The train derailment Interoceanic in southern Mexico marked the last weekend of 2025 of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government and sparked new criticism from the opposition, who point to corruption and the failure of the new powers granted to the Secretary of the Navy (Semar) in the flagship works of the Morena administrations, Mexico’s most powerful party. The tragedy, which left 13 dead and around a hundred injured, opened a new front for the PAN, the PRI and the Citizens’ Movement (MC), which demanded a rigorous investigation. Members of the PAN and PRI announced that they were preparing administrative complaints to bring the search for those responsible to the judicial authorities.
The accident, which overshadowed Christmas and end-of-year celebrations for dozens of affected families – some still searching for their loved ones – put Sheinbaum on guard against questions from the opposition bloc. “Militarization has been a resounding failure. With Calderón, with Peña Nieto, with López Obrador and it will also be with Claudia Sheinbaum”, published on his social networks the leader of the MC, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, about what happened in the Z section of the railway, the flagship work of the administration of former president Andrés Manuel López, with which he sought to open a complementary route to the Panama Canal, faster, for goods between the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific.
“It was not an accident. It was corruption. And corruption kills,” said Ricardo Anaya, coordinator of the National Action Group in the Mexican Senate. The PAN member was tougher in his position and indicated that he would present legal resources focused on comprehensive investigations and specialized audits that reveal the failures that led to the accident. The lawmaker and former presidential candidate cited the alleged friendship between Pedro Salazar, alleged supplier of ballast for the construction of the train, and Gonzalo López Obrador, son of the former president, to fuel his criticism. “I will present the corresponding administrative complaints to the Anti-Corruption Secretariat, as well as request control from the Superior Audit of the Federation,” declared Héctor Saúl Téllez, vice coordinator of economic issues for National Action in the Chamber of Deputies.
From the PRI, the national leader Alejandro Alito Moreno launched an attack on the ruling party. “The PRI demands a thorough, independent and transparent investigation that determines criminal and administrative responsibilities,” he said in one of his first reactions. The leader of the PRI also demanded the suspension of the works in which some businessmen who, at the time, were linked to the construction of the Interoceanic Train, as well as with the penultimate of the sons of the former Mexican president, were involved, until there is a technical report that guarantees that “they do not represent a risk for the population”, Moreno ruled.
Sheinbaum immediately extinguished the PRI attack. “I am not going to debate with the president of the PRI,” the president declared bluntly during her morning conference on Monday. In another trench, that of the Morena leadership, the response to the ruling party focused on providing assistance to victims. “Our solidarity with families who have lost a loved one or those who are recovering,” published the president of the guinda group, Luisa María Alcalde. The derailment appears to be a way to cut off opposition in the latter part of the year and fuel the start of 2026, while investigations are carried out to find those responsible.
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