Asarco Demolition reaction mixed in Juarez

Photos: Asarco smokestacks demolition Replay live coverage of the demolition Video: Different views of Asarco smokestacks demolition Video: Aerial view of Asarco smokestacks demolition

JUAREZ -- Mara Flix Luna, who has lived in the Ladrillera de Jurez neighborhood for more than 30 years, gasped the moment she saw the two Asarco smokestacks fall Saturday morning.

"I feel sad and happy at the same time but more worried of what is going to happen next," Luna said a few minutes later while watching from the improvised balcony of her

Luna was among the hundreds of spectators at Ladrillera de Jurez who were waiting -- some of them for hours -- outside their homes, in the streets and on top of roofs and hills for the demolition of the 828-foot and 612-foot smokestacks.

Minutes before the blasts, residents said they had mixed emotions.

Gabriela Bonilla, who lives three blocks from Luna's house, said she felt the stacks should have been kept because they were part of El Paso and Jurez's history.

"Besides, it was a point of reference for everyone. All this time I have said I lived where Asarco is," said Bonilla, who has lived in Ladrillera de Jurez for 25 years. "Now what am I going to say?"

Bonilla said she and her family got up at 4 a.m. to see the "historic moment" with other neighbors and their children who met in Luna's home.

The neighbors did not know why the stacks were being demolished. However, most of them were concerned about the effects of the demolition.

"They (Asarco and U.S. authorities) took out their contamination problem, but they left it to us," Luna said after clouds of thick dust

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Asarco Demolition reaction mixed in Juarez