This Tuesday’s visit was very different from the one that the kings made to Paiporta a few weeks ago, accompanied by Sanchéz and Mazón. SO Boos were heard amid outrage from many neighbors. However, Felipe VI and Letizia were cheered and applauded. Then, the mud has invaded everything again and the cleaning work is much further along.
Felipe and Letizia set foot on the streets of Valencia, in this case Chiva, already cleaned, with advanced cleaning works, and many houses and premises clean. A completely different scenario from the last visit. There, only a few days had passed since the tragedy. The houses and the streets were full of mud. There were hundreds of people missing and neighbors decried how little help they received. All this, combined with the presence of President Mazón and President Sánchez, generated a situation of emotional explosion.
In this emotional outburst, the people involved rushed against the kings. Boos, mudballs and a lot of tension. Nothing to do with this Tuesday’s visit. Neighbors received the kings with kisses, hugs and photos, thanking them for returning to the affected areas.
Differences also in the role of the king. In front of Felipe VI who calmed those affected, we saw this Tuesday a much more relaxed king greeting those present. Mazón’s attitude was also different. On November 3, he accompanied the king closely, he did not leave him. Quite the opposite of visiting Chiva. The president of the Valencian Generalitat has chosen for a lower profile a few meters from Felipe and Letizia, closing the procession. Although despite this secondary role, he also received occasional messages, including insults.
The presence of Pedro Sánchez is also essential. That Sunday, in Paiporta, the neighbors attacked him verbally and physically. He received a shovel in the back which forced him to leave the procession in a car that was also destroyed. This Tuesday, however, the president was not present to represent the government. Alongside the kings, Ángel Víctor Torres and Isabel Rodríguez were present.
A delegation which went to Paiporta only on November 3, after having canceled the agendas because of the altercations, and which three weeks after the tragedy went to Chiva, Utiel and Létur to show its support for the broken and devastated villages by DANA.
