Fifteen days after a very tense first visit, the sovereigns of Spain Felipe VI and Letizia return Tuesday to villages devastated by the deadly floods of October 29, where the search for the missing and clearing operations continue. According to several Spanish media, the king and queen must go to three villages among the most affected by the torrential rains which left at least 227 dead: Chiva and Utiel, in the Valencia region, and Letur, in Castile. -Sleeve.
Mud thrown at the royal couple
In the streets of Chiva, a town of 17,000 inhabitants still marked by destruction, a large police force was already deployed on Tuesday November 19 in anticipation of this trip, according to AFP journalists present on site. Questioned by AFP, the royal house specified that it would provide details on this visit during the morning, during which the sovereigns will once again show their support for the victims, many of whom believe they have been abandoned by the public authorities.
“From the beginning, we wanted to show our desire to be present in all the affected places”, while being “aware that each of us must be in their place”, explained Felipe VI last week on the sidelines of a visit to soldiers deployed in affected areas. On November 3, five days after the disaster, Felipe VI and Letizia had already gone to Paiporta, a village considered the epicenter of the tragedy, in the company of the socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the head of the regional executive Carlos Mazón (People’s Party, right).
But the situation on the spot quickly got out of hand: beside themselves, demonstrators booed the official procession, greeted with cries of “assassins” and throwing stones and mud, during a chaotic sequence whose images were captured. goes around the world. The tension had forced Pedro Sánchez then Carlos Mazón, the main targets of this outburst of anger, to leave the scene. Only the royal couple remained there, their clothes and faces stained with mud, to exchange a few words with the inhabitants, protected by their bodyguards.
The second part of the visit, planned for Chiva, a town of 17,000 inhabitants located around forty kilometers from Valencia, had to be canceled. But the royal house had promised that Felipe VI and Letizia would return quickly. “They should have come before,” Javier Domínguez, a 56-year-old resident of Chiva, told AFP on Tuesday, even if he does not forget that the sovereigns “cannot do much” for the victims. .
With this new move, the sovereigns wish to “first keep their promise”, underlines Vicente Garrido, professor of constitutional law at the University of Valencia. According to him, the climate is now more conducive to such a visit. “Today, I think things have calmed down, despite the enormous pain” still present, says the academic, who considers a new outbreak of violence unlikely. The anger of the victims on November 3 was also not directly directed against the royal couple, whose attitude during this undoubtedly unprecedented incident in the history of the Spanish monarchy was unanimously praised.
“The fact that the king and queen remained present, that they resisted the pouring rain and the mud that was thrown in their faces” was “very appreciated”, insists Vicente Garrido, for whom the image of the royal couple will “emerge strengthened” from this episode. Strongly weakened for his part, the president of the Valencia region Carlos Mazón acknowledged “errors” on Friday, while ruling out resigning and criticizing the government’s action. On Tuesday, November 19, he announced the appointment of a retired general to oversee reconstruction operations.
The socialist Pedro Sánchez – currently in Brazil for the G20 summit, and who will therefore not be present on Tuesday alongside the sovereigns – will report on his management of the tragedy before Parliament, perhaps on November 27, according to his office.
