Madrid, Nov 3 (EFE).- Spanish Transportation Minister Óscar Puente announced Tuesday his resignation and his decision not to run in the upcoming general elections, after last week’s train accident that killed 69 people.
Puente announced his resignation during an appearance before the Permanent Commission of Congress, where he stated that he made this decision as soon as he learned of the accident in Urda (Toledo, south of Madrid), in which two high-speed trains carrying 544 passengers collided, killing 69 people and injuring about 100, being the second train accident this year after the one in Adamuz in January.
He emphasized that his resignation is a matter “of political dignity, consistency, and empathy with the victims” and that his decision “aims to live up to” the standards of his party (the PSOE, the Socialist Party) and “those who gave their all to serve their vision of a more just and egalitarian country and society.”
Puente also stated that “he cannot remain in office after two accidents of this severity in less than a year, however different they may be and regardless of whether or not he bears direct responsibility for them.”
The minister confirmed that he had informed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of his decision to resign minutes before publicly announcing it at the end of his press conference; however, in an earlier press conference after the morning’s Council of Ministers, Puente maintained that he had no intention of resigning.
He also thanked Sánchez for his “unlimited trust” and encouraged “all progressives in this country to support him” in the Nov. 29 general election.
The accident occurred on Wednesday, when a Renfe AVE train traveling from Madrid toward Seville (south) rear-ended a stationary Iryo train, causing several cars to fall down an embankment.
The minister’s resignation comes amid demands from the opposition for the minister to leave office.
Pepa Millán, the spokesperson for the far-right Vox party in Congress, said her party would do everything in its power to ensure that Sánchez and Puente assume their “criminal” responsibility for the train accident.
Millán considered Sánchez “ultimately responsible for all the chaos and the constant ordeal into which he has turned Spain in recent years,” and, regarding Puente, she said that “he should never have made it to today as a minister” and that “one cannot be more shameless or lack more humanity.”
The Basque Nationalist Party also called for Puente’s resignation so that he could answer to the public for the “crisis” caused by the two accidents this year and to “allow for the restoration of trust” in a public service.
The conservative People’s Party (PP) also demanded Puente’s resignation, calling on him to assume political responsibility for the accident, and criticized him for being “so good at explaining why people die on trains” and “so bad” at preventing it.
“Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong; it’s a systemic failure (…) it’s a cause-and-effect relationship, not a coincidence,” said PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz.
Verónica Barbero, the spokesperson for the leftist coalition Sumar in Congress, called on Tuesday morning for the minister to resign after providing all the necessary explanations. EFE
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