Mentioned last week by Felipe VI, on the sidelines of a visit to soldiers deployed in areas affected by the floods, this visit was organized with the greatest discretion by the royal house, which never officially announced it.
On November 3, five days after the disaster, Felipe VI and Letizia went to Paiporta, a village considered the epicenter of the tragedy, in the company of the socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Carlos Mazón, figure of the Popular Party (PP , 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 second part of the visit, planned for Chiva, had to be canceled. But the royal house had promised that Felipe VI and Letizia would return quickly.
A retired general in charge of reconstruction in the Valencia region
The regional government of Valencia on Tuesday charged a retired senior army officer with organizing reconstruction work in the municipalities ravaged by the tragic floods of October 29, appointing him at the head of a new vice-president. presidency dedicated to this task.
Lieutenant General Francisco José Gan Pampols “will be vice-president of the Valencia government for economic and social recovery”, announced in a press release the regional executive, under fire from criticism for its management considered chaotic of bad weather .
This newly created vice-presidency will be responsible for “centralizing all actions” of the regional government for “recovery and economic and social normalization” in the municipalities affected by the floods, which left 219 dead in the Valencia region (227 deaths in all).
It will also be up to him to develop a “protection plan” to enable the Valencia region to “face” possible new “natural disasters likely to endanger the population”, specifies the press release.
The appointment of this general from the Army comes the day after a first reshuffle within the regional government of Valencia, led by the conservative Carlos Mazón, with the arrival of a new person responsible for Industry and the Tourism.
Born in 1958, Francisco José Gan Pampols directed the General Military Academy of Zaragoza and then the Armed Forces Intelligence Center (Cifas) during his career. He also participated in peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.
Severely weakened since the deadly bad weather at the end of October, Carlos Mazón admitted “errors” on Friday and presented his “apologies” to residents for his management of the disaster. The conservative leader, however, has ruled out resigning himself at this stage.
