President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, confirmed this Thursday the recent arrests of two railway workers for their alleged responsibility in the accident of the Interoceanic Train, which occurred on December 28th and left 14 dead and dozens injured in the south of the country. At her daily press conference, the head of state explained that the Attorney General's Office (FGR) detained the driver and supervisor of the vehicle, the first two arrests in an investigation in which the attorney general, Ernestina Godoy, determined that excessive speed caused the derailment of the Interoceanic Train in Oaxaca. That investigation, she added, is based on information obtained by authorities from the train's black box, which reflected that "it was traveling at a speed higher than it should have been." According to the agency, after analyzing the train's 'black box,' it was concluded that the unit was traveling at 65 km/h on the curve where the derailment occurred, when the maximum permitted speed is only 50 km/h. The two detainees are accused by the Public Ministry of negligent homicide and negligent injuries, as they were found responsible for the fatal accident. In the supervisor's case, in addition, his railway license was not valid at the time of the accident, according to local media. With all this information, Sheinbaum defended the work of the FGR, which -she emphasized- was 'based on scientific evidence' and not on 'speculation.' Therefore, she guaranteed that the victims 'will have justice,' and recalled that since last Monday, work has begun to 'comprehensively' repair the damage. The Interoceanic Corridor is one of the strategic projects of the Mexican Government to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through a railway, port, and industrial network that crosses the southern states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. This project, promoted by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) and inaugurated in 2023, had been presented as a logistical alternative to the Panama Canal by connecting the Mexican Pacific and Atlantic, as a pole of development for the south and southeast of the country.
