Residents accuse the company of putting untreated water into the town s water supply. Ca izares says 10 hepatitis cases were discovered at a school where water for bathrooms had been cut off. In the countryside, local farmers supporting the women halted the operation of wells on their land, where the water comes from. During the strike, the unionists won support from Garc a, the mayor, who himself worked in the mine for 18 years. The miners also had verbal backing from the Sonora governor and all three parties in the state legislature.
Strikers say their most important help came from copper miners and unions north of the border.
Once the conflict started, members of the United Steel Workers of America at mines across southern Arizona and New Mexico began collecting food and trucking it south in caravans. Jerry Acosta, Arizona s AFL-CIO field representative, said U.S. miners had a stake. If the union in Cananea is broken, efforts by Mexican workers to pull wages up and enforce their rights will be set back. The sympathy with Cananea ran deep. Many families, divided by the border, have members working in mines in both countries.