Latest / PNW Haunts & Homicides / Gas, Greed, & Devastation: The Guadalajara Explosions

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Gas, Greed, & Devastation: The Guadalajara Explosions · PNW Haunts & Homicides

0:00
Um, you might be able to get past the smell that I have to imagine that the smoke was
0:07
pretty goddamn alarming.
0:09
Right, right.
0:10
And then I combine.
0:11
Yeah, it's like the smell's bad.
0:15
It's making it hard for people to breathe.
0:17
It's like stinging your eyes.
0:18
It's like kind of a wicked combo.
0:22
Yeah, like all the winner, all the winner.
0:25
Exactly.
0:26
Exactly.
0:27
Hi, Cristina.
0:34
Hi.
0:35
Hi.
0:36
Say hello to the creepy people.
0:44
Hi, creepy people.
0:47
Yeah.
0:48
That's pretty much the greeting that they are accustomed to.
0:53
That's true.
0:54
I like I haven't heard it.
0:57
I swear I have.
0:58
I know.
0:59
This is PNW Haunts and Homicides sites.
1:03
It's a, oh, I can't forget the tagline Cassie will absolutely murder me.
1:09
It's PNW if you're nasty.
1:15
I heard that one.
1:17
Yeah.
1:18
She gets mad whenever I don't say it now.
1:20
I just said it like kind of like as a little like joke one time.
1:24
You had to keep saying it.
1:26
And now I have to say it forever.
1:28
Yeah.
1:29
That's what Cassie said.
1:31
So obviously Cassie is not here.
1:36
You have a herder voice yet.
1:38
You can't see her if you're watching us on YouTube.
1:41
But we have the lovely Cristina.
1:44
Yes.
1:45
And you know what?
1:46
It's like a perfect replacement because my name also starts with C.
1:49
I know.
1:50
Yeah.
1:51
So we're so like C and C, you know, exactly.
1:54
Yeah.
1:55
It keeps it, you know, feels like it's all in the family.
1:58
Yeah.
1:59
Yeah.
2:00
Before we get started, obviously I want to say thank you Cristina for joining us today.
2:05
If you've been listening for a while, you know that she is one of our pod besties.
2:10
She took us along for the ride to the
2:14
Two Girls, One ghost.
2:15
Show.
2:16
Breathe.
2:17
Oh, yeah.
2:18
She's just like, I just do that stuff.
2:21
I was going to say, what do you mean?
2:22
You took me along to the lighthouse side and I was I was the third wheel.
2:28
Yeah.
2:29
No, we went to the show first.
2:32
Yeah.
2:33
And that's where I mean very briefly we met Sabrina and then of course like you mentioned, we
2:41
dragged you up to the point Wilson lighthouse so that we could do our crossover episode,
2:48
which if you haven't listened to that, we were just talking about before we hopped on
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that that was like a really fun episode.
2:55
We're lucky it got made because also I was very distracted the whole weekend and I fully
3:02
thought I was just like on a fun trip because it was so much about it.
3:06
We're doing content.
3:07
Yeah.
3:08
Oh, shoot, I guess I have responsibilities and things.
3:14
So, but it felt like it was time to find something else to do together.
3:19
So maybe after we record this episode, we'll get to work on planning another trip.
3:24
Oh my god.
3:25
Yes.
3:26
Yes.
3:27
I know we have.
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We've already talked about like as soon as we were done with that trip, we had more ideas
3:34
percolating.
3:35
We kept naming places.
3:36
Yeah.
3:37
Yeah.
3:38
Oh my gosh.
3:39
But you actually have a special connection to the place that we're going to talk about today,
3:45
which I didn't fully realize until we robed you into this with us.
3:50
So because I was like, I know generally, but I was like this specific city.
3:56
Yeah.
3:57
That is my hometown.
3:58
My mom's side of the family were all in Guadalajara.
4:02
Well, there's a little, not a suburb, but like a colony that's called Zapopan, which is
4:07
right by Guadalajara, like literally 20 minutes.
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So we just say Guadalajara because that's where everyone is familiar with the bigger city.
4:13
But yeah, that is where I go whenever I go to Mexico.
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And I'm actually going to be there in January.
4:17
That's so funny because I'm like trying to casually drop in somewhat.
4:21
We should go to Mexico.
4:23
Damn well, you should have just came with me.
4:26
I know.
4:27
Well, I'm going to be like once there's a year or so.
4:30
I was going to say you probably like to visit really often.
4:33
Yeah, I've got to see my grandma, you know.
4:36
The fam.
4:37
Yeah, of course.
4:38
Okay.
4:39
So actually immediately as you're pronouncing, I don't like now I don't even want to say,
4:46
I don't even want to say.
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Should I just say Guadalajara every time?
4:49
Like you pause and I'll say Guadalajara.
4:51
We should just have like a hand signal because I'm just like Guadalajara.
4:56
I feel like somebody is like very, very Midwestern grandma.
5:05
But no, I'm just going to put it out there.
5:07
You have absolute carte blanche to correct any and all of my pronunciation throughout this
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because as we know, unfortunately, there was an incident with a puyala.
5:19
That was rough.
5:20
Yeah, I forget how to pronounce that all the time.
5:24
Yeah, but I hyper focus on my pronunciations and then somehow when my brain spiciness, it
5:31
meets the dry mouth.
5:33
Yeah.
5:34
Yeah.
5:35
And then when I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, yeah. I don't always nail it.
5:42
I don't always nail it.
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And I rarely do.
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And then people are like, you said this wrong.
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I'm like, all right.
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And when you want me to do about it, it's too late.
5:47
Yeah.
5:48
And sorry.
5:49
And sorry.
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And I don't even say I'm sorry anymore.
5:51
Yeah.
5:52
I mean, whoops.
5:53
I mean, whoops.
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I mean, we're all trying, right?
5:55
I mean, we're all trying, right?
5:56
Nami.
5:57
No.
5:58
No.
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I mean, you're making the effort.
6:00
Yeah. I mean, only to go back and to go back and like apologize for something that, you know, you don't mean any harm.
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You're doing your best.
6:08
Yeah.
6:09
Yeah.
6:10
Sometimes I mean harm.
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But yeah.
6:12
No.
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I've got a stop.
6:14
No, I love it.
6:16
I'd like to encourage this.
6:18
More harm.
6:19
Okay.
6:20
No, just your spiciness.
6:22
Oh, yeah.
6:23
Yeah.
6:24
Yeah.
6:25
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.
6:32
Oh, hey.
6:33
Okay.
6:34
Yeah.
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Could get role well.
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I'll get to my appointment for my refill.
6:38
Oh, yeah.
6:39
Yeah.
6:40
Yeah.
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You got to stay on top of that.
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It's rough.
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It's rough.
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So today we have an OG member of the Patreon to thank for suggesting this topic.
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So thank you also to Aaron.
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I just had to wait for the stars to align and the dopamine to hit with this one.
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But as the kids say, I believe this one slips.
7:02
I don't even know why I put that in.
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I think they do say that though.
7:07
Yeah.
7:08
They say stuff like that.
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I don't know.
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It feels like in my head, I'm picturing somebody cooler, saying it.
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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.
7:21
Should I not have said that?
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Established as a sister city to Portland, Oregon in 1983, Guadalajara is nestled in Jalisco.
7:32
Oh, yeah.
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Jalisco.
7:34
Okay.
7:35
I totally didn't know we were sister cities with Portland, Oregon.
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Yeah.
7:38
That's crazy.
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I had no idea.
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I know.
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I know that was actually why one of the Patreon members was like, Oh, I know about this crazy case.
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And it's like a sister city to Portland.
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And that's how that's our like work around.
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It's our cheat code to go international.
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I love that.
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Yeah.
7:58
I'm curious about this case because I can't think of one.
8:03
Oh, I'm okay.
8:04
I'm excited.
8:05
I was curious if you were going to know about this.
8:07
I don't know.
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But we were both alive, but I don't know if it'll be something that, like, you would really have, like, memory of...
8:15
Probably not. My memory is already terrible, so...
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I know. It's not great. It doesn't get better in terms of...
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It makes it worse.
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Yeah. Not age in, like, a fine wine. The opposite.
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And Guadalajara is actually the capital city of that state in Mexico. Fun fact. Both Mariachi music and Taquila originate from there as...
