All the parties have put a pause on the campaign and the politicking, I think that right now, the priority is on the people who have been impacted,” he says, alluding to the local election. With less than a week to go to voting day, no one wants to talk about politics in Nuevo León. The emotional blow has been particularly hard for the MC political party, the state government, the presidential campaign and its candidate. Máynez described the incident as “the most painful situation” of his life. “We will continue to follow the progress of each injured person and their families,” he said.

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