The president of Partido Popular, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has launched into the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, for not attending the funeral held in Toledo in remembrance of the 69 people who died in the Urda rail accident. "He has no respect for anything," he said.
"It was a State funeral for a tragedy without precedent in high-speed rail, and with the Head of State present, what is logical and what is required is that the prime minister of the country be there, but he was not," Feijóo pointed out this Tuesday in an interview on the program 'Horizonte' on 'Cuatro', as reported by Europa Press.
The PP leader referred in this way to Sánchez's absence from the religious ceremony officiated at the Cathedral of Toledo and presided over by the Kings, to which about 150 relatives of the victims attended. The President of the Government explained that he did not attend because it was an act of a religious nature.
Among those attending the funeral were the President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page; the First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo —who also assumed the portfolio of Transportes after the resignation of Óscar Puente in the wake of this incident— and the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Milagros Tolón, along with other authorities.
"Impotence" and "rage" among the families
"It has been hard because it reminded me of that of the victims of Adamuz, and the truth is that it is heartbreaking, the situation, the helplessness and the rage in people's eyes," Feijóo acknowledged, who insisted on reproaching Sánchez for his lack of "respect for anything."
Along these lines, the 'popular' leader held the President of the Government responsible for "being responsible for all the continued negligence in the maintenance of the AVE" because, in his view, he appointed two ministers "absolutely incapable" and kept them in office.
"Since he hasn't been able to prevent a tragedy that could have been avoided at least he should maintain a certain level of respect for the victims, but it's that he has no respect for anything, and when you also have no respect for the dead or for your fellow countrymen then trust is completely broken in someone who says that he is the president of the government But who does not act as such," he snapped.
"We are going to go all the way" in the investigation
Feijóo has emphasized that, in his view, the incident in Urda cannot be considered a mere accident, but rather "continued negligence", and he has claimed that the Executive tried "to manipulate and extract decisive evidence so that the judge cannot rule correctly". "Now the judge in Toledo has made a belt of almost a and a half kilometers so that nobody could approach the trains," he added.
In this context, he has described as "a disgrace" that the magistrate "has indications and suspicions that it may be the Government itself that is trying to manipulate the evidence so that what happened is not known." "I have seen that myself when I went to the accident site and asked why there was such a high security perimeter and they explained the reason to me," he said.
The leader of the PP has assured, without "any doubt", that "there are documents in the ministry signed by people from Adif that show that the precursor index of accidents in Spanish high-speed rail had increased by 90% and on the conventional network by 30%". "There were 170 incidents in the safety system and they knew perfectly well that that corridor was not safe, therefore, here there are those responsible," he warned.
"Just imagine the frivolity with which things are handled: after the accident and before the president of Adif leaves, what is done is to approve the pay and bonus plan for executives. Do they celebrate the 69 deaths with a bonus plan for executives? We are going to go all the way and we are going to defend those who cannot speak, who are the dead and the victims," he concluded.