8:38
Well. That is true. Yeah.
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So party people.
8:41
Yeah. The Tapatio hot sauce. Have you seen it?
8:45
Yeah.
8:45
That's like the typical... When you say someone from Jalisco look like it's that Tapatio man on the hot sauce.
8:53
That's hilarious. I love that.
8:56
Yeah. Whenever they say you have a host like Tapatios, eyes that are Tapatios, it means like huge eyes, because they say people from...
9:04
Well, at a hot iron Jalisco have huge eyes. I feel like that holds true. Like...
9:09
I do have huge eyes.
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You have really big eyes.
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And just see my marital eyes gigantic.
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But like in a good way, not a bad way.
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Not like in a...
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Not in like a creepy way. Like a really beautiful way.
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While it's not the largest or the most major city in Mexico, it is one of the most populous in all of Mexico.
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And actually, it rings as... And this statistic I think is only a handful of years old.
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They might have moved up or down a notch. But the ranked near the top 20 in all of the Americas.
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So North and South America.
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Yeah, it's pretty big.
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It's the biggest in Jalisco. Yeah, like you said, not Mexico.
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It's also host to the San Juan de Dios market.
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Oh man, that market is beautiful. Yeah.
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It's so beautiful.
10:00
I grabbed a bunch of different pictures and stuff from the market because I'm like,
10:05
that looks so cool. It's massive.
10:08
It's huge. Yeah, it's huge.
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Every floor has... Yeah, I mean, like...
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It's like part of it is outside. Then you go inside and there's like, I don't know, three to four floors.
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I don't remember anymore.
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And then you go outside and it just continues.
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And yeah, just so much stuff, so much food.
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It's just... It's great.
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It looks like there's honestly everything there.
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Yeah.
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Food and all kinds of different like clothing and like every type of good imaginable.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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But it is the largest indoor market in Latin America.
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Yeah, it's huge.
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It's huge.
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And yeah, if you're in Guadalajara, you have to go there.
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You have to.
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You must.
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You heard it here first.
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So put a pin in the market for now.
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Just let that simmer.
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Okay.
10:54
Fair warning, there's not really a smooth way to transition to this next part.
11:01
Just like really get a rip the bandaid off.
11:03
Okay, I'm ready.
11:06
Though it seems fitting that we get into the story abruptly because the events we're going
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to discuss were anything but gradual or subtle.
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On April 22nd, 1992, there were a series of several explosions in the downtown district
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of Analco, Colonia Atlas.
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Okay.
11:30
I know it happened, but I know nothing about it.
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I, yeah, I'm excited.
11:35
I don't, yeah, I don't know about this.
11:37
That's crazy.
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There were numerous gasoline explosions in the sewer system.
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Fires continued burning for over four hours, destroying roughly eight kilometers or for
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those of us that are stateside over five miles of city streets, the most badly damaged being
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Gante street.
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Hundreds of people were injured and hundreds more were killed in the ensuing chaos.
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Though numerous sources speculate what exactly the tally was, my research indicates it was
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no fewer than 500 injured and 200 left dead.
12:15
Wow.
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I know.
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I'm like, that's insane.
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A lot of the source material says that it's probably a lot higher than that.
12:25
It usually is whatever number it is, like double it.
12:28
Exactly.
12:29
Yeah.
12:30
Exactly.
12:31
But again, not exactly a strict consensus per se.
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Some argue that it could have been upwards into the thousands partially due to the hundreds
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of people that were missing in the immediate aftermath.
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So that's such a hard thing because if people are missing right away, but then they're found,
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maybe they were presumed dead at some point.
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It's not a good situation.
13:00
No.
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Not to mention that thousands of homes were badly damaged, leaving many stranded on the
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battered nightmarish streets.
13:09
But let's rewind just a little bit.
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Days before the explosions, residents began complaining that a strong gas smell was emanating
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from the sewers on the streets.
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But also from their own residential plumbing.
13:25
Who?
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And it would progressively worsen in the days leading up to the explosions.
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The unpleasant odor left residents suffering from nausea as well as a stinging sensation in
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their throats and eyes, in some cases.
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So probably not something poopery could take care of.
13:44
Right.
13:45
Right.
13:46
Smelly, but not that kind of smelly.
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Yeah.
13:50
This sounds toxic.
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I know.
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But in all seriousness, the situation in Guadalajara was pretty alarming.
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Residents of the city were finding gasoline coming out of their water pipes in some places.
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And though city workers discovered dangerously high levels of gasoline fumes in the sewers,
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the city was not being evacuated.
14:12
Oh my god.
14:14
Okay.
14:15
But like, yeah, literal gas is coming out of like the sink.
14:19
Yes.
14:20
Yeah.
14:21
In some places.
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So.
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And I'm going to talk about it a little bit more as we like kind of explain like the full
14:30
series of events and more about why this is happening because I'm like, okay, but
14:35
like why?
14:36
But also like there's it, there's an element of it too where it's like, it's liquid, but
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also like gases.
14:45
Yeah.
14:46
Right.
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And I don't know.
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It's a really interesting like aspect of of the case to me because there were certain things
14:54
that I was reading.
14:56
And I'm going, well, why does that matter?
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And I'm like, oh, because science.
15:02
Right.
15:03
And I'm like, yeah, historically not my best subject.
15:08
I was more like a history English.
15:11
Yeah.
15:12
Dance.
15:13
Me too.
15:14
PE.
15:15
Okay.
15:16
Well, you had me until you said PE.
15:17
And oh, yeah, no, that was my thing.
15:20
Yeah, I was very fit.
15:21
Too fit.
15:22
I had a lot of energy that I had to get out.
15:25
So, but no math and science.
15:28
My only bad grades.
15:30
Yeah.
15:31
I feel like even math, I'm like, I can tolerate you.
15:35
Science, it depends.
15:36
If it's something really interesting.
15:38
You have like like earth science.
15:40
Yes.
15:41
Chemistry, hard no.
15:42
Hard pass.
15:43
I literally switched majors from nursing because I couldn't get the basic intro to chemistry.
15:49
Oh my gosh.
15:50
Chemistry 101 or whatever.
15:51
I'm like, I can't do this.
15:52
I can't.
15:53
It's a lot.
15:54
You're like, oh.
15:55
Yeah.
15:56
Also, when am I going to use this?
15:59
But I guess if I don't know.
16:01
I never found out.
16:02
I did not stick around to find out.
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You're like, I don't even want to know the answer to that.
16:09
I didn't actually.
16:10
Actually, to be fair, I didn't know I had ADHD back then.
16:13
So I feel like maybe it would have been helpful to have men's.
16:16
Maybe I would have just said a little bit.
16:18
But even then, I'm pretty sure I have like the dyslexia of math, dyscalculia.
16:23
And so I rough, rough, rough all around.
16:28
Rough times.
16:29
Well, and then there's so much of science that like you need to be able to do the math
16:33
thing for it all to like kind of make a mouth.
16:37
No, I'm out.
16:38
Are you going to keep talking about math?
16:39
Because I'm leaving now.
16:40
No, there's no math.
16:41
I'm going to go back to Wala Haran, no more math.
16:44
Yeah, she's like, let's keep this fresh.
16:46
Keep it interesting.
16:50
The city's mayor was decidedly against the idea of evacuating.
16:55
He apparently didn't believe there was any real risk of an explosion.
17:00
I mean, when gas is coming out of sinks and there's fumes, I don't know, but I could see
17:06
this happening because see them downplaying everything to not like, because then it looks
17:10
better on you, because then was this preventable, right?
17:13
And funny, you should mention that.
17:15
Probably was then.
17:16
Okay.
17:17
Funny, you should say that.
17:20
Well, yeah.
17:22
So, sir, are you aware that gasoline is highly flammable?
17:26
Right.
17:27
It's not just highly preventable, but it's like, it's so foreseeable.
17:33
Yeah, but for some of these people in positions of power, the reputation supersede the safety
17:40
of the citizens of whatever you're supposed to be carrying for like a city, say, right?
17:45
Definitely.
17:46
I feel like it makes me a little bit nervous going into the next handful of years.
17:56
Not everyone thinks the infrastructure and all of our systems that are in place to keep
18:01
society running and functioning are that important.
18:04
And that's scary.
18:06
It's very scary.
18:09
While we're on the topic of flammability, let's take a nerd dive, shall we?
