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Miner’s dark secret brought to light

Last week, miners in a Chilean mine escaped death as they were pulled to safety and into the arms of their loved ones. Unfortunately for one man’s wife, she wasn’t the only loved one.

The miner in question is named Yonni Barios. He was regarded as the group’s doctor, as he had some medical knowledge because he needed to help his mother out in her battle with diabetes.

Barios looked after his fellow miners. His actions were regarded as noble. And when he emerged from the mines, he was greeted by the kisses of Susan Valenzuela. The only problem with this joyful, tear filled reunion was the fact that Susan was not Yonni’s wife. His wife, Marta, was waiting for him in the camp.

Marta was not aware of Valenzuela until just before Yonni emerged from the mines. Thus it was Valenzuela, his lover, who greeted him. Marta was indignant, not even allowing her children to see their stepfather.

It’s disgusting that in the middle of this situation of life, hope and rescue, there is a scummy, ignoble action going on. To have this man, a symbol of leadership and healing amongst his fellow miners while they were trapped, be revealed to have a mistress on the side of his marriage is outrageous. The fact that he appears to have no problem with it is even worse.

Instead of feeling guilty about breaking a supposedly lifelong commitment that he made to his wife and dealing with it the way he properly should have (by dumping this mistress and earning back the trust of his wife, something that could take years), he chose poorly. He acted the fool and chose lust over love.

And all around him are these people cheering as miner after miner were rescued from the mines. You would think he would have more dignity and at least keep his affair private, but instead he broadcasts it to the entire world.

It just goes to show, you can take almost any excellent movement or hopeful symbol and find cracks and flaws in it. Yonni Barios isn’t the first to defile a noble event, and he won’t be the last. But I would hope that because of him, we gain a little more respect for these inspiring kind of events, such as the rescue of the miners in Chile, and try to act a little less scummy and a little more nobly.

Ian Everett is a creative writing freshman and may be reached at [email protected].

14 Comments

  • Careful, there are two sides to every story. According to the mistress, the wife is cold and unloving, and Yonni was only reluctant to leave because she and her (not his) four children depended on him financially. Is it true? Who knows. Might it be true? Sure. Negotiating jobs, money, dependents, relationships, etc. is far more complicated than you can ever imagine when you're in college. It's easy to point fingers and decry other people's supposed immorality, but I think it's a rare person who gets to be as old as this guy without a few slip-ups. You don't know anything about this guy's life or circumstances, so please spare us the moralizing.

  • indeed, spare us such sanctimonious moralizing. He hasn't "defiled" anything- he is an inspiration for surviving such an event. I hope these miners exact as much money as they possibly can for surviving such an ordeal. They are far more worthy of praise and attention than people like Paris Hilton or Snooki- and far more hardworking. Don't be so unbelievably naive and prissy- one day you may find out you are just human yourself.

  • And on top of the last two comments: Who the hell are you to judge? Who made you god? Did the miner ASK for such a thing to be broadcast to the whole world as you so boldly claim? Do you know if his wife found out about his mistress before he was rescued? If not then where the hell was she? If thats true then it seems quite apparent to me that his mistress obviously cared more for him than his wife if she made the effort to meet him as soon as he was rescued while his wife merely waited at the camp instead. It may or may not be the case but I'm certain you know no better either.

    One day you're going to find out just how human and imperfect you truly are and I hope that you're scrutinized and ostracized even more so for it.

    • Yes, he did ask to have it broadcasted: he asked for his mistress to greet him when he came up from the mines.

      And I am aware of how human I am. That's a horrible thing to wish for.

    • And also, his wife found out about the affair before he came up from the mines. That is the reason she chose not to greet him. She'd already been married once and did not want to put her sons through seeing their stepfather in light of his affair.

  • Yes, Ian it is always a bit of a downer when the events in our lives don't live up to our expectations.

    But it really is the expectations that need to be thought about rather than the reality as seen on TV.
    ::
    GP

  • Talk about jumping in ith both feet and less than half the facts!

    As sanctimonious and judgemental a piece of nonsense as I've read in ages! I suppose a more charitable view would be that it was unbelievably naive. Who are you to abitrarily decide that he chose lust over love – you know nothing about these relationships?

    Try reading this in a few years time when life has had time to throw YOU a few curved balls which weren't in the script..

  • I read that the story has been sensationized by the tabloids, actually he and his wife have been estranged for quite some time and he lives with the other woman. but that isn't a good enough story, so the press had to emebellish on it to sell papers. no, it's not so great, but he is only human, and a south american man after all, so it isn't a bit surprising.

    • Thank you Nena for looking deeper into the spoon fed sensationalism of the media and posting some common sense.

  • This article is pure crap. The couple had been separated for some time. What a load of BS. Next time, get all the facts.

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