Despite the fact that there is still no person or company sanctioned for the collapse of an elevated part of Line 12 of the Metro, which left 26 people dead and a hundred injured, for the head of the Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, yes, there has been justice in the case, through a victim compensation model.
The president of the capital emphasized that the justice that the victims have received due to the collapse of a section of the so-called gold line It has been achieved through reparation agreements, without people being imprisoned and avoiding criminal trials.
“The prosecution, I repeat, for more than 90% of the victims who have accepted the reparation agreement, opted for a justice scheme called restorative justice. Yes, it is justice, it is a justice where there are no people in jail, there is not a very long amparo process that can take years, years and years, but rather, according to the accusatory penal system, what is established is, if the victim agrees to a restorative justice, it proceeds towards that, then that is what is there”, said the official.
And it is that a year after the collapse of a beam between the Olivos and Tezonco stations in the line 12 of the Metro, the capital government highlighted that 90% of the victims accepted a reparation agreement, for which it called on the missing persons to accept compensation.
This was stated by the head of the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office, Ernestina Godoy, at a press conference on the case. “For there to be justice, sanctions are required, yes, but, above all, it is necessary to repair the damage and offer truth to society. That is what we have achieved with this process,” she added.
According to Executive Commission for Attention to Victims of the capital, the reparation agreements of the Prosecutor’s Office amount to more than 370 million pesos to date. While the Metro Collective Transportation System granted 45 million pesos for the 129 affected families.
Plus the delivery of 251 monthly educational scholarships by the DIF; 21 scholarships in private schools; 94 jobs in the public sector; 20 jobs in private companies; the delivery of 104 loans for self-employment totaling 1.5 million pesos.
In addition to the allocation of 71 new apartments; the delivery of 31 supports for housing improvement, as well as monthly rent support for 33 families waiting for the delivery of a home.
Meanwhile, the remaining 10% of the victims, who have not accepted the reparation agreement, were urged to approach the local Prosecutor’s Office to find an agreement and thus avoid alleged abuses by the lawyers.
“Some of the lawyers are asking for 40% of what can be delivered to repair the damage. Victims need to know about this situation. One family told me that they had a lot of lawyers constantly on top of them trying to sign agreements. It is important that they review the contracts they sign with the lawyers,” Sheinbaum Pardo said at a press conference.
They deny irregularities in the maintenance of the current administration
Claudia Sheinbaum denied any irregularity in the maintenance that was given to Line 12 during her administration, arguing that revisions were made in accordance with what was indicated by the company contracted for maintenance.
“There is a contracted company, which is the TSO company… which was received at the time by the director of the Metro, which does permanent maintenance work on Line 12; then, the company’s maintenance logs were reviewed, delivered and there it came if there was any anomaly or not; in case of any anomaly, it was corrected, in accordance with what was established by the company itself. Structural revisions of columns were also made; then, according to how it was reviewed, all the maintenance was done, ”she indicated.
Rehabilitation will cost at least 1,500 million pesos
About the rehabilitation works of the Subway Line 12Sheinbaum Pardo explained that the estimates by the companies reach just over 1,500 million pesos, both for the elevated and underground sections.
In this context and asserting that her government has acted transparently in the case, the head of government said that the line 12 It could start operations in its underground section at the end of 2022, provided that the safety and maintenance conditions for the operation of the trains are met.
“Until now, if the underground section is before the elevated section and it is safe for the trains to pass through the elevated section -because remember that the workshop is in Tláhuac- then the empty trains would have to be passing through for their maintenance- if this is the case, then the subway would be opening sooner and if not, the complete Line would already be there,” the president mentioned.
On the progress of work on the elevated section, Jesús Esteva Medina, head of the Secretariat of Works and Services of Mexico City, stated that it is difficult to give an overall percentage; however, per activity, there are sequential advances.
While it was recalled that as part of the restorative justice model, companies such as Carso Infraestructura y Construcciones, owned by businessman Charles Slimagreed to undertake the repair and reinforcement of the elevated section with a metallic structure of Line 12, which was the one originally built by this company.
“There are companies that, even when they have not accepted the expert opinion, have accepted the reconstruction and support for the victims,” Sheinbaum defended.
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