18:13
Okay.
18:14
I love these sometimes, except when they both math.
18:17
No math.
18:18
I promise.
18:19
Okay.
18:20
Okay.
18:21
Yeah.
18:22
Let's do it for science and I promise I'll try to keep this part both free.
18:25
Then we're down for me.
18:26
Yeah.
18:27
It's brief and relevant and very simple.
18:29
Brief and further dumb bitches, please.
18:32
Yeah.
18:33
Gasoline has a low flashpoint and high vapor density.
18:37
It produces ignitable vapors that are three to four times heavier than air and can travel
18:44
great distances at ground level.
18:47
And this will be important to our story because it can collect in low places and cause a
18:54
fire hazard.
18:55
You know, low places like a sewer.
19:01
Yes.
19:02
I can see where this is going.
19:06
But we're going to science some more.
19:09
So let's talk about flammability versus combustibility.
19:14
A flammable material is one that ignites easily at normal temperatures or immediately when
19:20
exposed to flame, whether it's in liquid, solid or gas form.
19:26
Gasoline is considered flammable.
19:30
So pretty volatile.
19:32
Yeah.
19:33
Like, just really want to drive home the point that it's like this, this is dangerous.
19:39
Yes.
19:40
Yes.
19:41
It has been driven.
19:42
I get it.
19:43
Yeah.
19:44
I, it sounds bad.
19:45
I get it.
19:46
I was with you.
19:47
Yeah.
19:48
Combustible materials are generally speaking less volatile, but still require observing safety
19:53
protocols such as storing attempts below their flashpoints.
19:57
And that's literally the end of the science for now.
20:01
I will be delving into some interesting aspects of several engineering later.
20:08
She's like, why?
20:09
Great.
20:10
More science.
20:11
Yeah.
20:12
Not what I said before.
20:13
Yeah.
20:14
I promise that's not as sleepy as it sounds, though, I swear.
20:19
But now that we've got that out of the way, let's go back to April 19, 1992.
20:25
That's when it's generally agreed that Gante Street residents first reported a gasoline
20:31
smell coming out of the Guadalajara city sewers, along with plums of white smoke.
20:37
Oh, no.
20:38
This all sounds terrible.
20:39
And like it could have been like, oh, we're noticing these things.
20:43
Let's take action.
20:45
Do we do something?
20:46
I'm asking for a friend.
20:50
You might be able to get past the smell that I have to imagine that the smoke was pretty
20:55
god damn alarming.
20:56
Right.
20:57
Right.
20:58
And then like combine.
20:59
Yeah.
21:00
Like this smells bad.
21:02
It's making it hard for people to breathe.
21:04
It's like stinging your eyes.
21:06
It's like kind of a wicked combo.
21:09
Yeah.
21:10
Like all the winner, no, no, no.
21:12
Exactly.
21:13
Exactly.
21:15
The following day, April 20, these reports were investigated and high levels of gasoline
21:21
and other hydrocarbons were discovered.
21:25
Keep in mind, this discovery was prior to an announcement being made that the city would
21:29
not be staging evacuations.
21:32
So they had this information and they were like, nope.
21:35
And then they did nothing.
21:37
Yep.
21:38
Oh, no.
21:39
They did a lot of nothing.
21:41
But why would they?
21:42
It's not like the sewer system below was a ticking time bomb or anything, right?
21:47
It sounds perfectly fine.
21:48
That's right.
21:49
And also because the mayor said so and that's that nothing to see here.
21:53
Well, the mayor is always right.
21:55
Absolutely.
21:56
Never wrong.
21:57
Yeah.
21:58
And the elected officials always have our best interests in art, especially.
22:02
Yeah.
22:03
Mm.
22:04
By 10 a.m. on April 22nd, man covers began to bounce on the streets.
22:10
This all sounds so bad.
22:12
Oh my god.
22:13
It doesn't sound like it could be real.
22:15
Right.
22:16
Like, it sounds out of a movie.
22:19
Yes.
22:20
It's like out of, oh my gosh, there's so many that are just like these crazy intents,
22:25
apocalyptic scenes and that's a thousand percent what I'm picturing.
22:30
Yeah.
22:31
And the columns of white smoke came pouring out from the sewer system.
22:36
Similar to a pot that's been left unattended to boil over.
22:40
Feels a little on the nose, but yeah.
22:42
Five minutes later, the first two explosions were recorded, one on the corner of Calzada Independencia,
22:49
and Aldama Street.
22:52
And the second at the intersection of Gante and 20 de Noviembre, just a moment later, the first
22:59
emergency call was placed.
23:01
The third explosion at 10:08 sent a bus belonging to the Tuts company into the air.
23:08
Oh my god.
23:10
Launching busses are always so full.
23:13
That's crazy.
23:14
No wonder so many people.
23:16
Oh my god.
23:17
This is terrible.
23:18
I know.
23:19
Like, and to see the pictures, there were a couple of times where I was like, they are pictures
23:25
that are really hard to look at, even though it's not particularly like gory.
23:30
It's not like they're not showing anybody who's been, you know, mortally wounded in most
23:37
of them, but it's just like you just know that that is that's what's happened.
23:42
And that like there are people that are just like horrifically injured from this.
23:47
I just was like, I just want to cry.
23:49
Man.
23:50
So the bus that, you know, is just casually flying through the air, that was on the corner
23:55
of Gante and Nicolás Bravo.
23:59
I just, honestly, the whole time I'm thinking like, what is this, a set of twister?
24:03
Like that's crazy.
24:04
Just like explosion after explosion after explosion that set a bus off flying and like the city
24:13
could have been evacuated or this would have happened.
24:16
Wow.
24:17
Yeah.
24:18
So I'd love to tell you that the third time was the charm in this case, but there's more.
24:25
Yeah.
24:26
But I think I'd lead with the phrase several explosions, which as you probably guessed, it
24:32
certainly implies more than three.
24:34
Yeah, I would say a few is two to three, several is four to five or more.
24:39
What's the word for more than five?
24:41
Oh no, there was more than five.
24:44
Oh my god.
24:46
That's not great.
24:47
Oh, wow.
24:48
It's really, it's a really upsetting like, and honestly, we'll talk about it as well, but
24:55
like people and rightly so, they were pissed.
25:00
I can only imagine like the aftermath of all this and like knowing that like it could have
25:05
been prevented.
25:06
Yeah.
25:07
I mean, can you imagine any other major city like if you have, I mean, we're taking about
25:11
a five mile like area of city that's just like, and it's densely populated.
25:17
And you can tell that in all of the pictures too.
25:20
You can tell that.
25:23
And I mean, that was also a big part of why I wanted to talk about the market too, because
25:30
it's always so packed.
25:31
It is.
25:32
I was just saying that.
25:33
I was like, it's so packed, but it's so big.
25:35
Oh my god.
25:36
And it's right there.
25:38
Well, and then the date of this incident also coincides with a holiday Easter.
25:46
It was, it was Easter.
25:47
Okay.
25:48
It was fucking Easter.
25:49
Okay.
25:50
So yeah, that would have been crowded.
25:52
There's also like a big, big church around there too.
25:55
The cathedral of Guadalajara.
25:57
So I can only, I can only imagine how crowded.
26:00
Not to mention the historic downtown tenants is always crowded anyway.
26:05
Oh, I just, it just, you just can't even like wrap your head around like somebody basically
26:14
like thinking that anything else is more important than like making sure everybody.
26:19
The safety of the people like, come on.
26:22
Yes.
26:23
Yes.
26:24
I'm like, oh, let me guess.
26:25
He probably doesn't live on Gante Street.
26:28
Right.
26:29
Right.
26:30
There was another explosion less than five minutes later on González Gallo Avenue.
26:35
And by 1015, the factory workers on that same avenue began evacuating the area.
26:41
The fifth explosion was at Gante Street and Calzada del Ejército.
26:48
Oh, yeah, I heard a secret.
26:50
Just before 10:30, another neighboring area was also evacuated.
26:56
In five minutes, the sixth explosion occurs at the intersection of de Febrero and
27:04
Río Bravo.
27:05
The seventh explosion.
27:07
Every number.
27:08
I'm like, oh, my God.
27:10
Yeah.
27:11
Honestly, it just again, I cannot, I don't even know how else to say it, but it's like you just
27:18
can't believe that it just keeps going.
