Spanish Minister resigns six days after accident and invokes Jorge Coelho

Oscar Puente resigned this Tuesday, six days after the railway disaster that killed at least 69 people, indicating that was not able to “continue in office after two accidents in less than a year”. 

In his farewell, he invoked the words of former Portuguese minister Jorge Coelho, when he resigned in 2001, after the fall of the bridge of Entre-os-Rios. The Spanish ruler recalled that Coelho “used a phrase that I want to use today: ‘ Guilt cannot die single’”.

“ My decision is therefore a decision of political dignity and that is how it should be viewed. It is good for the country and good for democracy”, he added.

Oscar Puente reported his resignation in a statement to the Permanent Committee of Congress, in which he stated that he took the decision as soon as he learned of the accident in Urda (Toledo).

The socialist politician emphasized that this is a question “of political dignity, coherence and empathy with the victims” and that this decision “means to be equal” to its party and to those who preceded it, “of those who delivered everything to serve their idea of country and society, more just and equal”.

In addition, Puente stated that “he cannot remain in office with two accidents of this severity in less than a year, however different they are and has direct responsibility for them.”.

The Minister of Transport thanked the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, for his “limited confidence”, and encouraged “all the progressives” of the country “to help him” in the general elections of November 29 because “he deserves it”, he stressed.

Puente told the Permanent Committee of Congress that this is a “sad moment” for Sánchez, “one more on this path of ups and downs that is life and politics”.

In his last speech during the presentation, he asked the socialist militants to be “united and proud” for what was conquered in the past and, above all, “what remains to be achieved”.

The accident occurred last Wednesday morning, when two high-speed trains traveling over 500 people collided in Urda, a town about 150 kilometres south of Madrid.

At least 110 people have been treated in hospitals and 15 remain in a serious state, according to local authorities.

According to the CIAF, the balance of 69 deaths remains provisional and there is a “very high number of injuries still pending confirmation”.

Spain has the largest high-speed network in Europe and the second-largest in the world, after China, and now totals 54% of the deaths in accidents with these trains since the first circled in 1964 in Japan.

[News updated at 9:11 p.m.]