Óscar Puente announced his resignation as Spain’s transport minister at the end of a lengthy appearance before Congress’s Permanent Deputation, where he had spent more than four hours defending his record following the Urda rail disaster. The session was marked by calls from several parties for him to leave office.
Puente said he had decided to resign after learning the scale of the accident, which the report described as having a provisional toll of 69 deaths and nearly 200 people injured, including 40 still in hospital. He said he had waited for initial findings and to address Parliament before making his decision public.
The minister told Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez by WhatsApp only minutes before announcing his resignation in Congress. Sánchez will choose a replacement at the Transport Ministry. Ana Redondo, the minister for Equality, is also set to replace Puente as the PSOE’s lead candidate for Valladolid.
During his appearance, Puente denied having taken or failed to take decisions that contributed to the accident. He also rejected claims that the Madrid-Seville high-speed line had been neglected. Earlier that day, he had appeared at the Moncloa after the Cabinet approved aid for victims and measures to strengthen high-speed rail safety.
Sánchez praised Puente for facing the crisis and then stepping aside, describing the move as voluntary and motivated by dignity, respect for the victims and commitment to the government’s progressive project. The prime minister said the decision showed that “not everyone is the same.” Puente remains in office until his departure takes effect.
The PP rejected the government’s description of the resignation as an act of dignity. Its deputy secretary for finance, Juan Bravo, called it an admission of responsibility by Puente and by Sánchez, who appointed him and allowed him to remain in office. The party’s parliamentary spokesperson, Ester Muñoz, also argued that Puente’s departure did not resolve the issue while Sánchez remained prime minister. Vox leader Santiago Abascal likewise called for Sánchez to resign.
Sumar and the Basque Nationalist Party also urged Puente to step down, while distinguishing political accountability from responsibility for causing the crash. Sumar spokesperson Verónica Martínez Barbero said his position as head of the ministry overseeing the rail system meant he had to answer politically. PNV spokesperson Mikel Legarda said Puente had lost the public’s confidence.
ERC and EH Bildu did not offer political backing for the minister, but took a different approach to the calls for blame. ERC’s Gabriel Rufián described Puente as a politician who had faced the issue, while warning that the debate risked distracting from the rail system. EH Bildu’s Mertxe Aizpurua opposed reducing the disaster to an individual error and said investigators should be allowed to report before workers were blamed.
Puente framed his departure as a matter of political responsibility, invoking the example of Portugal’s transport minister Jorge Coelho, who resigned in 2001 after a bridge collapse that killed 59 people. “Guilt cannot die a spinster,” Puente said, adding that he wanted his decision to help restore dignity to politics.
Sources: La Vanguardia.