yomexicoNEWS

Monday, September 4, 2006

By Allan Wall

As the dreary post-election contention continues, Mexico is in need of some more positive news. And it looked like there was, with the amazing story of the rescued fishermen who turned up in the western Pacific Ocean and were brought back to Mexico. (See “A Trans-Pacific Mexican Odyssey,” by Allan Wall; MexiData.info, August 21, 2006).

The three men, Lucio Rendon, Salvador Ordoñez and Jesús Eduardo Vidaña, reported that they had set sail from the port of San Blas, Nayarit, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Drifting on a 27-foot fishing vessel, they were rescued near the Marshall Islands by the Kuskooss, a Taiwanese tuna-fishing vessel on August 9th, after nine months at sea.

But is the story true? Doubts have been raised at least about the fishermen’s account of this odyssey.

By the time they returned to the Mexico City airport on August 25th, some of the sheen had worn off their aura and they were grilled by the media. Reporters subjected the castaways to tough questions.

Were they really drug smugglers? Had they eaten their two comrades who died while drifting across the Pacific? And, what about those fingernails? If they had been adrift for nine months, why weren’t their fingernails longer?

The media have dug up some personal issues too. Lucio Rendon had previously been in trouble with the law for stealing some shrimp. Vidaña was about to lose his house to foreclosure. And it’s undeniable that the Mexican Pacific region from which they set out is a center for drug smuggling.

None of which necessarily invalidates their story.

And those fingernails could easily have been cut while the fishermen languished for 12 days on the Taiwanese fishing vessel.

Could the fishermen have survived their unplanned trek across the Pacific Ocean? History is replete with examples of those who endured harrowing situations and survived to tell about it.

There was that British expedition to Antarctic regions led by Ernest Shackleton (1914-1916). With their vessel trapped by ice at Elephant Island, 22 stayed put while six traveled to South Georgia Island in a 6.7-meter boat. All 28 survived the cold and were rescued.

The first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, led by Ferdinand Magellan (1519-1522) had a very hard crossing of the Pacific Ocean (which, by the way, was named by Magellan). Crewmen resorted to eating rats, sawdust and leather. They also caught and ate flying fish, just as did the Mexican fishermen of 2006, in the same ocean. (Magellan himself didn’t make it back to Spain though, he died in the Philippines).

Other examples of extreme situations include prisoners of war and concentration camp survivors.

In short, there are numerous historical examples of men who have survived extreme situations. So the fishermen’s story can’t be dismissed out of hand, but must be judged on its own merits.

Apparently, the crew of the Taiwanese tuna boat that picked up the castaways failed to take a photograph of the trio at the time of their rescue. Were there no cameras on board? Were no photographs taken of the rescued castaways while they were aboard the Kuskooss? That was too bad. Somebody should have taken photos of them as soon as possible after their rescue.

But after 12 days on the ship (and reportedly eating a lot), by the time they got to Mexico City they looked rather healthy in their new clothes. If you want to be treated as a castaway it would be better if, initially, the public saw what you looked like as a castaway. It would have been better for their credibility.

Nevertheless, the trio of rescued castaways continue to affirm that their story is true, and they say they are willing to submit to lie detector tests.

So there are still doubts and unresolved questions remain. Maybe they’ll be cleared up in the weeks ahead. Maybe not. The gist of their story is certainly believable, so it’s all a question of investigating the particular details.

In the meantime, their homeport of San Blas, Nayarit, has been the focus of increased touristic interest. And that’s good for the local economy!