They were met with fury and despair. King Felipe VIhis wife Queen Letizia and the socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived to cries of« assassins » on November 3 in Paiporta, a town near Valencia devastated by floods which left more than 217 dead and 1,900 missing on October 29, in the south-east of Spain.
Residents have expressed their dismay at the authorities who they do not consider to be up to the disaster that has struck the region. Attacked by the crowd made up partly of activists from the far-right Vox party, the two monarchs received mud on their faces and on their clothes. The Prime Minister was hit in the back with a stick before being exfiltrated.
If the images went around the world, another politician present on site did not attract much attention. However, Carlos Mazón, the right-wing president (Popular Party) of the Valencia region, has been the subject of strong criticism for a week. His numerous errors are contained in three acts: before, during and after the floods.
A crisis unit removed
The first is the alliance between the right and the far right in the leadership of the Valencia region between June 2023 and last July. « Before the climate skeptics of Vox slammed the door of the coalition this summer, they obtained, through Carlos Mazón, the abolition of the Valencian Emergency Response Unit »explains Maria Elisa Alonso, political scientist specializing in Spain. This crisis unit was to make it possible to coordinate relief in the event of a heatwave, fire or flood, and to train the population on the attitude to follow.
Read also: Floods in Spain: “ I prayed that my children would make it »
« This organization was created in 2023 by the previous socialist and environmentalist coalition. It was the first time in Spain that a region had such a system to deal with risks »specifies Maria Elisa Alonso.
Its removal is also the first measure taken by the right-far right coalition when it came to power in Valencia. The organization has a budget of 9 million euros, « the elected officials of PP and Vox felt that it was public money wasted for nothing »according to the political scientist.
Of the SMS sent to the population too late
Once the emergency system is removed, the second act occurs a few hours before the floods begin. At 7:36 a.m., the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet) sounded the maximum alert warning of torrential rains in the region and the emergency services posted two messages at 11:45 a.m. and 12 p.m. on the flooding of two rivers. But Carlos Mazón assures at midday in a message on « from 6 p.m. » « intensity » of the storm « would decrease »specifying that the tanks were « well below their capacity and capable of accumulating the water received without problem ». His tweet has since been deleted.
We had to wait until 8:30 p.m. for the regional authorities, responsible in this matter, to give the alert on the population's cell phones. By then, thousands of people were already surprised by the waves.
Slow and disorganized rescue
The chaos passed on the morning of October 30, Carlos Mazón seemed overwhelmed by the events. The thousands of victims who have lost everything, even their loved ones, are waiting for help from the authorities in the middle of the mud, stranded cars and gutted houses. In this decentralized country, it is up to the autonomous communities to manage natural disasters, says political scientist Guillermo Fernández Vázquez: « Carlos Mazón declared alert level 2 ; the law provides that it is only from level 3 that the central government can direct operations. »
However, it is possible for the Madrid government to trigger alert level 3 which corresponds to the state of emergency and thus manage the situation. Why didn't he do it? ? « First, because the last time the central government declared a state of emergency was during Covid-19. Vox then challenged this decision in court and won its case. »replies the politician. The second reason: to avoid an institutional conflict between the State and the region. « The idea is not to create a confrontation, but to cooperate with regional actors on the ground in order to be more effective. Depending on the region's requests, the State provides relief personnel, equipment and food »he continues.
Except that on site, rescue services are slow and disorganized. Until Thursday, October 31, the Valencian government only requested help from the emergency military unit in the Utiel-Requena area. For two days, the 1,200 mobilized personnel were not authorized to deploy beyond this perimeter, and were therefore unable to go to the suburbs of Valencia. The president of the Valencia region ended up asking — four days after the disaster — for help from the national government.
« Far-right propaganda
is so strong »
Saturday, November 2, Pedro Sánchez announced the sending of 5,000 additional soldiers, bringing the total contingent to 7,000 soldiers, « Spain's largest peacetime deployment ever ». While thousands of volunteers flock to help disaster victims in need of everything, « we send them on Saturday to clean a shopping center rather than residential areas »deplores Maria Elisa Alonso.
And to add: « Carlos Mazón did not question himself, on the contrary, he blamed the Spanish National Meteorological Agency explaining that the alert had been given too late and that Madrid should have sent the necessary military personnel earlier. »
Meanwhile, on social networks, the far right of Vox is trying to capitalize on the dismay of the victims in order to bring down the government of Pedro Sánchez. « Vox's strategy works well, the propaganda of the far right is so strong that part of the population points the finger at Pedro Sánchez while the first politician responsible for the damage is Carlos Mazón »estimates Guillermo Fernández Vázquez.
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