“As president of the Generalitat [gouvernement régional]I want to apologize” to the people who had “the feeling that the aid was not arriving or was not enough”, declared this Friday Carlos Mazón about the floods which affected the south-east of the ‘Spain.
“I’m not going to deny [qu’il y a eu] errors,” declared the president of the Valencia region in this speech delivered on his initiative before the regional parliament in order to report on the authorities’ response to this unprecedented crisis.
His speech was eagerly awaited after the delays in aid to the victims of this disaster which left at least 224 dead. He began this speech by recalling that these were “the worst floods that Spain has suffered since 1962”. “Everyone understands that the scale of the tragedy and its consequences mean that there will be a before and an after in our lives and that nothing will ever be the same again,” he said.
Sixteen people still missing in the Valencia region
Most of the victims – 216 people – were recorded in the Valencia region. There were also seven victims in the neighboring region of Castile-La Mancha and one in Andalusia. Carlos Mazón confirmed that there were still 16 people missing in his Valencia region. “I am not going to evade any responsibility,” he added in total silence, while several dozen people gathered outside the building to listen to his speech.
Cries of “liar” and “assassin” were launched by this crowd during the speech of Carlos Mazón, whose attitude on October 29, the day of the floods, was very vilified. He was particularly criticized for the delay in sending his services an alert to residents to warn them of the extreme danger of the torrential rains which had been falling since the beginning of the morning.
Protesters demand the resignation of Carlos Mazón
“This government does not represent us,” shouted the demonstrators, who again demanded his resignation. Carlos Mazón was attacked by an angry crowd in the town of Paiporta, near Valencia, on November 3, during a visit by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. Just like socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, he had to quickly leave the procession to escape the demonstrators, who had copiously insulted them.
This appearance before the regional parliament, which takes place both at his request and that of the opposition, was initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed due to the new red alert for heavy rains issued Wednesday evening by the agency Aemet weather forecast.
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