The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, visited the Cerro Muriano base in Cordoba in January following the accident in which two soldiers, Cabo Miguel Ángel Jiménez Andújar and Soldado Carlos León, drowned during a training exercise on December 21. The military prosecutor has absolved the higher-ranking officers of any responsibility for the soldiers’ deaths. The only person held responsible for failing to ensure safety measures were in place is Captain Ignacio Zúñiga, who is charged with a crime against the efficiency of the service resulting in death, similar to manslaughter.
The prosecutor has filed an appeal against the court ruling that implicated the two colonels and a lieutenant colonel in charge of the regiment at the time, as well as a commander. The judge had found evidence of criminal responsibility in their approval of the training plan that included the lake crossing without adequate safety measures. The prosecutor argues that they only gave a cursory review of the plan and assumed the company would take a safer route along the lake shore instead of the deeper central area without proper safety equipment.
Captain Zúñiga claimed to have taken sufficient safety measures for the exercise, but the soldiers were forced to cross the deep central part of the lake with inadequate flotation devices and extremely cold water, leading to the deaths of two soldiers and hospitalization of others. The prosecutor emphasizes that, as the exercise director, Zúñiga was solely responsible for ensuring the safety of the activity and had the authority to cancel or modify it if necessary.
The prosecutor criticizes the judge for implicating the higher-ranking officers based on a misinterpretation of the Army’s official reports. He argues that there is no evidence of their involvement in the lack of safety measures for the exercise. The families’ lawyers, however, believe that the entire chain of command should be held accountable for the soldiers’ deaths, including the brigade general. They demand that the investigation should extend to all levels of command, not just the captain.
In contrast to the prosecutor’s stance, the families’ lawyers argue for accountability at all levels of command. They believe that the general of the brigade should also be investigated for his role in the accident. The prosecutor, on the other hand, requests that the court ruling be overturned, and the investigation be continued by the Central Military Court, which has jurisdiction over military personnel of a certain rank. This disagreement highlights the complexity of assigning accountability in cases involving military accidents and the challenges of determining responsibility within the chain of command.
