When Placido Domingo was a rescuer in the 1985 earthquake
Placido Domingo has been singled out by more than 20 women for sexual harassment: “I respect that these women finally felt comfortable enough to speak up and I want them to know that I am truly sorry for the pain I caused them. I accept full responsibility for my actions,” that was the 79-year-old tenor's response to the accusations when the scandal came to light.
Six months later, the image of the Spaniard with the ability to interpret "Otello" has taken a turn in recent weeks. At the time he helped the victims of the 1985 earthquake, and collaborated in the rescue work in Tlatelolco; he even raised funds for the victims and the collection of food.
Domingo lost two uncles, an aunt and a nephew in the terrible event that took the Mexican government by surprise at the time. The streets, transformed into horror stories manufactured wholesale by the natural catastrophe, had the presence of the singer, who said the following among the rubble: "Even when mine are found, I will not leave here."
This is how EL UNIVERSAL covered Plácido Domingo's participation in the 1985 earthquake rescues.
“Even when mine are found, I will not leave here”: Plácido Domingo
September 27, 1985
"I have enrolled in this brigade of good people," says the tenor of the volunteers, who in turn call him "companion"
By Daniel Barragan B. EL UNIVERSAL reporter
Confused with the thousands of men who fight against time and the shapeless mass in which two modules of the Nuevo León building were converted, relieving the pain of the families whose patients have waited a week to hear from their relatives, clapping their hands to the heroic “ mole” that enters the bowels of this coffin of concrete, rod and concrete, the tenor Plácido Domingo, does not stop in his work.
They are 18 hours of work in the middle of dust, the noise of the powerful machines that work there, the stench that begins to overwhelm the atmosphere of Tlatelolco.
There, confused with engineers, architects, doctors, drilling technicians, with the rude men who shovel the ruins of Nuevo León with pick and shovel, is the man who has won the most sympathy from all the citizens.
It is no longer just looking for his close relatives, two uncles, an aunt and a nephew. Now he is the moral support of hundreds of people.
Photo: El Universal file
The sound that has been installed on Paseo de la Reforma avenue does not stop, sometimes looking for "Mr. Plácido Domingo" who is required in different areas. But the tenor is not.
After a while, the robust figure of him, dressed in a silver helmet, with goggles, masks, jeans and boots and a blue checkered shirt, reaches the sound.
He is totally covered in dust, his graying and already grown beard and his hair seem to be covered by it. He is informed that brigades have arrived wanting to go up to the building.
He pats a soldier, salutes attentively: “We're still here. We haven't found them. I'm not just looking for my loved ones. Also to the rest of the people and when mine are found, I will not leave here. I have enrolled in this brigade of good people, of people who, regardless of schedules or home, are here”.
He also reads: This is how Fernando Benítez, the master of cultural journalism in Mexico, was fired 20 years ago
Placido Domingo, the Sunday he just arrived, was the focus of everyone's attention, now he is a more confused being among that army of volunteers who risk their lives. It is the channel to receive help, not only from Tlatelolco, but from the different places that are in disgrace.
“Go guys, you are required in Conalep, in Televisa, in the Juárez Hospital. For now we are saturated with people. Thank you very much".
Photo: El Universal Newspaper Library
The image of him magnetizes him, because at that moment, the brigade gets on a bus and goes in search of help. Pickaxes, shovels, helmets consigned to Mr. Plácido Domingo arrive. A volunteer approaches to offer him coffee. A pat is the best encouragement. It is the balm that comforts the anxious relative who is there waiting for this news, even if it is meager.
“Few have the opportunity to influence the media like I do and I am using it to request the tools that are needed. Now we are short of acetylene and more heavy machinery."
He also talks about his parents who live in Satellite “thank God nothing happened to them. His home is fine. They are only afflicted by the misfortune and by what happened to my uncles”.
He also reads: "Goyo" Cárdenas, from repudiated femicide in 1942 to celebrity applauded by deputies in 1976
Aware that it is difficult to rescue people alive from that place, where the bodies of his relatives who lived in apartments 417 and 517 have not yet been found, he does not dare to speak about it, nor does the reporter.
"We haven't found them yet," he says almost emphatically. He puts on his mask, fixes his helmet, gives instructions to the engineers and “moles” and once again heads towards the ruins, risking his valuable life.
For people it is already common, the "comrade Plácido Domingo" as he is called there, where night and day are confused, where pain has united everyone, where the man with a privileged voice, also shows that he was endowed with a heart of great privilege.
