Communications and Transportation Secretary (SCT) Gerardo Ruíz Esparza said he will be remaining at his post until all issues involving the Paso Exprés incident are cleared. “I think it would be irresponsible for me to leave ship at the moment,” he said. Ruíz Esparza’s statement was made in response to opposition legislators who argue that the secretary’s departure would facilitate investigations into the incident.
During a reunion with federal legislators, Ruíz Esparza called out Morelos Governor Graco Ramírez Garrido Abreu, who claimed the SCT had been informed about the problems surrounding the construction of Paso Exprés in a seven-page report.
“With all do respect to Gov. Graco Ramírez, he never sent such a thing,” said Ruíz Esparza. “The only document received from his office by the SCT was a two-page petition asking for the project to be named Paso Exprés Tlahuica.”
Nevertheless, Ruíz Esparza did recognize that the SCT received a couple warnings. One of them, which came from Morelos’s Cuernavaca borough, claimed that the pipe running under the road lacked carrying capacity. “The project manager went to the site to take a look, and now there’s an official document which states that the pipe does have enough carrying capacity,” he said.
Ruíz Esparza also declared that the Secretariat of the Civil Service (SFP) will be in charge of the Paso Exprés investigation, adding that the SCT will provide the SFP with “the best resources available” to clear things up.
