Sánchez charges against Mazón without citing him: “In the dana the system did not fail, some people who did not understand their responsibility failed”

This Wednesday, Pedro Sánchez pointed directly – although without citing him – to Carlos Mazón (PP), president of the Generalitat Valenciana, as the person responsible for the erroneous decisions taken during the management of the tragedy of the dana in Valencia, which has claimed the lives of at least 122 people. The president has used a calm tone in his first intervention in Congress to report on this crisis, a month after it occurred, but he has made it clear that he believes that the institutions that depend on the central Government, such as the State Agency for Meteorology (Aemet) and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ) gave adequate information at all times, and it was the Generalitat that did not make the correct decisions. On the other hand, Sánchez has announced a third aid package that will include payments of up to 10,000 euros per person for the replacement of vehicles damaged in the damage.

“I do not believe that the autonomous State has failed. We have a system similar to that of the most developed countries in the world. Local authorities are the ones who know the terrain best. It is the same one that allowed us to respond to other catastrophes, and the same one that responded to the subsequent damage in other communities,” the president said. “The system has not failed, some of its pieces have failed, and above all some people who have not understood their responsibility. Knowing who these people are is simple: they are the same ones who are dedicated to making mud when they should be removing the mud and helping the victims. There will be time to report opacities, to report negligence,” Sánchez concluded, thus pointing to Mazón and his team.

Immediately afterwards, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in a much harsher tone, accused the Government of not having intervened in time in the tragedy “out of Manichean political calculation”, and has gone so far as to maintain that the Executive “knew what “What was going to happen and he stayed waiting.” But Sánchez has maintained a different tone, in which he has not made any self-criticism but has indicated that we will have to reflect to see what needs to change and prepare for future catastrophes.

“We must ask ourselves three questions,” the president continued. “How we improve the co-governance model, how we build a culture of prevention and how we prepare our cities to face climate change. These are three issues that we should address together, we have to learn. Those responsible will have to assume their guilt, and society will have to respond to a system that responds to correct principles but can undoubtedly be improved. For this reason, the Council of Ministers will present an exhaustive report on everything that has happened and we are open to a commission of inquiry. The immense human cost will require us all to reflect deeply on how to manage disasters. But now our efforts should focus on locating five missing people, rebuilding infrastructure.”

Sánchez has pointed out that this Thursday the Council of Ministers will approve a new package of measures with a total amount of 2,274 million euros, which are added to the 14,300 million of the two packages previously approved, which will have as its star measure aid “of up to 10,000 euros” to buy a new car for the thousands of people who have lost the 100,000 vehicles that are estimated to have been rendered useless. Feijóo has asked that this aid be greater, because he believes that 10,000 euros should be given to all those who have lost some of those 100,000 vehicles. The leader of the PP has delivered a very harsh speech, which has mixed the dana with the Koldo case and the accusation of Begoña Gómez, who has received standing applause from his entire group, especially when he has accused the president of “leaving the president alone to the King in Paiporta.” Sánchez has focused on the damage and although he has pointed at all times to the responsibility of the Generalitat, he has ended with a call for political unity in the face of the tragedy: “The work is too colossal. Let’s agree. Let’s use our time to find solutions,” he assured.

Even so, his entire speech has pointed to the Generalitat and has tried to dismantle Mazón’s speech, which maintains that they did not have good information to make decisions. “The Valencia Provincial Council sent its workers home at noon. Some departments of the Generalitat made decisions early. The University of Valencia canceled its classes. Ford stopped night shifts. The port of Valencia closed traffic. The same thing happened with numerous SMEs. How can you say that we did not warn when all these organizations did react by citing the AEMET alerts to justify it? Government delegate spoke 13 times with the counselor that day, 5 senior government officials contacted Mazón 11 times. How can you say that the Generalitat had no information when the dana was omnipresent from the first hour in the news? There were more than 200 connections between 6:00 and 10:00. Antena 3 asked for great caution, do not cross dry riverbeds or boulevards. TVE connected up to 44 times until 5:00 p.m. On A Punt, the regional television station, a monograph was broadcast throughout the morning with record audiences. The data was sent, the notices were issued, the information arrived, a different matter is what those institutions did with the information. Government agencies fulfilled their duty. They acted according to protocols and did their job well. “Let the righteous not pay for sinners,” the president concluded.