The Valencian regional government, which has been heavily criticised over its response to the deadly floods that have killed at least 222 people in Spain, has ruled out any imminent resignations over the matter, arguing that the departure of senior leaders would constitute a betrayal of the victims of the disaster.
Growing public anger over the authorities’ handling of the emergency brought 130,000 people on to the streets of the city of Valencia on Saturday night to call for the resignation of the regional president, Carlos Mazón.
Mazón, a member of the conservative People’s party (PP), is under mounting pressure after it emerged he had a three-hour lunch with a journalist on Tuesday 29 October, the day the torrential rains hit the region, and did not arrive at the emergency command centre until 7.30 that evening.
There are unanswered questions about why, despite a series of red weather alerts from the state meteorological office, his administration waited almost 14 hours before sending emergency civil protection messages to people’s mobile phones.
On Sunday morning the region’s vice-president, Susana Camarero, was emphatic that no one would be stepping down as Spain faced its biggest crisis in recent memory.
“Given the magnitude of the catastrophe and the damages inflicted on towns and on people, given that magnitude and all the damages caused, we cannot abandon the victims,” she said. “This government won’t abandon the victims. This government will be, as it has been from the first day, at the side of the victims. Any resignations at the moment are not an option. They’re not an option. All we can think about is working on the recovery efforts and on repairing the damage that has been done.”
Mazón himself promised to offer answers when he appears in parliament this week. “I’ll be providing political explanations and giving an account of the events with full details on Thursday,” he said. “I think it’s also important – for the sake of the victims and because of what’s happened – to explain things well and in an orderly fashion so as to avoid the fake news phase that we had to waste time refuting when we could have been getting on with what was really important.”
The Valencian president has previously attempted to point the finger at Spain’s socialist-led government, and even at the armed forces’ military emergencies unit (UME), whose personnel have been deployed to the region in huge numbers.
Mazón’s colleagues in the national PP have defended his actions and claimed he is assuming full responsibility. They accuse the central government of refusing to take charge of the crisis.
Spanish government sources insist they have done everything they can, having sent more than 18,000 soldiers and police officers to the region. They point out that Mazón has full command and control over the relief effort because the crisis remains a level 2 emergency and so a matter for the regional authorities.
Were the Valencian government to say it could not cope with the situation, a level 3 emergency could be declared, transferring command to the central government.
Although the central government has stopped short of calling for Mazón’s resignation, describing the matter as “a debate for when the time is right”, it has said the facts speak for themselves.
Many of those who took part in Saturday’s protests chanted “Mazón resign!” and carried signs reading “You killed us”, and “Our hands are stained with mud, yours with blood”. Some of the demonstrators clashed with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall, prompting officers to use batons to push them back.
Camarero said that while she understood people’s anger and pain, she suspected some had used the demonstration for political and violent ends.
“Probably on that march, given the damage and acts of vandalism we’ve seen, there were people who’d attended because they really wanted to shown their outrage and pain, and there were also people who were using it politically,” she said. “I totally respect those who were protesting but they weren’t represented by those committing violence. What some people do has nothing to do with what other people do.”
