Justice Delays, But (Supposedly) Comes: The Case of the Killer Crane
It seems that the Mexican judicial system has its own tempo, something like the release strategy of a Frank Ocean album: we all wait for it, but no one really knows when it will happen. The initial hearing for the tragic and absurd death of photographers Miguel Hernández and Berenice Giles, who were literally crushed by a crane at the Ax Ceremonia Festival, has just been skipped and put on hold until October. Because, of course, what is a couple more months of waiting for families seeking justice?
A control judge in CDMX, in a move that no one saw coming (not), decided that October sounds better to review the charges against the 11 individuals and corporations accused of manslaughter. The new date on the calendar is October 16. The families’ lawyers confirmed the change, probably after downing a double espresso to process the news.
Omissions, Companies and a Search for Responsibilities (or the Lack Thereof)
Meanwhile, on the Giles family side, the legal strategy is more intense than the drops in a Martin Garrix set. His legal team is not going to sit idly by and wait for October. They have requested an omissions hearing for September 29. The objective: to bring the companies Ocesa (the masterminds behind the logistics of the festival) and Seguridad Privada Lobos into the legal ring. Their thesis is simple: they see a chain of negligence that leads directly to the corporate door of these companies.
But, oh, surprise. At the exit of the Doctores courts, the lawyer for Miguel Hernández’s family, Edwin Piñón, dropped a bomb that no one expected. Basically, he said that after analyzing “quite a bit” of information, they do not see any responsibility on the part of Ocesa. “At least from the information that we have analyzed, which is quite a lot, it does not follow that there is any responsibility,” he declared. That is, plot twist. This promises one of those legal dramas, with two families victims of the same tragedy but with potentially opposing views on who should pay the price.
At the end of the day, the judicial process points to three companies and eight individuals for the crime of manslaughter. A legal entanglement that promises to be longer and more tangled than the plot of a 10 o’clock soap opera. The question that hangs in the air, heavier than the crane in question, is whether someone will take real blame or if everything will be diluted in the swamp of legal processes and corporate defenses.
This case is the most grotesque reminder of how security at macro events is often an afterthought, a checkbox that is carelessly checked until everything goes spectacularly wrong. And while the wheels of justice turn with exasperating slowness, the families of Miguel and Berenice have to navigate a duel amplified by the media spotlight and the cold bureaucracy of the system.
The takeaway? That the next time you see a crane at a festival, you might think twice before standing under it. And that justice, at least in this country, is a concept as elastic as festival lineups.
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