The Spanish Justice has rejected a complaint filed by Mailén Díaz Almaguer, the only survivor of the May 2018 plane crash in Havana, and the relatives of another of the victims, against Global Air, the Mexican operator that had leased its plane to Cubana aircraft.
The complainants aspired to open the case in this country on the grounds that the president of the company and majority shareholder is Manuel Rodríguez Campos, a Spanish businessman, which gives the National High Court the power to investigate the case.
However, Judge Santiago Pedraz has not admitted the complaint, following criteria supported by the Prosecutor’s Office, for the alleged commission of 113 crimes of homicide due to serious negligence and another of injuries. In a resolution to which the Madrid newspaper had access The reasonthe magistrate affirms that the denounced facts that allude to the supposed lack of security “cannot constitute any crime”.
“The difficulty is evident” in accusing the businessman of gross negligence “four years after the fact and far from the scene and without contact with the authorities”
The text indicates that “the difficulty is evident” in accusing the businessman of serious negligence “four years after the event and far from the place of the accident and without contact with the authorities of both the place of the accident and the country where the company was based.”
Pedraz points out that the president of Global Air cannot “without more, be criminally attributed a responsibility of such a degree in the accident. It is obvious that the company cannot respond criminally, and to such a degree” in the absence of “infallibility of its pilots” , Add.
The judge considers in the brief, which can be appealed, that using the Spanish nationality of the president of Global Air is an “artificial justification to initiate a procedure without the proper real basis for it, but possibly with an intention beyond the exercise of the criminal and civil action with sufficient grounds”. According to the Madrid newspaper, it refers to an apparent insufficiency of the insurance to cover the responsibilities.
The State Commission for the Investigation of Aviation Accidents of Cuba (CEIAA) prepared a report whose conclusions were published in September 2019 and which attributed the accident to human error.
“The CEIAA has considered that the most likely cause of the accident was the crash of the aircraft, as a result of its entry into abnormal positions immediately after the separation of the landing gear from the surface of the runway (Lift off) during takeoff, that led to the loss of control of it due to a chain of errors, with a preponderance of the human factor,” the document said.
For Pedraz, these conclusions are clear and he accuses the plaintiffs of ignoring them because “they discredit his claims.” In any case, the magistrate recalls that reports of this type are intended to prevent other accidents and that in order to investigate it and purge responsibilities, an “expensive expert report” is necessary, which should be carried out by the Spanish Justice. “It is clear that this is not possible here or now,” he says.
The complainants attributed the accident to the lack of training of the crew and to the fact that the ship itself was not in perfect condition. “The most basic rules of care were violated, materialized in the violation of the regulations related to the maintenance of the aircraft, putting the lives of 114 people at risk”, despite knowing the danger involved in executing the flight in these conditions, “said the demand.
The resolution also highlights that any crime of lesser rank than serious negligence has already prescribed, so it would not be appropriate to open an investigation in case of indications of minor offenses.
In it, Díaz Almaguer and the relatives of the other victim – whose name has not been released – accused the Cuban and Mexican authorities of not giving criminal or civil answers to the victims, which is why they said they were “forced” to go to court. Spanish Justice to investigate.
The resolution also highlights that any crime of lesser rank than serious negligence has already prescribed, so it would not be appropriate to open an investigation in case of indications of more minor offenses.
The Global Air plane chartered by Cubana de Aviación to cover the route between Havana and Holguín crashed as soon as it took off on May 18, 2018, one kilometer from the José Martí airport. 112 people died in it and one of them survived, Mailén Díaz Almaguer, who was 19 years old at the time and was left with very serious consequences that keep her with very limited mobility and needing a multitude of daily medications and medical care.
Although the Cuban authorities praised it as a symbol of the prowess of Cuban medicine, just a few months The young woman broke with that image of a person pampered by the regime and told the world how she lacks, like the rest of the citizens, the most basic materials for her treatments and cures and reproaches President Miguel Díaz-Canel for sending her flowers for his birthday while unable to meet the country’s medical needs.
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