The section of Line 12 of the Mexico City metro collapsed on May 3.Mónica González
A few days after the final report of the independent expert opinion on the tragedy on Line 12 of the Mexico City metro is known, some of the officials involved in the construction of the section that collapsed have redoubled the offensive against the Government of the capital. Enrique Horcasitas, former director of the Metro Project and head of the work execution, denounced the capital's Civil Protection Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon for alleged irregularities in the direct award to a Norwegian company, Det Norske Veritas (DNV) , in charge of carrying out an independent expert report. The objective: to annul the ruling that accuses him and other officials of one of the worst tragedies in the capital in recent years, where 26 travelers died.The collapse of the Golden Line continues to ignite the political debate about who will ultimately be responsible for one of the worst tragedies in the capital in recent years and, above all, it tarnishes the political careers of two key figures in the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador: Marcelo Ebrard and Claudia Sheinbaum.
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The investigations so far presented by the head of government of the capital, Sheinbaum, accredited by DNV's expert opinion, had indicated construction failures that were key to the collapse of column 13. According to the opinion, the collapse was caused by a "structural failure" in the construction with interventions other than the design of the plans. The forensic engineering report shows the deficiencies in the construction of the work, mainly, with the bolts and welds that supported the bridge, as the preliminary cause of the collapse of an elevated section.
Preliminary conclusions that pointed directly to a previous Administration, that of Marcelo Ebrard (from 2006 to 2012), current Foreign Secretary. And many of the officials involved in the Metro Project, in charge of the construction of the work, have been identified and are being investigated in the folder of the Prosecutor's Office for "wrongful death, culpable injuries and damage to the property of others," according to his complaint. lawyer, Gabriel Regino. And although none have yet been formally accused or summoned to testify, their defense these days focuses on the annulment of a ruling that they consider "illegal."
In the complaint filed on Tuesday to which this newspaper has had access, Horcasitas alleges that the hiring of the Norwegian company was made through the Ministry of Civil Protection, a department that is not "empowered" to hire expert opinions to "investigate facts above, but basically its function is to prevent and attend to the eventuality of a disaster ”, the text reads. And he points out that the authority qualified to contract a service of this type is the Prosecutor's Office. The complaint adds that the DNV company is not qualified for this type of forensic engineering services, according to its business name and the public information on its website. The letter is formulated against those who signed said contract: the secretary of Civil Protection Myriam Urzúa; the Executive Director of Administration and Finance, Jesús Ramos Cedillo;and the general director of Risk Analysis, Rafael Humberto Marín.
"The companies in charge of the construction reached a presidential agreement of a reparatory type and will be exempt from criminal responsibility, but not the public officials," explains Regino. The construction companies grouped in the consortium made up of ICA and Grupo Carso, the latter of Carlos Slim, agreed to take charge of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the metro system. Although in statements to the press, the magnate Slim disagreed with the first conclusions of the expert opinion: “I am convinced that the best calculators in Mexico did it, they did the calculations, the design and if they will remember in October 2012, around November, in October, the project was approved and what had been done by international experts, for which I am convinced that from its origin it has no vices ",noted in late June.
For their part, the defense of the officials agrees that it was the "maintenance failures" that caused the catastrophe and not the original construction. And they make public their suspicions that the DNV company has not included the lack of supervision among the causes of the collapse. An alleged negligence that would not only affect the current Administration of the capital, led by Sheinbaum, but also his immediate predecessor in office, Miguel Ángel Mancera (2012-2018).
Although in addition to the independent expert opinion, the Prosecutor's Office has opened its own investigation folder, the defense of Ebrard officials fears that it will include in its conclusions those proposed by the Norwegian company.
Therefore, the first objective is to try to win the complaint and take him down before the homicide accusations are a reality.
One more political blow that may delay the urgent demands of the victims' families who demand a fair and fair trial that clarifies more than three months later who was responsible for the collapse.
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