Fifteen days after a visit marked by insults and mud throwing, the King and Queen of Spain returned Tuesday to the areas affected by the deadly floods of October 29, where they were greeted with applause.
Arriving at the end of the morning in front of the town hall of Chiva, a commune in the Valencia region among the most affected by the disaster, Felipe VI and Letizia enjoyed a crowd bath in the company of the head of the regional executive Carlos Mazón, who was much criticized for its management of bad weather.
“Long live the king!” and “long live the queen!”, greeted the crowd as they passed, supervised by a large police force, according to AFP journalists on site. Behind the sovereigns, Mr. Mazón was the target of new calls for resignation: “assassin!” shouted a passerby.
The problems will not fade away “in a few days”, told AFP Elena Tortajada, a 49-year-old self-entrepreneur who came to urge the royal couple “not to forget” over time “the affected people and all the difficulties” that they face.
“Chiva is doing very badly,” insisted María Victoria Sánchez, 75, saying she looked favorably on the royal couple’s visit, two weeks after the clashes that marred their first trip. What happened that day, “it’s an aberration”, “they have nothing to reproach themselves for”, she judged.
After observing the scars of the floods, between collapsed walls and gutted houses, the king and queen continued their visit to Utiel, a town of 10,000 inhabitants 80 km from Valencia, from where they must reach Letur, in Castilla-La Channel, also hit by floods.
Chaotic sequence
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 by throwing stones and mud, during a chaotic sequence whose images have traveled around the world.
The tension had forced Mr. Sánchez then Mr. 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, had to be canceled. The royal house had immediately promised that Felipe VI and Letizia would return, but it kept this trip a secret until the last moment, which was not mentioned in the king’s official agenda.
“Keep their promise”
With this new trip, the sovereigns first wanted to “keep their promise”, in a climate more conducive to such a visit, analysis from AFP Vicente Garrido, professor of constitutional law at the University of Valencia.
According to him, the image of the monarchy could “emerge strengthened” from this entire episode. “The fact that the king and queen remained present” on November 3 and “that they withstood the pouring rain and the mud that was thrown in their faces” was “much appreciated,” he said. he.
What the sovereigns are looking for, “ultimately, is political legitimation,” adds David San Narciso, professor of contemporary history at the Complutense University of Madrid. They want to show “their closeness” to “the people”, which guarantees “the sustainability of the institution”, he judges.
Since the floods, which left 227 dead, the authorities have come under fire from criticism, in particular Carlos Mazón, who on Tuesday appointed a retired general to lead reconstruction operations, four days after presenting his “apologies” to the residents.
Currently in Brazil, where he is participating in the G20 summit, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will report on his handling of the tragedy before Parliament in the coming days – perhaps on November 27, according to his office.
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