The Cuban truck driver Rogel Lázaro Aguilera-Mederos broke his silence after years without public statements and spoke from prison in an exclusive interview published on social media by the Cuban-American journalist Yesmani Gómez, host of Telemundo Colorado, just days after the Parole Board of that state denied his release.
The denial came on October 16, when the Board— which needed at least four favorable votes from its seven members—did not reach that threshold to approve its release, even preceding the official eligibility date set for December 30, 2026.
The most emotional moment of the interview was Aguilera-Mederos's statement about the four people who died in the Interstate 70 accident in 2019: "I would have wanted God to take me instead of them."
Regarding the reasons for the rejection, the truck driver was straightforward: "The explanation they gave me in the document stating why my release was denied is that I did not feel remorse, that I did not take responsibility for what happened. In short, they told me that I was not ready to be released and that I lacked empathy."
In light of that justification, he publicly requested that the authorities release the recording of his hearing before the Board: "I ask and give permission to anyone with authority over that, especially to them, to release the video of the interview I had with the Parole Board. Let them release this video and let the public judge for themselves."
When he learned of the rejection while watching the news on television, his reaction was one of religious resignation: "Thank you, Jehovah. And if my staying here for another year makes someone happy, so be it. God's timing is perfect."
Aguilera-Mederos also publicly denounced for the first time a severe deterioration of his health in prison. "I started vomiting blood, bleeding internally. They told me to drink plenty of water, gave me two Tylenol, and sent me to sleep," he recounted. He was only transferred by ambulance to intensive care after repeatedly insisting to the prison doctors.
The hospital specialists diagnosed him with Crohn's disease and warned him that the delay in his treatment was crucial: "Because it took so long to bring you from prison and we couldn't provide the appropriate treatment at the hospital, now you have Crohn's disease. It is a lifelong condition that has no cure." According to him, up to the date of the interview, he has not received the necessary treatment, despite the doctors warning him that the disease could lead to cancer.
The accident that led him to prison occurred on April 25, 2019, on the I-70, west of Denver. Aguilera-Mederos, then 23 years old, was driving a trailer loaded with wood when the brakes failed while descending a steep slope. The truck reached speeds of up to 85 mph and crashed into stopped traffic, causing a chain reaction involving about 28 vehicles. Four people died and another ten were injured.
In December 2021, Judge A. Bruce Jones sentenced him to 110 years in prison, the mandatory minimum under Colorado's consecutive sentencing laws, a sentence that the judge himself deemed excessive. The ruling sparked a massive reaction: a petition on Change.org surpassed five million signatures, and Governor Jared Polis commuted it to 10 years on December 30 of that year.
After this month's denial, the authorities in Colorado confirmed that his next parole hearing is scheduled for September 2027; if he does not obtain it then, his expected release date is December 13, 2029.
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