as soon as the earthquake of September 19, 1985 started, two trolleybuses They stopped in front of the building that housed the super milkas if waiting for the trepidation to pass.
But not. The movements only became more intense causing the passengers of both units to descend in a hurry to take refuge in the famous coffee shopIt was the last mistake they made in their life.
A building with 80 apartments and 10 rooftop rooms
The Super Milk building it collapsed, not leaning to the right or left like others, but as if it had sunk with all its five levels made up of 80 departmentsplus 10 rooftop roomsall busy.
never knew how many people died in this property, between clients of the cafeteria, tenants or passengers of the Trolleybus who mistakenly saw as a good earthquake shelter to Super Milk.
The number of deaths in the Super Leche building was never known
The risk of explosion from gas tank of the householdsas well as the restaurantcaused the rescue work will be done quickly. A dog brought from Israel got caught during search work.
Many bodies left in the rubble trucks without being recognized, the same happened with others that were buried right there.
The disappearance of the Covadonga del Rocío girl
A Victor Manuel Fernandez Fagoaga six of his employees died super milkhe would report himself in a 2005 interview with Jacobo Zabludovzky. He also lost part of his family who lived on the second floor of the building.
It is about Ofelia, her mother; Rocío, her sister. As well as her husband, Pedro Aleaand the children of this marriage, Manuel Ramón y Covadonga del Rocío Alea Fernándezfamily that had 11 days of having returned from Spain after the failure of his business in that country.
And here begins one of the mysteries of the collapse of this famous cafeteria that operated for 36 years. It turns out that Covadonga del Rocío Fernández, legally presumed dead, could still be alive.
The success of Super Milk
Before explaining the case of the Covadonga girl, we must tell something about the history of the super milk. Is Cafeteria was created under the name of The Milk Cupfor the Spanish Manuel Fernandezon the ground floor of the Ana Mier Escandon buildinglocated at 41 Saint John Lateran (which by 1978 would become Lazaro Cardenas Central Axis) corner of Victoria, which was where it operated until it collapsed in 1985.
If we try to understand the reasons for the success of the super milk based on the dynamics of the avenue Lazaro Cardenas current, we would not succeed. So we have to go back to the year of its foundation: 1949, when they went to live in Saint John Lateran, bullfighters, wrestlers, singers, for the convenience of having close to the XEW.
But ordinary people also came, drawn by shops, restaurants and cafes. It was the people who created the verb “sanjuanear”.
In this context came The Milk Cupwhich later became Super Milk, names that remained so much in the collective memory of the inhabitants of the DF that it would seem that this had been the plan of publicists of the madison avenuethe same as its slogan: “Better bread, better coffee, better milk, only in Super Milk”.
“Better bread, better coffee, better milk, only in Super Milk”
In the Super Leche they served tall Americans, creamy cappuccinos Y paellasamong many other delicacies more than the Mexican Kitchen, Spanish and international. Going to Super Leche was the reward of many children and adolescents of different generations for finishing the course well or for behaving well. From the famous cafeteria, the announcer Paco Gutiérrez came to broadcast the results of the spanish soccer league.
It had a staff of 98 employees, divided to serve customers from 07:00 in the morning until 02:00 in the morning. Unfortunately, there are few photographs that show what the restaurant was like inside, only one lady published a photo of one of the rugs in the place, which she herself recovered from the rubble in 1985, but that’s practically everything.
A woman obsessed with her took her to Covadonga del Rocío
Now we will explain the doubts about the niece of the owner of Super Milk. her name was Covadonga del Rocío Alea Fernández. He lived with his parents in the apartments located above the restaurant.
A photograph shows how Covadonga is rescued alive from the rubble of the building. The authorities informed Víctor Manuel Fernández, uncle of the minor and owner of the Super Milk, that the minor had survived being handed over to a person from the teams of the Red Cross. But she was never heard from again.
The owner of the restaurant would declare during an interview with Jacobo Sabludovsky in 2005, that from the beginning she knew that her niece Covadonga was kidnapped by a neighbor who was obsessed with the minor marrying one of her two children.
San Luis Potosí, the last known whereabouts of the girl
The kidnapper and her husband, both workers at the IMSSthey would have moved together with the girl to San Luis Potosihow far it came Victor Manuel Fernandez in their search, but for some reason they managed to flee before being located. All this was said by the owner of Super Leche himself in 2005.
Strangely there is a death certificate dated December 26, 1985, in which Víctor Manuel Fernández Fagoaga himself, and his sisters, declared his niece Covadonga del Rocío Alea Fernández dead.
Unfortunately, the owner of Super Leche will not be able to clarify these questions because he died in 2020, by the way, with the hope of reopening Super Leche, but he did not succeed.
By Joshua Huerta
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