The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has made it clear that he would not attend the eventual State funeral for the Urda railway disaster, in which at least 69 people have lost their lives. To justify his absence, he has argued that "the last thing" the relatives of the victims want is "politicians around" and "people who are going to take a photo". Even so, he has clarified that institutional representatives of Vox could be present.
"It is called by Sánchez. I try to put myself in the shoes of those families and, frankly, the last thing they want is to see politicians around. What they want is to be able to say goodbye to their relatives without spectacles and without people who are going to take a photo," he said in an interview on 'El programa de AR', reported by Europa Press.
Despite his personal decision, he has pointed out that public officials from Vox will probably attend, since, by performing institutional functions, "they have to go to all kinds of public events that are called". Nevertheless, he has reiterated that respect for those affected must prevail and that they should not be "used politically".
In this line, he has described as an "insult" and "exploitation" the fact that the Executive, which he considers "responsible" for the "crime" of Adamuz (Córdoba) and of Urda, is the one in charge of organizing the ceremony. In his view, although it is presented as a "State" act, it could be described as a "Government funeral".
"We are facing a political crime"
On the other hand, the Vox leader has defended that the Atocha operator who authorized the continuation of the AVE journey is "the one who has the least responsibility" and has referred to "a problem of decisions of an ideological nature" that, according to him, will be clarified when "the judges determine exactly the truth and the responsibilities".
In this context, Abascal has indicated that one cannot speak of an accident "when young women have been placed" in ADIF or Renfe, in reference to the hiring of Jésica Rodríguez, former partner of former minister José Luis Ábalos, or "when there have been kickbacks in the contracts that had to clear the tracks".
For this reason, the president of Vox maintains that the collision between the two trains in Urda does not constitute "an accident", in the same way that, in his view, the derailment of Adamuz was not either, but rather "a political crime" and "negligence" with "those responsible who are in the Government".