This weekend the mainstream media in the U.S. was enamored with Edison Peña, the 12th miner to be rescued after being trapped in a mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile for 69 days. There were stories on how Peña wasn’t all that impressed with the Statue of Liberty or hot dogs in NYC (I have to agree that Chilean completos are better). TMZ attempted to ask Peña about conditions in the mine in broken Spanish and Peña happily belted out his best Elvis impression on Late Night with David Letterman. Parts of my own family braved the NYC cold on Sunday in the hopes of catching Peña finish the NYC marathon in a little over 5 hours.

Hell, as the parents of two ChileRicans, I don’t want to deny a miner his time in the spotlight but I am concerned with how the celeb spotlight blinds how in Chile conditions for the not Edison Peñas continue to be dangerous and deadly.

Via Reuters :

Two men died after an explosion at a small mine in the Chilean desert, local authorities said on Monday, near the site were 33 miners were pulled from the depths in a months-long rescue that attracted world attention.

The National Emergency Office said the men died after an explosion triggered a cave-in at the mine, located about 40 miles east of the city of Copiapo.

Five other men were able to escape the explosion with one of them later hospitalized for injuries.

Looks like Chilean President Sebastián Piñera wasn’t able to keep his promise of never again.