“I will not evade any responsibility”

The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazonbegan his intervention in the Valencian Courts by announcing a commission of inquiry and who will lead the recovery plan after the devastating DANA last October 29.

“I will not escape any responsibility“, insisted the president during his speech. His first words were to offer “his condolences and his memory to the loved ones of the dead and those missing due to the worst flood that Spain has experienced since 1962 and the one of the worst disasters in Europe.

For this reason, Mazón confirmed that the popular parliamentary group of the Valencian Cortes will request the creation of a commission of inquiry and requested that the Congress of Deputies Also investigate possible administrative failures.

“I won’t deny the failuresNor would it be useful, because it would imply that we have learned nothing,” he said. In this regard, Mazón recognized that “we need answers about what happened and why “.

The Valencian president details the opinions issued by the Generalitat Valenciana in the days preceding DANA and October 29. In this sense, we asked ourselves “whether it was appropriate and prudent to have a single sensor in the entire Poyo ravineif all alert protocols were possible to correct a single human error”.

The head of the Consell assured “that he had enough information” to “make decisions” and defended that emergencies had not deactivated the hydrographic alert. As he pointed out, the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ) spent two hours without sending information to the Emergency Service, just when the big flood in L’Horta Sud was occurring.

Voluntary appearance

Mazón finally appears this Friday in the Valencian Parliament, a day later than expected due to the rain alert, to explain management of DANA on October 29which leaves for the moment a balance of 216 deathsmore than 70 towns devastated and property damage worth several million dollars.

Mazón’s intervention, which comes 17 days after the disaster and almost a week after the demonstration of 130,000 people who demanded his resignation, arouses great media, political and citizen expectations.

In fact, in the Valencian Parliament, security and press organization measures were reinforced from the start due to the number of media present.

The monographic plenary session began at 11:30 a.m. We expect a tense and long session, since Mazón has three interventions without time limit and the opposition (PSPV, Compromís and Vox) and the PP have two teams of 15 minutes per group each.

Mazón explained the reasons why the massive alert was sent to people’s cell phones after 8 p.m. that day, when water had already flooded the affected areas.

In addition, he offered the information that the Consell has from organizations such as the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ) or the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

The opposition

Among the opposition groups, the PSOE announced these days that it wanted this appearance to serve Mazón to “assume responsibility” and explain to the Valencians “what was more important than being in an emergency” .

However, he does not mean “a plethora of tensions, but rather a unity”, and emphasizes that this unity “will not be a blank check”.

Compromís will go further and, as in recent days, will demand the resignation of Mazón, believing that he cannot continue “not one more minute” at the head of reconstruction.

To do this, he does not want to “distract attention” from his responsibility on October 29 and will demand answers about “where he was” that day and why he sent the alarm so late.

For its part, Vox, partner of the PP until last July, considers that Mazón “must give a lot of explanations, recognize many errors and assume all responsibilities for incompetence” and will demand that he “rectify 180 degrees his “incompetent and disastrous management. “

He also intends to denounce the “criminal behavior” of the government and President Pedro Sánchez, whom he accuses of having “betrayed and abandoned the Valencians”.