27:20
And they're all like pretty close in time too.
27:23
They are.
27:24
Yes.
27:25
The seventh explosion is at Gante Street and Silverio García.
27:33
Shortly after additional rescue personnel arrived to aid the victims in the affected areas,
27:38
there was an eighth explosion at 11:02 at Río Nilo Avenue and Río Grande.
27:44
My God.
27:45
This explosion would initiate evacuation efforts in several more neighboring areas.
27:51
So after the eighth explosion, they finally aren't evacuating people.
27:55
Yeah.
27:56
Eight explosions.
27:57
Yeah.
27:58
Basically, I think it's, I think the very, very first evacuation starts after the fifth explosion.
28:06
Right.
28:07
Okay.
28:08
And I believe that was because it was in a super dense.
28:11
This is the factory one.
28:12
Yes.
28:13
Yeah.
28:14
Okay.
28:15
Yeah.
28:16
So I think that kind of explains it because I feel like a factory setting is even more dangerous.
28:20
Yeah.
28:21
Yeah.
28:22
I mean, there's not a good place to be.
28:24
During an explosion?
28:25
No.
28:26
Not really.
28:27
Oh my God.
28:28
Not really.
28:29
Okay.
28:30
But there is an end in sight.
28:33
The two final explosions occurred at 11:16.
28:37
That's right.
28:38
In case you lost track.
28:39
To what the same time.
28:40
Yeah.
28:41
I mean, yeah.
28:42
Basically, it's possible that they were like maybe a minute apart, but I feeling with all
28:46
of the chaos, it would be pretty hard to keep track.
28:50
But these are seven and eight or eight and nine or nine and ten.
28:53
I'm like, I lost nine and ten.
28:55
Oh my God.
28:56
Nine and ten.
28:57
Oh my God.
28:58
Yes.
28:59
Ten mother-freaking explosions.
29:01
Wow.
29:02
I just like it kind of takes your breath away a little bit.
29:07
Even before the explosions concluded, people throughout the Guadalajara metro area removed
29:12
manholes in an attempt to allow any residual gases to escape.
29:18
Additionally, several neighboring areas were notified to be aware and cautious.
29:23
So there's multiple other neighborhoods that they hadn't had explosions specifically
29:30
in those neighborhoods or districts, but they were really concerned that it was still
29:35
a possibility.
29:36
Right.
29:37
So I mean, that just makes it like an even more massive area, even more complicated.
29:41
Like all the chaos from.
29:43
Yeah.
29:44
Wendering.
29:45
Oh my God.
29:46
Is it going to happen here too?
29:47
I mean, can you imagine?
29:48
I don't think I would be able to like function.
29:51
Oh no.
29:52
Like forget, forget falling asleep that night.
29:55
You know?
29:56
Yeah.
29:57
I mean, I'm just started in the morning.
29:59
Yeah.
30:00
But in your whole day.
30:01
What time were the last explosions?
30:03
Just after 11, it was 11.16 a.m.
30:07
Okay.
30:08
So I mean, you're talking about a little over an hour, ten different explosions.
30:11
A little hour of hell.
30:13
Oh my God.
30:14
Yeah.
30:15
Yeah.
30:16
It's going to stay pretty hellish for a minute.
30:18
Oh yeah.
30:19
Unfortunately.
30:20
Unfortunately.
30:21
Oh yeah.
30:22
After, after, after, after everything, finally, the people, the mess, yeah.
30:26
Collapse buildings.
30:27
Oh my God.
30:29
There were so many collapse buildings.
30:32
And it's so crazy though, because, you know, again, like I haven't visited this part of Mexico
30:37
specifically, but like seeing where obviously like the blast radius, like there's a defined
30:46
area, like it's not just going to blow up everything everywhere.
30:50
Right.
30:51
But it's so strange to see where there's like buildings that were completely like level.
30:57
And then like right next to it is like a building that looks like it was totally fine.
31:02
Insane.
31:03
I just like the stress of like, oh my God.
31:06
Like hopefully you were, you know, able, you were in one of the buildings that didn't
31:12
get leveled.
31:13
And, you know, then we're unharmed and like could just start helping people.
31:18
Yeah.
31:19
I mean, horrific.
31:21
Man.
31:23
The investigation that followed the devastation revealed two contributing factors to the multiple
31:28
explosions.
31:29
Okay.
31:30
So there's a little bit more science, but it's short.
31:34
I'll sum it up for you right now.
31:36
So some metals don't mix just kind of like traditionally.
31:40
And this isn't the best example because it doesn't feel equally serious.
31:45
But when it comes to fashion, you might not mix certain patterns like you don't wear
31:50
plaid and stripes.
31:51
Right.
31:52
Typically do you, but but like don't do that.
31:56
Yeah, probably don't.
31:59
But new zinc coated iron pipes were placed way too close to an existing steel gasoline pipeline,
32:08
and electrolytic reaction similar to the interior of a zinc carbon battery.
32:15
So these are the kind that we use in like TV remotes, smoke detectors and a ton of other
32:22
stuff like the normal AA batteries.
32:25
Basically, yeah, I mean, they're they're in everything.
32:29
I don't know.
32:31
We just we interact passively with so many of the like different things that have this type
32:39
of battery.
32:40
They didn't even think about it.
32:41
No.
32:42
And honestly, it's the fact that we're talking about what we view as such an inert or innocuous
32:49
thing in that regard that like makes it even more scary.
32:54
Like, yeah.
32:56
So what happens when these two meet or whatever like what is a cream here?
33:02
So it's basically creating the same type of reaction that happens inside of a battery.
33:08
And that is not it.
33:09
Listen, I told you what kind it was.
33:12
Okay.
33:13
Okay.
33:14
Well, I don't know.
33:15
No, but I actually I do have there's like it does explain like what it does.
33:21
Oh, I'm not going to explain the inside of a battery, but I will explain like what it
33:26
did here.
33:27
If that is it.
33:28
Yes.
33:29
Okay.
33:30
Oh, wait, I don't know how batteries were.
33:33
The reaction corroded the steel pipe resulting in a gasoline leak that permeated not just
33:38
the ground, but also the main sewer pipe.
33:42
Oh, yes.
33:43
Okay.
33:44
This is the cause of it all.
33:47
Yes.
33:48
Oh, my God.
33:49
Yeah.
33:50
You would think they would know this would happen.
33:52
I don't know.
33:53
I mean, I would think that, you know, people who are in civil engineering should know, right?
34:00
I mean, you would think.
34:02
Oh, my God.
34:04
Like who approved this?
34:06
Honestly, it made me look at their batteries a little bit different.
34:09
I was like, that's what it's doing.
34:11
Right.
34:12
Are they safe?
34:13
No.
34:14
The second factor was the recent rebuild on the sewer piping.
34:20
When the city wanted to expand its underground metro railway system, they were modified to
34:25
a U shape.
34:27
Usually sewer systems are built with a slope to allow gravity to aid in moving waste through
34:33
the system for the U shape that they switched over to to work.
34:38
An inverted siphon was placed so that fluids could be pushed underneath by gravity.
34:44
So we're kind of just using what we already have problem solved, right?
34:50
Well, inverted siphons require uniform fluid for proper operation.
34:56
When presented with liquids of different densities, as was the case in Guadalajara system,
35:02
and honestly, I would imagine this would be true of any...
35:07
Any...
35:08
Yeah.
35:09
It's like, yeah.
35:10
It's not uniform liquid.
35:11
Right.
35:12
Yeah, because it's sewer.
35:14
It's sewer.
35:15
Sewers?
35:16
I don't think I need to, and I'm not going to explain that further.
35:20
No, I think we get it.
35:21
I think we're good.
35:23
Only the densest would pass through the siphon.
35:26
What this means is that anything of a lesser density, like air and water would pass freely,
35:32
but leave the lighter density gasoline trapped and continuing to accumulate.
35:39
Oh.
35:40
And I cannot stress this enough.
35:42
This is bad.
35:44
Yeah.
35:45
No window.
35:46
Eventually, the liquid gasoline that had accumulated would evaporate, and the sewer system filled
35:52
with the explosive vapors as they progressed, because density.
35:57
I feel like Bill Nye a little bit.
35:59
Bill, Bill.
36:00
Bill Nye, this science guy.
