The target has already been awarded: Óscar Puente

After the caution of the days immediately following the Córdoba accident, the right-wing newspapers begin to circle overhead, spreading their majestic wings, their beaks sharpened.Puente deflects responsibility and points to a problem on the track that is almost undetectable.", it is titled The reasonAnd I'm leaving it in the original version to preserve this Mortadelo-esque and Philemon-esque prose. The day before, in theABCThe front page opened with "Puente is unable to clarify key facts about the derailment in more than two hours of testimony." The World It wasn't far behind, with the subheading "The accumulation of evidence dismantles Óscar Puente's arguments." What a contrast with The Countrywhich didn't portray him as elusive, incapable, or out of touch, but rather as someone on top of the matter: "Puente admits the possibility that the tracks damaged the trains." These kinds of tragedies are, unfortunately, like a game of hot potato: the maintenance deficiencies that cause them have been dragging on for years, but the one who gets burned is the one in power at that precise moment. The debate focuses on putting the noose around the rival's neck, instead of examining where negligence and a lack of accountability make the transport network vulnerable and potentially deadly. Accountability must be assigned, but it would be naive to believe that the day after someone resigns we'll have a safer rail network.

In any case, it's clear that the right-wing press knows exactly who should pay for the tragedy. It's the minister in charge, of course, but also the minister in charge, the most outspoken, and the one who has tried to counteract the hatefulness They're using the same weapons on the internet. They're itching to get back at him, that's for sure. In the coming days, we'll see the blame game (and defenses) escalate, which is the perfect excuse for not tackling the issue of infrastructure obsolescence head-on.