Two photojournalists were killed at a Mexico City music festival Saturday night when a scissor lift displaying a decorative bear collapsed.
Berenice Giles, 28, and Miguel Hernández, 26, were pronounced dead shortly after the accident, which occurred around 5 p.m. on the festival grounds at Bicentennial Park. The two photographers were also alumni of the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Aragón (FES Aragón UNAM) campus in eastern Mexico City.
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Despite the tragedy and a suspension order from borough officials, organizers of the AXE Ceremonia festival allowed the concert to continue for several hours before the show was finally shut down between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday.
The organizer Grupo Eco continued posting on social media about the concerts, mentioning later in the day that two people had been injured in an accident.
Late Saturday, Mexico City officials canceled the second day of the festival, ordered Bicentennial Park shut down and announced they would open an investigation. By dawn on Sunday, borough officials had sealed off the park’s entrance and dispatched police to the area.
On Sunday afternoon, friends, colleagues and concert-goers mourned the victims and demanded justice at a vigil outside the gates of the park.
Several in attendance expressed indignation that neither concert organizers nor performers had issued public statements or condolences. The victims’ employer — news and music website Mr. Indie — also came in for criticism for failing to publicly acknowledge the tragedy until Sunday morning.
By Monday, AXE Ceremonia and artists scheduled to perform at the festival, including Charli XCX and Massive Attack, had released statements on social media lamenting the deaths of the photojournalists.
“We have been working hand in hand with the authorities and collaborating with all required requests,” AXE Ceremonia wrote on Instagram on Monday morning. “This unfortunate event deeply saddens us as a community and obliges us all the more to review and strengthen our civil protection and security protocols in order to prevent something like this from happening again.”
By Monday afternoon, the festival had deleted all prior posts from its feed and replaced its profile photo with the color black.
The role of negligence in the fatal incident at Ceremonia
The circumstances surrounding the accident at the music festival are not clear. An official statement issued by the Miguel Hidalgo borough said high winds whipped through the area, which could have brought down the scissor lift that was sustaining the bear-shaped banner.
One scissor lift manufacturer contacted by the news site Animal Político said its operation manual specifically warns against draping banners or signs across the mechanism, because it destabilizes the lift.
Additionally, Animal Político reported that the scissor lift was being moved by a crane when the scissor mechanism — which can weigh more than 5,000 pounds — collapsed. Other reports suggested that it was the crane itself that collapsed.
There are also conflicting reports regarding the time of death of the victims. On Saturday evening, the festival shared a preliminary statement on Instagram saying Giles and Hernández had died from their injuries in the hospital, while the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) wrote on X at 11 p.m. that same day that the victims had arrived at Dr. Rubén Leñero General Hospital without vital signs.
Family members and colleagues demand justice and safe working conditions
At Sunday’s vigil, colleagues of the fallen photojournalists and members of the news media criticized Ceremonia for failing to provide a safe space for its attendees and called on the festival industry to advocate for better conditions for music journalists.
“May there never again be an event without sufficient security protocols and that prioritizes money over the safety of their attendees and workers,” they demanded. “This [festival] will have a different name next year, but will we go again?” said another protester, according to the newspaper El Financiero.
Immediately following the incident, Mexico City’s Civil Protection Ministry blamed Miguel Hidalgo borough officials, who responded that the ministry carried out an official security review of the festival grounds along with borough supervisors on Friday, April 5.
According to authorities, however, the scissor lift was raised on Saturday after the security review was conducted.
On Monday, local legislators belonging to the ruling party Morena called for an investigation of borough chief Mauricio Tabe, a member of the opposition National Action Party (PAN), for his role in the event’s oversight.
For her part, President Sheinbaum offered condolences to the family members of the victims and ordered that the Agricultural, Territorial and Urban Development Ministry (Sedatu) review the festival’s permits and decide “whether under these circumstances it is feasible to withdraw [Ceremonia’s] concession” to use the Bicentennial Park.
Family members of the victims on Sunday criticized the lack of clarity in the ongoing investigation. The father of Berenice Giles told the news channel Nmás that his family had received no information about the circumstances of Berenice’s death and were concerned the probe would be mismanaged by the corresponding authorities.
With reports from El Universal, Animal Político, El País, Infobae and El Financiero
