Muddying the waters

The village of La Gloria, in Veracruz state, is home to a large pig farm, part-owned by US based Smithfield Foods. For years, villagers have been saying that the waste from the farm is making them sick. So when the Mexican government announced on Monday that the first known case of swine flu was detected in a young boy from La Gloria, I, like dozens of other journalists, called the Veracruz state health secretary....


"It's a lie. It all started in California. The World Health Organization said so," a woman at the press office told me, even before I'd finished my question. She grudgingly took down my details, and even more grudgingly told me her name was Elena. She said she'd put me through to someone with more information and after twenty minutes of listening to the state anthem, the phone went dead. I called the number three more times. Now, different people answered each time, and told me with harrassed voices, "This is just a local residence." When I tried to confirm the number, they hung up. After that, my calls went unanswered. It was only after an hour of calling that a nervous sounding youth finally answered. He wouldn't confirm the case of the child. "We've got to all calm down," he said unconvincingly.

"Well, all I can do is quote Elena," I told him.

"Elena, who's Elena? We don't have anyone called Elena working here."

Finally, that night, state government put out a press bulletin denying the link between the pig farm and the swine flu outbreak. It didn't explain how it reached it's conclusions. If anybody would like to find out, why don't you call my good friend Elena at the Veracruz Health secretary. She appears to be the only one willing to speak her mind there. Even if she doesn't exist.

Veracruz Health Secretary Press Office: +52 228 842 3013