The soldier Carlos León Rico, 24 years old, who drowned on December 21 during military maneuvers in Cerro Muriano (Córdoba) carried a 3.5 kilo ballast in his backpack as a punishment, according to sources confirmed to La Vanguardia. legal. He had supposedly been carrying this overload for a couple of weeks, like 19 other colleagues, by order of the command that he was removed hours after the accident. The reason? They performed a previous maneuver poorly.
The second soldier who died—after jumping into the water to try to save his companion’s life—did not carry the burden of “punishment” like the other twenty soldiers. It was planned that the exercise in the cold waters early on December 21 would be carried out by more than fifty soldiers. Of them, twenty were weighted with an inert minar in their backpack, as reported by Radio Córdoba. This point has been confirmed by lawyer Luis Romero, who represents the deceased Sevillian soldier.
The crossing of the raft took place in daylight, around 9:00 a.m., although the military activity had begun hours before, still at dawn, around 6:00 a.m., with topography practice. and another underground.
The objectives and how to carry them out were explained, instructions were given, and a failed test was even carried out before the troops entered the water. In addition, the soldiers entered the water without vests to lighten their weight, according to the same sources.
In this regard, a rope tied to two oak trees had been arranged, a kind of guide that divided the surface of the water by its shortest part – the distance between shore and shore was about a hundred meters -, while “there was no line of life, no ambulance, no floats or life preservers to hold on to in case of danger”, to add that on the raft “there was no standing”.
In this sense, the practice was frustrated a few minutes after the first troops entered the water. In fact, the second company did not even start the exercise. The commanders and the rest of the soldiers who were out of the water were the first to help their companions, who were asking for help from the water, among them, the corporal, Miguel Ángel Jiménez Andújar.
Another of the soldiers was rescued from the water in cardiorespiratory arrest. Another soldier saved his life before the ambulance even arrived, by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Some of the troops who initiated the rescue ended up having to be rescued and treated for hypothermia. The Ministry of Defense removed the captain who ordered the exercise from command hours after the event.
Specifically, soldier Carlos León Rico was about to finish the training required by Defense for entry into the Army. He had left his law career to join the Army. He had already completed the first two phases of training at the Troop Training Center, number 1, located in Cáceres and it had been a little over a month and a half since he had arrived at the Cerro Muriano Base to complete it in the destination unit.
Meanwhile, Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez Andújar was married and expecting a child. He had joined the Army in 2011 and had two merit awards after having participated in the missions in Lebanon and Latvia.
The soldiers are receiving psychological attention and the witnesses to the incident are being called to testify within the preliminary proceedings opened by the Court of Instruction number 4 of Córdoba.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office considers that “the military jurisdiction is competent to continue the investigation” of this case, as communicated by the Public Ministry in a report sent to the Court of Instruction number 4.
Following this, the Territorial Military Court number 21, based in Seville, has asked the Investigating Court to disqualify itself in its favor in this case. The families of both soldiers are present at the proceedings.
Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez Andújar’s lawyer considers that responsibility for the events lies with the lower command. The lawyer José Antonio Cumplido has expressed that it is “an erroneous approach” to focus on the chain of officers and has defended doing so in that of “the non-commissioned officers, the sergeant or the lieutenant who gave the order and who were the ones who had to take into account.” that all the security requirements that were not carried out were met.
And the lawyer for the family of soldier Carlos León Rico, Luis Romero, has filed a complaint against the captain responsible for the exercise and his three immediate superiors. The lawyer has reported that the complaint is directed against said captain, removed from command by the Army due to the events; the lieutenant colonel immediately superior to him, a colonel and a general, with a request that all of them be called as investigated in the judicial procedure.
The preliminary proceedings, according to the lawyer, revolve around the alleged commission of two crimes of reckless homicide, since both officers drowned in a lake on the base, carrying out a practical exercise.
For her part, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, during a visit to the Cerro Muriano military base, conveyed to the families her “deepest condolences” and “encouragement in these difficult times”, while stating that They put themselves “at your disposal” and “we are going to collaborate with justice without any reservation” in the investigation of the facts, which continues its course, and which must have “maximum transparency.”
This is what Robles stressed to journalists after holding a meeting with the colleagues of the deceased, to whom he conveyed his condolences and all the support to clarify the facts, emphasizing that “if there have been errors, they have to be known, we owe it to the corporal, the soldier, and their families”.
“We want the entire truth of what happened to be clarified,” remarked the Minister of Defense, who urged the companions of the deceased that, “when they testify before the judge, they do so without any reservation,” so that the judge can make “the corresponding decisions” and say “what really happened.”
During her visit, Robles, accompanied by different military commanders, went to the lake where soldier Carlos León Rico and Corporal Miguel Ángel Jiménez Andújar drowned, where she placed a “bouquet of flowers in tribute to the deceased.” in addition to dedicating a “prayer” and “a minute of silence” to them.
For his part, the Chief of Staff of the Army, Army General Amador Enseñat, who accompanied the minister to Córdoba, agreed on the need to “collaborate as much as possible in the investigation” and “take all measures to minimize the risks in the instructions”.
Furthermore, during her visit, the Defense Minister expressed her recognition to all the men and women of the Armed Forces and “to those who are part of this brigade, which is one of the most modern, powerful and decisive units of the Army, providing their support in missions such as Lebanon or Latvia, where it is planned to be deployed in 2024 and early 2025.”
The ‘Guzmán el Bueno’ X Brigade, led by Brigadier General Ignacio Olazábal, was the first Spanish unit to join the Eurocorps and one of the first to take part in foreign operations. Since then he has participated and participates in peace missions outside our borders in various scenarios such as Bosnia or Iraq.
