------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 19, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
THE CAUSE: CAPITALIST GREED FIRE IN PARAGUAY KILLS OVER 400 By Adrian Garcia A devastating fire that ripped through a popular marketplace in Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, on Aug. 1 claimed the lives of over 460 people and injured scores more. The high number of casualties was not a direct result of the fire, but has been attributed to a decision made by the owners of the Ycua Bolanos supermarket during the fire's initial phase. Shoppers who managed to escape the inferno accused owner Juan Pio Paiva of ordering his security guards to lock the doors to the establishment so as to prevent the patrons from leaving the store without paying for their items and to prevent any possible looting. "There is no doubt that somebody closed the doors to the supermarket ... after the initiation of the fire," said Nicolas Nunez, an Argentine police investigator sent to assist in the arduous task of identifying corpses that had been burned beyond recognition. It is believed that a gas leak provoked an explosion in the rear section of the super market, setting the establishment ablaze. This occurred during the busiest shopping time of the week, 11:30 a.m. Sun day morning, when the store was teeming with hundreds of shoppers. Many families lost three to four family members in the tragic fire, leaving some children without parents. The Paraguayan authorities have pledged to bring those responsible for the unnecessary deaths to justice. Super mar ket owner Juan Pio Paiva and his son Daniel Paiva have been arrested and are being held on $10 million bail. The security guards who followed the orders to close the doors were also arres ted, as was the coordinator of the marketplace's security operations, Eder Sanchez Martinetti. And the supermarket administrator, Humberto Fernando Casaccia Ro magni, finds himself under house arrest. Under Paraguayan law the accused face from five to 15 years in prison if found guilty of negligence, and up to 25 years if it is ruled that their actions were executed with malice. In capitalist countries, often the bosses responsible for such crimes against the workers go unpunished. If there are any resulting convictions in this case, it will be because the capitalist bosses in Paraguay and throughout the world hope to quell the outrage of the Paraguayan people. They especially want to mask the true culprit in this tragedy: the capitalist system itself. The decision to close the supermarket's doors, whereby hundreds of innocent victims needlessly perished, is based on the capitalist notion of placing profits before lives. This distrust and oppression of workers is a systemic function of capitalism that has brought death and destruction to countless workers throughout the years. It is not only in oppressed countries like Paraguay that such tragedies happen. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City killed 146 women garment workers because the sweatshop owners had locked the exit doors. This incident sparked a fury that ignited the movement for women workers' rights. The Imperial Food Products fire in Hamlet, N.C., on Sept. 3, 1991, cost 25 lives and injured 56 people. Most were the women workers in the chicken processing plant, who were unable to escape because management had locked exit doors, supposedly to prevent theft of chicken parts. In the modern-day sweatshops and factories where the most oppressed and low-paid workers fight to make ends meet, such dangerous steps as locking exit doors are par for the course. They are part of the intense exploitation of these workers that are endemic to the capitalist system. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