36:05
Oh, don't sue us.
36:07
No, you know, the classroom was going to be lit when they brought in the TV and put the
36:11
tape in, and it was Bill, you know, yes.
36:14
Yeah.
36:15
Fuck it.
36:16
Boo, boo.
36:17
Silence.
36:18
A full three days later, panic was at risk of being reignited when multiple neighborhood
36:25
residents were warned to avoid lighting any flames as the smell of gas became increasingly
36:31
pervasive.
36:32
Oh, God.
36:33
So this is like four different neighborhoods.
36:35
Oh, my God.
36:37
So another massive like surface area that now all of a sudden they are like.
36:43
Endangerer.
36:44
Yeah.
36:45
Could we be next?
36:46
Oh, my God.
36:47
And of course, at this point, like it's three days later, everybody knows what's happened.
36:52
Right.
36:53
So what's awaiting it actually happens?
36:57
Yeah.
36:59
This was later confirmed to be a leak in a Pemex pipe.
37:03
Keep in mind that prior to the explosions, people had been annoyed and had maybe raised
37:08
some concerns.
37:10
But there wasn't widespread alarm because La Nogalera was undergoing their annual spring
37:17
cleaning, which is a gasoline storage facility under the state owned monopoly Pemex.
37:26
While we're on the topic of Pemex, the public believe that Pemex was to blame for the tragedy.
37:33
So basically public opinion is like fuck Pemex.
37:36
Yeah.
37:37
And feeling in Mexico.
37:40
Honestly, I can believe it because after researching this, I'm like, wow, we obviously,
37:48
like we've experienced like in kind of a different like application, but like there have been issues
37:55
with, you know, power lines or other like we have our own issues with our infrastructure
38:01
and like the utilities and things like that.
38:04
And I was like, damn, yeah, I think I would feel exactly the same way.
38:07
For sure.
38:08
And I mean, these were Pemex own plume or whatever, right?
38:12
Gas or whatever lines.
38:14
So yeah, of course they're going to be blamed.
38:15
But also like somebody put those pipes in.
38:19
Somebody should have came and checked what was going on when people were complaining like
38:23
Pemex and the government are probably used my guess.
38:27
I mean, the worst part is that like city workers actually went and they inspected and they
38:32
were finding dangerous levels and they were told to dismiss it.
38:36
I'm assuming they basically and I mean, it was reported on and like all of the local government
38:42
was aware, but they just didn't do anything.
38:46
Man.
38:47
I mean, if sitting on your hands could be an official charge.
38:55
As the theory goes, it was due in part to embezzlement of gasoline from the facility.
39:01
There it is.
39:02
Yeah.
39:03
Oh my God.
39:04
Not the price.
39:06
I know.
39:07
I was like, this is, I feel like I was winning for something more corrupt.
39:11
I'm like, all right, this is already bad.
39:12
But like when is the corruption going to be?
39:14
I know.
39:15
I was like, this has to be.
39:16
There's got to be like something that's more of a corruption angle because like otherwise
39:21
how do we get here?
39:23
It just right.
39:24
Like why?
39:25
Well, what's the reason?
39:26
What kind of it?
39:27
Otherwise, it's just, it just doesn't feel like the math is mathing.
39:30
At the end, capitalism.
39:32
Yeah.
39:33
Pretty much.
39:34
It's like, great.
39:35
Wow.
39:36
It was, it was capitalism all along.
39:37
I know.
39:38
It's anonymous with greed to me.
39:39
Basically.
39:40
Yeah.
39:41
No, 1000%.
39:42
It was rumored that an inspection of the facility by the attorney general's office was
39:47
eminent.
39:48
And the staff was fearful.
39:50
They could be caught with an oversupply of gasoline.
39:54
Rather than face any repercussions, because obviously who would do that?
39:59
Right.
40:00
It's kind of ability for what I've done.
40:02
No.
40:03
I don't think so.
40:04
No.
40:05
They opted to simply dump the excess down the drain.
40:09
Oh my God.
40:11
And they didn't think what could have happened.
40:14
What could go wrong?
40:15
Right.
40:16
Dumping all these gas.
40:17
Oh my God.
40:18
Just like into your sewer system.
40:21
Like what?
40:22
Wow.
40:23
Because I feel like to me, I was kind of like, okay, everything leading up to this.
40:28
It makes sense how like the reaction.
40:30
Like, all right, we've got the pipes that shouldn't be next to each other.
40:34
We've got like this gas leak thing going on.
40:36
That's building up.
40:37
But like what was the final like, like the final push, like the final oomph, like, there
40:43
it is.
40:44
Yeah.
40:45
Yeah.
40:46
I wonder how all this gas got here.
40:47
Right.
40:48
Oh my God.
40:50
Yeah.
40:51
Okay.
40:52
I don't know if you've, if you've ever seen this, but there it, it made me think of this
40:57
TikTok that it's one of my favorites.
41:01
It's this guy just like basically, he must just presumably he's outside on a walk or something.
41:08
And it just quickly develops into a jog.
41:12
And eventually he's like full ass sprinting.
41:16
And the whole time he's singing, I don't want no consequence.
41:19
Consequence, consequence, consequence.
41:21
Consequence is a thing.
41:22
Consequence is a thing.
41:23
But this is this.
41:24
This is all of that.
41:25
Yeah.
41:26
Consequences of my actions chasing me right now.
41:31
I don't even know if that's the right to, but that's now.
41:34
I have a lot of crosses.
41:35
Wow.
41:36
Look at the stuff we're going to miss out on to.
41:38
It's like a band.
41:39
I know.
41:41
According to a report by the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission, there was account
41:46
of 1142 homes affected.
41:50
Oh my God.
41:51
450 shops.
41:53
100 schools.
41:54
Wow.
41:55
I know schools.
41:56
It's a lot of schools.
41:58
Insane.
41:59
In a five mile radius.
42:01
Yes.
42:02
Sorry.
42:03
Where's there so many schools?
42:06
I have so many follow up questions based on the numbers and stuff.
42:10
I can't help but wonder if some of that is classified as schools.
42:13
If it's like maybe like also like childcare facilities.
42:17
I was going to say that.
42:18
I think some are like actual childcare facilities.
42:21
It's also not just schools.
42:23
Yeah.
42:24
It's 100 vehicles.
42:26
I mean, and like you said, it's five miles eight kilometers of just.
42:29
Yeah.
42:30
Also wild because like so many people use the public transportation system and taxis.
42:36
Yeah.
42:37
A ton.
42:38
So I'm like, I'm surprised if there's that many cars.
42:40
Yeah.
42:41
Well, and you know, that's another one of those things where, you know, it says vehicles
42:46
that could include like buses and taxis.
42:49
I don't know.
42:50
Oh, true.
42:51
Not like personal vehicles.
42:53
Yeah.
42:54
I feel like we tend to think of like, like if somebody just says a car, I think of like
42:59
a personal vehicle.
43:00
But yeah, because we have no public transportation infrastructure in this country.
43:05
No, it's but in Guadalajara, it's fantastic.
43:08
Except the buses are crazy.
43:09
They're like really?
43:10
It's like, it's like a roller coaster getting into the bus.
43:15
Really?
43:16
You got to run in because they're going to like run you over.
43:19
Oh, because they're busy.
43:20
They'll literally hit other cars like, you know, to, it's fun though.
43:25
It's wild.
43:26
Ryan, I will say.
43:27
Well, I don't know if I have the stomach for that.
43:30
They don't play.
43:31
No.
43:32
And I don't have the stomach to drive and whether I had out at all, it's even crazier.
43:37
So I'm like, I will take my chances with the bus or a taxi, but I'm not ever driving.
43:41
Yeah.
43:42
That sounds crazy.
43:43
It's wild.
43:44
Yeah.
43:45
Also, you'll see like people on like a motorcycle and it will be like a.
43:49
But that I'm driving the mom and front holding a baby and then like two kids hanging on the
43:53
back like.
43:55
Stop it.
43:56
Yeah, nobody's as car seats.
44:00
So yeah.
44:01
Oh my gosh.
44:02
People still ride in the back of trucks.
44:03
I feel like.
44:04
And that's now.
44:05
So I can only imagine back then.
44:07
Like, yeah.
44:08
I feel like there's certain things like riding in the back of the truck.
44:12
I feel like there's a lot of places you might sometimes see that, but.
