New York Times Best-Selling Author Launches Campaign Surrounding the Anniversary of Tragic Event That Killed 65 Men

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 19, 2014) - Local New York Times Best Selling Author Napoleon Gomez, today launches a campaign across Canada to bring attention to a tragic event that happened eight years ago, taking the lives of 65 innocent workers, whose bodies remain unrecovered. Retold in his acclaimed book Collapse of Dignity, Gomez recounts the explosion deep in a Mexican mine and the ensuing half-hearted rescue attempts and government cover-up. Inspired by examples of public solidarity for social justice both in Canada and around the globe, Gomez was compelled to launch a bold campaign to mark the anniversary this year.

The campaign kicks off in Gomez' home-base of Vancouver on key transit routes, supplemented and rolled out across Canada in newspapers, social media campaigns and a personal call to Napoleon's peers and colleagues within Canada's most reputable and largest labour unions. His message is clear: there are bodies still buried underground today and the lost miners deserve justice. Their families have never received support and their plight has never been resolved.

Frustrating for Gomez is the stark contrast to the Chilean mine tragedy in 2010, which was highly publicized and celebrated when the 33 miners were safely rescued. A Hollywood film about the 33 miners is currently in production. The Chilean accident took place just four years after the Mexican mining tragedy that saw little media support. Gomez is calling for solidarity to right injustices like this, explaining that it is not too late for individuals to take note of what happened in Mexico and to make a difference by challenging the inhumane decisions that were made and demanding better treatment for workers.

"For the past eight years I have worked to keep the story of Pasta de Conchos alive and raise awareness and support for the families of the miners. Across Canada I have been able to share a vision for better relations between governments, corporations and workers, and I feel the momentum building. This year, to mark the anniversary of the mine collapse, I really wanted to do something to spark interest with the average person," explains Gomez.

Gomez hopes to raise the profile of the conversation surrounding the mine collapse and the injustice of the tragic event. In doing so it will pave the way for incidents like these not to go unnoticed, while ensuring that everyone learns from tragedies like this so that they do not occur again. From now through April, all proceeds from the book Collapse of Dignity will go to helping the families of the miners, and the focus will remain on retrieving the bodies so they are put to rest in a dignified manner.

For Gomez today marks a solemn memory. "65 families have gone through eight years of pain and mourning, awaiting the return of the bodies of their loved ones, who remain abandoned at the bottom of the mine. There could not be a more poignant time for me to reassert our plight."

About the Author

Napoleon Gomez serves as general secretary and president of the National Mining and Metal Workers Union in Mexico. Gomez is member of the executive committee of IndustriALL Global Union, an organization with more than 50 million members. An Oxford-educated economist, Gómez previously graduated with honors from the Department of Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. For 12 years, he served as director of the Mexican Mint, and is the only Mexican to serve as international president of the Mint Directors Conference, a position he held for two years. In 2011 Gomez received the AFL-CIO's prestigious International Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award, and in the same year, he was nominated for the Edelstam Prize and the Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights.

About the Book

New York Times Best Seller Collapse of Dignity: The Story of a Mining Tragedy, Greed and Corruption in Mexico, by Napoleon Gomez, tells the incredible story of an explosion that trapped and killed 65 workers in a Mexican coal mine and in the process exposes a shocking injustice and aggression against the Mexican working class by the country's own government and one of the biggest mining companies in the world, Grupo Mexico. Collapse of Dignity resonates with readers as a fervent call for a global workers' movement and the importance of fundamental rights of every person who works for a living. Collapse of Dignity is available at Amazon, Chapters Indigo and other fine retailers. Visit collapseofdignity.com for more information.

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