Dec. 26 (UPI) — A Mexican official said Wednesday there will be four separate investigations of a helicopter crash this week that killed a state governor, her senator husband and three others amid suspicion of foul play.
The former governor of Puebla State, Antonio Gali, said there will be federal and state investigations, an inquiry by the builder of the Agusta helicopter that crashed Monday and another by the Canada-based engine manufacturer, El Sol de Puebla reported.
The investigations are important so Puebla residents “can get to know the truth behind how such a deplorable accident happened,” Gali said.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday his government had nothing to do with the accident, El Sol de Puebla added.
“I have always said that I have adversaries, but not enemies,” he said, explaining that he didn’t attend funerals because he didn’t want to satisfy “petty provocateurs” who’d planned to use his presence against him politically.
Tuesday, during the state funeral for Puebla governor Martha Alonso and her husband, Senator Rafael Moreno, some attendees yelled “assassin” at Mexican Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero, who represented the federal government. Like Lopez Obrador, she also belongs to the Morena party that won elections earlier this year.
Several also yelled “out” against Sanchez Cordero, while state official Luis Banck spoke and requested an independent investigation into what caused the helicopter to crash after takeoff.
“Despite the aggressions against her team … [Martha Alonso] never gave up. We demand a professional and independent investigation,” he said, according to El Financiero.
The Agusta A109 helicopter crashed 10 minutes after takeoff from Puebla, headed for Mexico City. The accident occurred within two miles of the Puebla airport.
According to Mexican law, the country’s Congress — where the government’s Morena party led by Lopez Obrador has a majority — must name a provisional governor and call elections within 10 days.
Alonso, who turned 45 earlier this month, was a member of the National Action Party and the first woman to hold the post of governor in Puebla. Moreno, 50, a senator affiliated with the same party, was Puebla governor from February 2011 to January 2017.