44:16
Well, like you're not going to see that I'm driving down the freeway here.
44:19
No, not usually.
44:20
And you're not here.
44:21
Sure.
44:22
I'm not going to see five people on like a moped or something.
44:25
Yeah.
44:26
But over there, you will.
44:27
It's wild.
44:28
That's wild.
44:30
The blast measured at seven and seven point one according to the University of Mexico's
44:36
Richter scale.
44:38
Wow.
44:39
Yeah.
44:40
That's high.
44:41
Oh my god.
44:42
Yes.
44:43
I mean, it's not like the deadiest.
44:45
I've certainly seen, you know, I think there have been a couple of earthquakes in the last
44:52
couple of decades that were like a nine on the Richter scale in parts of South America.
44:57
But like, I don't, it doesn't need to be any higher.
45:00
Seven is like, that's crazy.
45:03
Yeah.
45:04
So there were trenches up to 25 feet deep that had been born into the streets.
45:10
Wow.
45:12
The colonies that suffered the most damage were the alamos, atlas, Olympica and Anelco.
45:21
At a government sports complex, bodies of some of the victims were laid out on a basketball
45:27
court under white tarps.
45:31
Many of whom were older women, children and.
45:35
Oh god.
45:36
I'm so sorry.
45:37
Babies.
45:38
I don't even really like babies personal.
45:45
They're not for me.
45:46
Right.
45:47
But I mean, any life loss tragic, but like a newborn, a baby that hasn't gotten to live
45:52
that long and children always it's harder for sure.
45:56
Yeah.
45:57
It just feels like, you know, that's someone who cannot advocate for themselves.
46:01
They can't protect themselves.
46:03
Right.
46:04
It's so sad.
46:05
There's a reason they're part of the most vulnerable.
46:07
Yeah.
46:08
Absolutely.
46:12
Total monetary damages were estimated between 300 million and 3 billion.
46:18
So pretty.
46:19
Wow.
46:20
Like that's a really wide window.
46:22
Like 3 million is already a lot and then you 3 billion.
46:25
Whoa.
46:26
Yeah.
46:27
Yeah.
46:28
And that's in the fucking 90s.
46:31
Yeah.
46:32
Keep that in mind because like with inflation now, it's like.
46:35
Yeah.
46:36
No, for sure.
46:38
Just mind blowing.
46:39
But so surely for this magnitude of devastation, there must be not only an explanation, but also
46:47
consequences.
46:48
Accountability.
46:49
Yeah.
46:50
Yeah.
46:51
And you would be right.
46:52
But there wasn't.
46:53
Well, President Carlos Salinas Dick Gortjari gave investigators 72 hours to find the cause
47:02
of the blast and pledged to quote, punish those found responsible.
47:09
Big talk.
47:10
The governor of the state of Hilesco Guillermo, Cocio, the Dory accompanied Salinas on his tour
47:18
and said his government was investigating possible negligence by three city officials
47:26
for minimizing local residents complaints about the gas smell emanating from the sewers.
47:31
So this feels a little bit like a dog in poniesho.
47:36
It's kind of like they were the scapegoats.
47:38
Well, I mean, it's like the president is visiting and then, you know, you've got like the governor
47:44
kind of shepherding him around.
47:47
Well, they have to.
47:48
This sounds like an extreme like, yeah, worse, because you know, when there's earthquakes,
47:51
everyone comes flying in and like, it's true.
47:54
Yeah.
47:55
But now this, I mean, it's like almost at the level of like some of the most devastating
47:59
earthquakes in Mexico today.
48:01
Yeah.
48:02
Same level of like casualties.
48:03
So I'm not surprised by the governor and the president both being there.
48:08
I'm wondering are those three the only responsible?
48:11
I don't think so because someone else dumped all that gas into the sewage system.
48:16
Like, yeah, they probably did it more complaints.
48:18
Well, we know they did, right?
48:19
Because people were calling it complaining and I think was done.
48:22
But like they surely are not the only ones responsible for this.
48:25
Well, and I think in this case, like, truth be told, these two are like, they're out kind
48:32
of serving the devastation.
48:34
But I don't think that they're really the ones that are responsible.
48:38
Like the president isn't responsible for like a local level emergency evacuation.
48:45
I mean, no, right.
48:47
But him responding to the aftermath, I could see why he's there and it would be weird
48:54
if he wasn't there.
48:55
Oh, it totally would be.
48:56
And the only reason why I say like that it feels like a dog and pony show is because I think
49:04
it's the level of like almost like machismo where it's like, oh, we're going to punish them.
49:11
And it's very like, it feels very forceful, you know?
49:15
Oh, yeah, yeah.
49:17
But like someone needs to be blamed.
49:19
And like both I mean, Mexico and the United States and probably a lot of places are very
49:23
like a pro punishment type plays like send them feed them to the dogs or whatever people
49:28
say.
49:29
I don't know what to say.
49:30
So someone for a couple of completely understand the president like fine, who's responsible.
49:36
Yeah.
49:37
And all this has like been politicized at the same time.
49:39
Like it's a very public like, you know, him saying all this too.
49:43
So yeah, I could see all that too.
49:45
Yeah.
49:46
I think a lot of people obviously were rightly very upset.
49:51
I mean, people have lost loved ones, they're homes.
49:54
I mean, just a devastating circumstance.
49:58
So it's like, it's not surprising.
49:59
Like, of course, he's going to like try to take a strong stance.
50:03
What else do you do?
50:04
Not to mention the like what's it called?
50:07
Projection of like, it wasn't us, although somebody failed to properly.
50:13
Yeah, I think we're going to find it.
50:15
And yeah, like, oh, we're going to find it.
50:16
But it's like Spider-Man playing on himself.
50:18
Like, yeah, the government is partly responsible.
50:21
Yeah, for this, but they're going to make a show out of like, finding who else was responsible
50:24
because they don't want to be the ones blamed.
50:26
Yeah.
50:27
April 27th, both the mayor, who would subsequently resign from office and the secretary for urban
50:33
and rural development were detained on charges related to heating the warding signs and failing
50:41
to evacuate the area.
50:43
Oh, good, because they should be responsible.
50:45
Yeah.
50:46
Okay.
50:47
I totally agree.
50:48
The secretary for urban and rural development, like that person seems like probably like one
50:54
of the point people in terms of like, and I was like, who, who wasn't definitely in the
50:59
gas.
51:00
I mean, that's Pemex people presumably, but were they arrested?
51:05
Well, it's funny, you should say.
51:07
Additionally, there were four executives reportedly arrested, some with Siapa, essentially, that's
51:14
the local municipal water lords of yours.
51:19
Just in case you aren't familiar with like international utilities.
51:23
Where would you be?
51:24
Yeah.
51:25
Yeah.
51:26
Why would you be?
51:27
And then there were also some from Pemex that were arrested.
51:30
Okay.
51:31
Okay.
51:32
Good.
51:33
Yeah.
51:34
I was about to say, if no one is arrested for this, oh no.
51:35
I know.
51:36
Can you imagine?
51:37
I mean, I could have pictured being like, I'm like, I felt like it could go either way.
51:41
Like, either people were arrested or people were not like.
51:43
Well, then three days later, the governor of Helusco took a leave of absence, leaving Guadalajara
51:51
for Spain.
51:53
He never returned to his role following the tragedy.
51:57
Wow.
51:58
Okay.
51:59
He's like, I quit, but first going on vacation.
52:01
Wow.
52:02
And never returned.
52:04
He stayed in Spain.
52:08
He may have since returned to Mexico, but he didn't go back to high school.
52:12
No.
52:13
He never came back to his post like as a government official.
52:16
Wow.
52:17
Yeah.
52:18
Okay.
52:19
Oh my god.
52:20
Pretty wild.
52:21
Wow.
52:22
Oh, and remember how I said you would be right about there being both explanations and consequences
52:27
for the tragedy.
52:29
I did say that, well, see, it's not that I lied per se.
52:35
But you may not feel very satisfied with the end result on honestly, either front to
52:41
be honest.
52:43
The Mexican government has refused to admit fault on their part.
52:47
Okay.
52:48
Okay.
52:49
Not surprise.
52:50
Yeah.
52:51
It is the Mexican government.
52:52
Nobody.
52:53
It is a government.
52:54
I was going to say I was like, I mean, I would say it.
