The kings of Spain insisted. Fifteen days after being greeted with mud bullets by some angry and desperate residents of the Valencian towns devastated by the floods of October 29, Felipe VI and Queen Letizia They returned to Valencia this Tuesday, the region most bled by the flood it caused, only in that province219 muertos.
It was 11:38 when the king, smiling, began to shake the hand of the people who were waiting for him in the Plaza de Chiva, the town of about 16 thousand residents that was destroyed by the overflowing of the Poyo ravine.
There was applause and pushing to get to touch the kings who, meek and gentle, gave themselves to the devotion of the neighbors. They even squatted down to receive the drawing and the little letter that a girl in a fuchsia jacket gave to Queen Letizia.
“Listening, sharing. Be with them. “Continue to keep the attention here,” said Queen Letizia, which was the message they brought to the people of the towns devastated by the water.
Shouts were also heard against the Valencian regional president, Carlos Mazónwho, as on the monarchs’ first visit to ground zero of the floods, accompanied the delegation. This time, the national government was represented by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Angel Víctor Torres. President Pedro Sánchez, who was also attacked and insulted when he was with the kings just over two weeks ago, is at the G20 meeting in Brazil.
In Chiva, they yelled at Mazón “Killer!” and “Resignation!” Several residents asked for his resignation due to the sad management that his government carried out of the biggest climate catastrophe that Spain has suffered so far this century and that, in the province of Valencia alone, 11 missing people still need to be found.
Chiva was on the initial itinerary planned by the Royal House for the royal tour on November 3. But the mud shooting that some residents of Paiporta – the first stop of the visit – unleashed, not only against Felipe and Letizia but also against the president of the government and against Mazón, forced to suspend the walk through the streets flooded with mud.
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The king of Spain visited Valencia and was welcomed by throwing mud at him
In those days, people could not hide their anger at late warnings that the population received at dusk on Dana Day, as the atmospheric phenomenon that caused torrential rains and floods that devastated towns in the Valencia Community, Castilla La Mancha and Andalusia is known. “When the cell phones rang with the warning, there were people with water up to their chests,” those who experienced it continue to lament.
The residents also rejected the fact that the official visit of the kings and the president to the devastated towns was five days after the catastrophe and when there were still areas that had not received any type of aid from the regional or national government.
“Felipe, There are dead people out there, man.“, a young man told the king.
“Why have those who should be there left? -Another neighbor asked the monarch about Pedro Sánchez and Mazón, who arrived with the kings but did not stay with them until the end. “If they had come the first day and put on their boots, the people would have supported them.”
from the bridge
Fifteen days later, the reception of Felipe VI and Letizia It was very different.
“You have to be close to the citizens at all times,” the king said this Tuesday.
In Chiva, he and the queen looked out at the bridge over the Poyo ravine, whose overflow was the lethal origin of the tragedy, and walked along one side of the ravine, in front of houses cracked by the damage caused by the water.
in this town There were landslides and about 130 families were evicted due to the danger of collapses in their homes.
Here we also mourn the death of two little brothers, Rubén and Izán, ages 5 and 3, who were snatched from their father’s arms by the current when the flood entered the living room of their house and dragged them away.
45 minutes from Chiva is Utiela town of about eleven thousand inhabitants where the flood caused six deaths. There are 400 residents still evicted.
Among cheers of “Long live the king! Viva!” and “Long live Utiel!”, Felipe and Letizia walked along the town’s Paseo de La Alameda and greeted the civil guards who are trying to make the streets passable again.
From there, the kings were taken to Letur, in the province of Albacete, where six people died and Seven buildings already had to be demolished.
Three times in Valencia
It is the third time that King Felipe VI visits the affected area. Last week he did it alone, in a camouflage fatigues suit, and toured the military posts who are collaborating in the recovery of the affected towns.
On Friday, in the Valencian regional Parliament, the regional president gave his version of how the tragedy was handled. Some political parties, such as Compromís, propose subjecting him to a motion of censure.
But Carlos Mazón refuses to resign and proposed, instead, cosmetic changes to your cabinet. He replaced, for example, his advisor (minister) of Tourism, who was highly criticized for the lack of empathy towards the desperate relatives who during the first days crowded into the improvised morgue to get news of the missing people. And he appointed retired Lieutenant General Francisco José Gan Pampols to head a vice presidency that he has just created: the vice presidency for Economic and Social Recovery.
“Take the issue out of the political sphere and focus on the technical aspect of reconstruction so that Valencians return to their daily lives as soon as possible,” Gan Pampols said, which is his purpose.
La Dana at the European Commission
The blows of the management of the climate tragedy reached Brussels, where the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Spain, Teresa Ribera, is a candidate to preside, as commissioner, one of the vice presidencies of the European Commission.
Ribera was appointed by the European President, Ursula von del Leyen, as executive vice president for a Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition, as well as responsible for the Competition portfolio.
The Spanish Popular Party, however, is doing everything possible to block his appointment. He considers her responsible for the mishandling of the Dana.
Ribera will appear in the Senate on Wednesday to give explanations about the management of the catastrophe caused by the flood.