5 years of the Chapecoense tragedy in Colombia are remembered: without justice and with a “feeling of impunity”

Five years ago Brazil woke up with the worst sports tragedy in its history. The plane of the Chapecoense crashed near Medellín. Five years without justice and with a “feeling of impunity” that still saddens, as former player Hélio Neto, one of the six survivors, told Efe.

LaMia flight 2933 took off from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in Bolivia, with 77 people on board, but never reached its destination.

Among players, technicians, managers, crew members and journalists, 71 died, accompanying the team to Colombia for the first international final in its history against Atlético Nacional de Medellín, in the Copa Sudamericana.

It was the night of November 28, 2016. The first information reached Brazil in the middle of the morning.

“It is 4 hours and 10 minutes. We are interrupting the programming with worrying and very important information ”, announced the presenter Monalisa Perrone on Globo, the most influential network in the country.

The country went into shock. Later it was learned that the cause of the accident was the lack of fuel. But behind there is a string of negligence. And what remains five years later are families in search of culprits, desolation and a club drowned in debt.

“I am very sad with everything, with everything that happened in the tragedy, with everything that happened and happens within the club …”, said Neto, at the time the defender and now the football superintendent of Chapecoense.

“What hurts the most is the lack of justice, the feeling of impunity. Once the companies that failed are discovered, there is no punishment, “he added.

The insurer puzzle

After the arrests of some LaMia executives and Bolivian air technicians – the last arrest was that of Celia Monasterio last September in Brazil – the case today focuses on the role of insurers and possible irregularities in the policy contracted by the airline.

In this complicated plot appear, in addition to LaMia and Chapecoense, the insurance broker AON, the British insurer Tokio Marine Kiln and the Bolivian reinsurer Bisa.

Lawsuits still continue today to find those responsible and force them to compensate the families. Processes have already been opened in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the puzzle remains unsolved.

In parallel, a commission in the Brazilian Senate also investigates the events on its own.

“El Chapecoense assumed its responsibility, the only one who has done so” and has signed agreements to compensate the victims, “but the insurers are delaying the processes,” Gilson Sbeghen, president of the club, denounced Efe, which, as an entity, also he has resorted to the courts to be compensated.

Since 2017, the ‘Chape’ claims to have signed extrajudicial agreements with approximately 85% of the family members. Another 23 cases have reached the courts and are being paid “religiously”, according to the legal vice president, Ilan Nazário, this week.

Nazário foresees that they will only finish paying their financial commitments to the victims in “March 2028.” In addition, the entity still faces eleven other lawsuits pending resolution.

Bad management and bad results

And the worst thing is that “other tragedies occurred after the plane tragedy”, caused mainly by “very bad” financial management, Neto stressed.

“We have a debt of 140-150 million reais (25-27 million dollars), of which 40-50 million reais (7-9 million dollars) are due to the tragedy. The rest is mismanagement, not saving money, making absurd hires … ”, the former defender listed.

In these last five years, Chapecoense descended to the Second Division in 2019, but only one year later they managed to rise again to the elite of Brazilian football.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic, which hit the club hard from all angles, because, in addition to the hole it has left in the budgets, the covid-19 ended the life of then-president Paulo Magro in December 2020.

The 2021 season is one to forget. The bottom team certified their relegation seven days before the end of the Brazilian Championship and, so far, they have only achieved one victory in 34 games.

“We did not expect to make such a bad campaign,” confessed Sbeghen, who believes that the Chapecoense needs urgent help because there are still “many wounds to close” from the accident. (D)