We had a “Healthy Heroes” workshop today. First the children spoke about how to have a balanced & healthy lifestyle… https://t.co/xEsOHlKUva
— Year 3 Yorke Mead Mon Jun 21 13:58:11 +0000 2021
Placido Domingo was fired with tears
October 4, 1985
By Ismael Romero Reporter of EL UNIVERSAL
Last night, the women kissed his hands, said goodbye tearful and moved. Placido seemed to have no way to multiply, to listen to the latest complaints, the latest pleas, the latest demands.
Placido was surrounded by victims. For children who could not believe their presence, there, in the midst of soldiers in dirty uniforms, the noise of the cranes, the air drills, the feverish pace of doctors, workers, volunteers, the spotlights of television cameramen who they illuminated him to record his last words in interviews that the artist asked to be brief.
As brief as the words he said to the reporter: “I shared everyone's tragedy, which was my own. I tried to comfort people, as anyone could. And it has served my work, at the same time, so that my mind was not troubled. I think that if there was something positive it was the help that the people have given”.
In Tlatelolco, the presence of Plácido Domingo was decisive so that in the collapse of the Nuevo León building, where four of his relatives died, the congregation of volunteers and the help was numerous.
Photo: El Universal file
Plácido arrived on Sunday the 22nd, canceled presentations in Chicago when he learned of the magnitude of the misfortune and the fall of the building where his relatives lived.
''It was positive that I spoke, that I asked for help for those affected by the Nuevo León building. A lot of help was received, but part of it was also sent to other places, where the rescue efforts have not progressed like here, because they are areas considered dangerous.
Placido pointed to the case of the Juárez Hospital, where even a movie theater had to be demolished to advance the rescue work, and commented on the case of the Venustiano Carranza 148 building, where it has not been possible to give access to any machinery.
He also reads: "The prohibition law came into force", this is how El Universal reported the Prohibition Law in the US in 1920
But he acknowledges: “People responded to my call. Aid was granted. More than they have had in other places". Plácido Domingo said this while he was changing his clothes, inside a bus belonging to the Baby's group, conditioned as a lobby. He had left his campaign clothes and was adjusting a dark suit to attend a of masses in memory of their relatives.
Outside, people were waiting for him. Representatives of tenants of Lagunilla, victims of other buildings in Tlatelolco, affected by other neighborhoods who sought to approach the artist to request his mediation in pursuit of help for their homeless families.
Get organized, Placido told them and announced that the National Volunteers would arrive to try to solve the problems. All the problems. Because Placido told them to be calm, that everything was going to have a solution.
And some women wept on the eve of his departure for New York, the city from which he would later travel to Rome. The men sought to squeeze his hand, give him a hug.
"When is Placido coming back?" people asked. And he responded when asked: ''I have no idea. I am going to organize concerts to help the victims. Not here. It would be a problem due to currency conversion and what it is about is not damaging the country's economy. You understand".
As of today, he leaves his son, José Domingo, in charge of the aid. And as a contact between those affected in the Nuevo León building and relatives who lived there. A brother-in-law of his will be the link to resolve the assignment of housing and the compensation that the Government promised to give to the residents.
Image: El Universal Newspaper Library
The days I was in Tlatelolco affected me
October 5, 1985
*Exemplary volunteer, leader and artist, Plácido Domingo suffered with Mexico and said goodbye
By John Rodriguez
EL UNIVERSAL reporter
Exemplary volunteer, leader of many tlatelolcas and world-renowned artist, and also one of the many who suffered the tragedy in Mexico firsthand.
Placido Domingo, concluded his stage in volunteering and left for Rome to fulfill unavoidable commitments. Before, he had canceled several concerts that earned him some lawsuits.
Before getting on the plane, he said that "there is still a long time to go before I can sing to you again, because the days I was in Tlatelolco affected me, but... it doesn't matter." And it is that the Spanish-Mexican tenor spent 14 days suffering from the dust, the air, the rains and suffering for a long time, the anguish of not finding the remains of his relatives who lived in the Nuevo León building.
He also reads: The 1918 flu pandemic for which Mexico closed its borders
He arrived like any other of the mourners and, in a matter of days, established himself as the spokesperson for the needs of the Tlatelolco rescuers and was soon one of the most effective coordinators of the search and rescue efforts.
At the airport, the black glasses and the full beard were not enough for Plácido Domingo to hide the sorrow that still overwhelms him.
fjb
