NYT Assignment: Mitt Romney’s Layoffs

Last Thursday I got an email to photograph a pharmaceutical plant here in Puerto Rico that closed in the mid 90’s. The assignment called for quite a bit of reporting because we had no idea where the plant was. A chance phone number and two of shooting days later I found out just how deeply affected the small town of Aguada was as a result of a business deal by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney that closed the plant.

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After doing research at the local paper I found a photo of a ten year anniversary reunion of the plant’s workers. By chance the caption had a phone number. Jaime Chaparro picked up the phone and quickly offered to show me around Aguada. His hospitality and unwavering help made the photos possible. 

Jaime saved a sample of the last batch of tablets to go through the plant over 14 years ago. 

For many of the people I met who worked at the it was their life. This was especially true for Don Arsenio Muñiz who I met through Jaime.

Don Arsenio Muñiz worked at the plant as a gardener before it was even operational. He spent the next 23 years working at the plant and was one of last five people to close the doors of the plant for good. After he lost his job he fell into depression and couldn’t find employment. With three kids in college the pressure was too much, he told me. Six months later he tried to take his life, the first of many attempts. 

His wife found him all four times he tried to take his life. She told me the last time, after he woke up from a 10 day comma, she told him, “You are going to die when god takes you.”

I am so fortunate to add a human face to the business deals that often only pay attention to the bottom line. Without the kindness of the people in Aguada this would have never happened. Read all the details in the story that ran on A1 on Sunday.