El Cromañón

On December 31, 2004, there was a fire in the Cromañón nightclub in Buenos Aires. Not just any fire, though; 200 people died. And the repercussions can still be felt in the city to this day.

The rock band Los Callerjeros had been advertising a huge New Year's eve party, complete with firecrackers at midnight, in the República del Cromañón nightclub in the Once district that they had rented for the show. Except you weren't allowed to set off firecrackers inside the Cromañón; The Callejeros had apparently had had problems for setting them off there before.

So the show starts, and in addition to the firecrackers being shot off the stage, the audience starts shooting off the firecrackers they'd been urged to bring. At some point the band tells everyone to stop, but to no avail. The flammable sound-absorbing panelling that covered the ceiling caught fire, and starts to smoulder, producing huge amounts of highly toxic, chemical-saturated smoke. The electricity shorts and the lights go out.

And the emergency exits had been chained shut to prevent people from sneaking into the show.

So something 194 people died. Many of those who made it out of the bar died later in the hospital as the super toxic smoke pooled in their lungs and continued to burn them to death from the inside.

Now depending on who you ask, the blame for the tragedy rests on a few different people. The band and the producer of the show, who encouraged firecracker use, and who, as renters of the club, were technically responsable for what went on there. The club owners, who didn't enforce their own safety rules. And the municipal inspectors who are supposed to investigate and denounce infractions of municipal safety by-laws, but who rountinely and systematically accept bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to any irregularities.

What's happened in the aftermath of the accident is that the city of Buenos Aires has introduced all these really strict by-laws regarding bars, clubs and live concerts. The best of intentions, but it's totally changed the nightlife scene here, according to some friends. In order to present any kind of live music, a bar needs all kinds of permits and permission. This is fine for bigger concert halls, but in the case of smaller bars that want to put on a little live entertainement, it's almost to the point where musicians have to pay to play. So many places just don't bother anymore. And I guess the city used to be overrun with fun, varied, interesting places to go out dancing. but now it's just the huge discotheques that can get the permits, so choices are limited, and quite mainstream.

And really, the problem in the first place wasn't really that there weren't strict enouigh by-laws. It was that they weren't being enforced. And though supposedly they've started to crack down on corruption among municipal inspectors, unless they can eliminate it completely, the strictest by-laws will be useless to prevent another Cromañón.