52:56
Having covered so many stories in Mexico, like the Mexican government itself.
53:01
But then you add in like, it's just any government.
53:03
It really is.
53:04
Yeah.
53:05
Of course, they're not going to take kind of what's more, there are 43,000 page report following
53:11
the explosions, refused to place blame on any of the executives or government officials
53:18
that were initially.
53:19
No.
53:20
Who got the coin to lie on this long ass report?
53:25
Yep.
53:26
Not surprised.
53:27
So sadly not surprised.
53:28
I know.
53:29
I was like, oh, god, she's just kind of like flipper lid.
53:32
No, I expect there's this.
53:33
Yeah.
53:34
Oh, man.
53:35
You're like actually this fits more in line with what my expectation was.
53:39
I was more surprised.
53:40
Actually, it sounds about right.
53:42
I'm surprised anyone was like arrested at all.
53:45
I kind of was too.
53:47
And maybe like in the back of my mind, that's sort of where I get like the doc and pony show
53:51
thing.
53:52
Because it's like, right.
53:53
It's like they literally did that for show.
53:56
Oh, yeah.
53:57
I feel.
53:58
I thought at minimum, it was super douchey, but realistically, a major abuse of power.
54:04
100%.
54:05
Yeah.
54:06
I feel like we were just talking about like, you know, every government has their thing.
54:11
And I feel like on the flip side, one thing that I really hate about the United States government
54:16
that is super douchey and an abuse of power is they won't tell us who really killed Kennedy.
54:23
Right.
54:24
They're basically the same thing except casually multiplied by hundreds, if not thousands
54:29
of times.
54:32
One of these things is a little bit more serious.
54:33
Yeah.
54:34
I really want to know who killed Kennedy, but like he's just one dude.
54:37
Do you listen to true and on?
54:39
It sounds really silly, but also like you should listen to their Kennedy series.
54:44
It's good.
54:45
Yeah.
54:46
Pemex would make a corporate donation equivalent to $2 million USD.
54:51
They should have given more money.
54:53
Yeah, that's not a lot.
54:54
They should have paid all the damages and more.
54:57
Well, and here's the thing.
54:58
That $2 million was to be split between the family members who lost loved ones that day
55:03
or those that were injured.
55:05
So I mean, we're talking about hundreds, if not thousands of people.
55:09
Yeah.
55:10
And when you start adding the people, that's not enough money.
55:12
No.
55:13
No.
55:14
Not to mention people need to rebuild their homes.
55:16
Right.
55:17
No.
55:18
Christina, I'm going to be honest with you.
55:19
Like I don't have a million dollars now and I don't expect to anytime soon, but I will
55:25
say this, if the two of us were involved in an explosion, I would certainly hope that
55:30
our settlement would be more than $2 million.
55:33
Right.
55:34
Right.
55:35
Like that's just, that's not enough.
55:37
No, no.
55:38
For the number of people affected, no.
55:40
No.
55:41
And they did that basically to try to like get a little bit of like goodwill back.
55:46
Yeah.
55:47
Like for a good publicity.
55:48
Yeah.
55:49
Honestly, it sounds like like broadly speaking, the public really saw through that.
55:54
Oh, of course.
55:56
And it's Pemex.
55:57
Like people already hate Pemex.
55:58
Yeah.
55:59
I can only imagine they did this because of the immense backlash from the company because
56:05
they have to do something.
56:06
Yes.
56:07
Exactly.
56:08
Exactly.
56:09
But get this.
56:11
Pemex, one of the driving forces behind this was the fact that they were still reeling
56:17
from a 1984 Mexico City propane explosion.
56:21
Oh, God.
56:23
This is not their first rodeo with explosions.
56:26
Wow.
56:27
And that was the explosion that killed 450 people.
56:31
And that one they were found responsible for.
56:35
So they already had like their feet to the fire.
56:38
Yeah.
56:39
Oh my God.
56:40
I'm not surprised.
56:41
I know.
56:42
I was just like, wow, that makes a lot of sense.
56:44
Yeah.
56:45
Like of course this happened already somewhere else.
56:48
And it sounds like there were, I mean, it's not maybe something that like it doesn't
56:54
get reporting on like an explosion would, but it was very common to have very frequent
57:00
like gas leaks and things like that.
57:03
So it's like people were aware that there were issues.
57:06
So this last part that I'll leave you with was at first confusing, especially as I came
57:12
across considerable discussion about how not evacuating had increased civilian casualties.
57:21
During the deadly events of April 22nd, just over a week later, protesters gathered outside
57:28
the governor's palace in Guadalajara as another gas leak threatened the homes and the very
57:34
lives of many more.
57:38
After residents of the Alamo district, South of Reforma said they smelled fumes, Guadalajara
57:45
Mayor ordered the evacuation of several square blocks.
57:50
The area is surrounded by about 40 factories.
57:53
That's a lot.
57:56
Including a plant operated by Petrolios, Mexicanos, known as Pemex.
58:03
Yeah.
58:04
Oh my God.
58:07
So there's a couple of times in the story where I mentioned that they, you know, refused
58:12
to evacuate, refused to evacuate.
58:14
Basically it was, you know, from the time of I think the fifth explosion where all of
58:20
this and the tune is changing.
58:23
And ironically, the reason why is that they finally got close to those big government
58:32
and corporate interests.
58:34
That's when it mattered.
58:36
Yeah.
58:37
Five explosions and when it affected them.
58:39
Yeah.
58:40
It took me a while to work that out because so much of what I was reading was just like they
58:45
didn't evacuate.
58:46
They didn't evacuate.
58:47
And then I started seeing stuff about like, well, wait, what's this?
58:50
What's about the, in the factory district after the fifth explosion?
58:54
And I'm like, these dirty, dirty, these motherfuckas.
59:00
Yeah.
59:01
I just had a branch hit my window.
59:03
You're like, oh my God, what was that?
59:05
Yeah.
59:06
Yeah.
59:07
So that is the Guadalajara explosions.
59:11
You know, I love a good corruption story on a Tuesday afternoon.
59:17
So thank you.
59:18
I know.
59:19
Really cheerful.
59:20
Love it.
59:21
A good way to, you know, leading up to the Christmas hall with me.
59:24
Just what we need.
59:25
Yeah.
59:26
Yeah.
59:27
Very cheerful.
59:28
Do you want to stick around for tarot?
59:31
Do you want to do the tarot reading with me?
59:33
Sure.
59:34
Haven't used these ones in a while.
59:36
So they needed a good shuffle.
59:38
Okay.
59:39
I've got them spread out.
59:42
Any thoughts into it?
59:44
I have no intuition.
59:46
No.
59:47
I guess there it is.
59:48
Oh.
59:49
What is that?
59:50
The night of so.
59:51
What does it mean?
59:52
All right.
59:53
Our keywords for the night of swords are daring, chivalry, forthrightness, impatience,
1:00:03
single-mindedness, and insensitivity.
1:00:06
Am I those things?
1:00:09
No.
1:00:11
No.
1:00:12
No.
1:00:13
We always try to see if there's like any parallels at all to you.
1:00:19
Like the case itself.
1:00:21
Sometimes we do make it about us.
1:00:23
Okay.
1:00:24
About the case.
1:00:25
That makes more sense.
1:00:26
Yeah.
1:00:27
Okay.
1:00:28
I mean, there's no hard and fast rules around here.
1:00:30
You know.
1:00:31
You've hung out with us enough.
1:00:32
Yes.
1:00:33
Yes.
1:00:34
Night often symbolize messages or travel.
1:00:37
Some decks, including the writer Wait Smith-Tero, show this night rushing help vent toward an
1:00:43
adversary or adventure.
1:00:46
If he represents a person you know, he may be someone who's overly aggressive or argumentative
1:00:52
who lives in attack mode.
1:00:56
Or he might be a spiritual warrior, one who uses his intellect to examine and purify
1:01:02
himself.
1:01:04
The upright night may suggest you're passionate about your ideas and believe wholeheartedly
1:01:10
in the rightness of your objective.
1:01:13
With his card represents an actual person, he's probably a young man who expresses his ideas
1:01:19
enthusiastically and may have trouble understanding other viewpoints.
1:01:24
He has a quick mind and keen intellect, but may lack true wisdom.
