The Christmas Eve helicopter crash that killed the governor of Puebla and her ex-governor husband was no accident, claims the national president of the political party to which they belonged.

Martha Erika Alonso, who was sworn in as governor on December 14, Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, two pilots and a political aide all died after the Italian-made Agusta helicopter in which they were traveling plunged to the ground just outside the city of Puebla in the municipality of Coronango.

National Action Party (PAN) president Marko Cortés told the newspaper El Universal that there has been a “suspicious silence” from the federal government about the crash, leading him to believe that it was caused deliberately.

“There’s a black hand in this [crash] that was presented as an accident, and today – with scant evidence and without an official and scientific verdict 60 days later – we see that it wasn’t an accident but rather a provoked incident . . . Being a day with good weather, the equipment [the helicopter] in good order and expert pilots, it makes you think that it [the accident] was provoked,” he said.

“Furthermore, the helicopter fell head first . . .” Cortés added, referencing the helicopter’s unusual almost vertical descent.

The PAN president also said the investigations into the crash are “at a standstill,” a situation he argued is generating uncertainty in the lead-up to a new election for governor that will be held on June 2.

“The investigations undertaken by the federal government are conspicuous by their absence,” Cortés declared while demanding that the López Obrador-led administration provide clarity about the causes of the crash.

Two days after the incident, the president rejected accusations that his government was responsible, declaring that such claims were only made by a “mean” and “neo-fascist” minority.

“As a matter of principle, we would never act against anybody,” López Obrador said, adding that the government was fully committed to finding out what caused the crash.

Yesterday, presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said that a report on the progress of the investigations would be made public soon.

“There has to be a report because it’s an open case of national interest, a report about the state of the investigations will be given in the coming days,” he said, adding that experts’ reports completed outside Mexico will be included.

Source: El Universal (sp)