1:01:31
Sometimes this night symbolizes an urgent message or an unexpected trip.
1:01:35
Oh.
1:01:36
Like, to Spain.
1:01:38
Like the guy who left the Spain in the ocean.
1:01:43
And never be turned to his job.
1:01:45
I feel like this.
1:01:47
I mean, I'm sure there's more parallels that you could draw that I feel like I'm like,
1:01:51
that's all I needed here.
1:01:52
That's what I needed.
1:01:54
Yeah.
1:01:55
Yeah.
1:01:56
Okay.
1:01:57
In a reading about money, you may need to act quickly in a financial matter, but don't neglect
1:02:02
to study the situation before making a decision.
1:02:07
Too late.
1:02:11
The upright night may point to a trip for financial reasons or a message about money.
1:02:18
Sometimes he harolds a change in your resources.
1:02:21
If the reading is about your job, this card can represent a business trip.
1:02:26
Sometimes it means a job change or a shift in work related responsibilities.
1:02:30
Okay.
1:02:31
Like a bad name.
1:02:32
Your work related responsibilities.
1:02:33
Yeah.
1:02:34
That's correct.
1:02:35
Yeah.
1:02:36
Wow.
1:02:37
I feel so caution you to hold your tongue and buy your time diplomacy is important though.
1:02:42
Well, okay.
1:02:43
Okay.
1:02:44
Well, I don't know that I feel like the love connection bullet point makes a lot of sense
1:02:51
for this case, but I feel like the rest of that felt like some of us for sure are affable.
1:02:58
Yeah.
1:02:59
Yeah.
1:03:00
I mean, the whole thing with like the terror reading anyway is just that it's like,
1:03:04
you know, what do we see?
1:03:05
It's like kind of.
1:03:06
It's almost like, you know, paint by numbers like, you know, what parallels we can draw
1:03:12
and yeah.
1:03:13
Yeah.
1:03:14
Yeah.
1:03:15
This is so much fun.
1:03:16
Yeah.
1:03:17
Thanks for having me.
1:03:18
Tell them we brought this terrible disaster.
1:03:20
I know.
1:03:21
I'm like, oh, man.
1:03:22
I didn't really think about it, but in hindsight, I'm like, sorry.
1:03:26
This is something happening.
1:03:27
I know.
1:03:28
It's like a horrible thing that happened in a place that you love, but honestly, I love talking
1:03:34
about horrible things that happen in place of love.
1:03:36
I mean, clearly me too.
1:03:38
That's kind of our whole brand.
1:03:41
So, right?
1:03:42
Yeah.
1:03:43
But when I saw that you had multiple, multiple episodes about like Guadalajara, like hauntings
1:03:49
and things, I was like, she can handle it.
1:03:52
I can.
1:03:53
And I do.
1:03:54
She can handle it.
1:03:55
I know.
1:03:56
I started listening through because I was like, oh, damn.
1:03:59
She's got, I think I was like in spooky tales.
1:04:02
I was like, I think there's like three.
1:04:05
That's for--
1:04:06
Yeah, there's three or four long, yeah.
1:04:08
Guadalajara alone, yeah.
1:04:10
It's just a very haunting place.
1:04:11
Beautiful, but haunting.
1:04:13
So many stories.
1:04:14
I'm surprised.
1:04:15
There's not.
1:04:16
I haven't found one connected to this disaster and that's surprising to me.
1:04:21
Yeah.
1:04:22
I mean, it's in our lifetime.
1:04:23
Yeah.
1:04:24
It's not like it happened yesterday, but I would not be surprised if--
1:04:28
It's actually a few months before my lifetime.
1:04:30
So what?
1:04:31
I was born in August '92.
1:04:33
It's happened in April '92, right?
1:04:35
Oh my God.
1:04:36
I forgot your fetus.
1:04:37
Oh, baby.
1:04:38
I'm just a baby.
1:04:39
32-year-old baby.
1:04:40
Oh my God.
1:04:41
Oh my God.
1:04:42
Oh my God.
1:04:43
Oh my God.
1:04:44
Oh my God.
1:04:45
Oh my God.
1:04:46
I was born in the 80s.
1:04:47
Oh my God.
1:04:48
So, yes.
1:04:49
I'm very, very old.
1:04:50
To the young ones, I'm old too.
1:04:51
So, it's okay.
1:04:52
We're like elders now.
1:04:54
No, I know.
1:05:02
and I could do without that. I don't really need that. I feel old enough when I wake up every morning
1:05:09
and have back in the morning. Oh my God, I knew we can't be starting on. Back pain.
1:05:13
So Kristina, obviously we need you to plug all of the things about all of your things,
1:05:19
your projects. Yes, two shows now. Or do you have a show, a secret show that even I don't know about?
1:05:25
Two. Two. Okay, two now and yeah. If you started third podcasts... Oh, I tried and then I don't
1:05:30
know this too much. I can't keep up with it. It was... It's a lot of work. Too much. Too much work.
1:05:35
Yeah. Well, if you like haunted places, myths, legends, true crime, then check out
1:05:41
Espootketel, psychosis with my twin. We talk about all those things, but with the focus on Latin
1:05:46
America. So it's a lot of stuff that maybe you haven't heard about. If you're only listening to
1:05:50
things in English that happened in, I don't know, the United States. So yeah, that's a lot of fun.
1:05:56
Who even cares about that place? And then my other podcast is called "Eastorias Unknown." That's
1:06:03
history in Spanish. So "Eastorias" and then "Unknown." It's in English, so the podcast, just the name
1:06:09
is half of Spanish. Yeah. And we talk about Latin American history or history to Latinos,
1:06:16
Latinas in the US. And it's like things like, "Oh my god, why didn't I learn that in school?" So
1:06:21
that sounds like something interesting to you. Then yeah, check that one out. I also co-set with my twin.
1:06:26
And love it. What else? If you like more serious, not people telling each other a story,
1:06:33
I do produce and write episodes for horror story. You do. Okay, so I knew you were holding out.
1:06:40
Oh, exactly. I do work for Scary FM, for Edwin. Yeah. Of course.
1:06:46
And then "True Scary Story," I edit like story, edit on that one. So that's other work that I do.
1:06:52
Honestly, work that I do with too much to name. So seriously, well, I knew about Scary Story. I
1:06:58
didn't know about horror story. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's exciting. Yeah, you can tell when I
1:07:03
just go over because the quality just, you know, shot a... Through the rules. Through the rules. Yes.
1:07:10
I haven't listened to the new show yet, so I have to do that. I love history. Oh, yeah. It's a,
1:07:17
I mean, it's a lot of depressing stories and like, I don't know, some people like to hear very
1:07:21
one-sided version of a history where they're like, oh, this is very biased and you're wrong. And I'm
1:07:27
sorry, I'm telling something to happen. And if you don't like what happened, doesn't mean that it's biased,
1:07:31
you know? And it's a lot of like, oh my god, I can't believe the United States did this. So yeah,
1:07:35
I can come off as like, oh, this is like, do you just hate America? First of all, yes, but...
1:07:40
Yeah, we kind of suck. Yeah. Like, internationally, we've had some pretty bad...
1:07:47
Not a good look. Yeah. But yeah, it's like a... That's fair. You know, the Salvadoran Civil War,
1:07:53
the Guadaluam Islands Civil War, the International Adoption in Chile and Guatemala, which has both been
1:08:01
super corrupt. So episodes like that, the bath rights have been in no Paso in 1917. So yeah,
1:08:09
just things that you're like, wow, why didn't I learn about this? Thank you so much for coming on
1:08:15
with us and doing the story with me. Thanks for inviting me. Have a creepy ass day. Oh, why do you
1:08:22
know? It's pretty good. It's kind of good to me, I don't know. It did. It did as soon as we finished it,
1:08:29
you started glitching out and you had robot boy. Oh, no. That was so funny.
1:08:42
Is it like you complimented me for a paragraph? It's basically just bragging about how much like
1:08:47
were like friends and stuff and I'm like, oh, I love that. Okay, perfect. Yeah, well, let's hear it.
1:08:53
Chronically guard adventures like, oh, okay. Yeah. Like, you guys, we hang out. We've been places,
1:09:00
haunted places. Exactly. I feel like it's a good way to kind of be like, hey, go listen to that
1:09:06
episode if you haven't listened to it. pnwhauntsandhomicides.com