“We will send what is needed.” This was announced by the government of Pedro Sánchez in September 2023 the arrival of a contingent of EMU to Morocco to participate in rescue efforts after the earthquake this devastated part of the country. The Executive boasts of sending aid within 24 hours, being the first country “go to Morocco” after Mohamed VI requested it. On the return of the contingent, formed by 56 EMU soldiersMoncloa published a note congratulating itself on being “the first arrival in Morocco”. Meanwhile, criticism is intensifying against the government for sending police and soldiers sparsely to reinforce the response to the emergency in Valencia, despite the fact that the work of the armed forces and the EMU, as well as the National Police and the Civil Guard, play a key role in rescue tasks.
Sánchez left the management of the emergency by DANA in the hands of the Valencian government, as confirmed in his institutional declaration from Moncloa this Saturday. “If you need more resources, you have to ask for them and you will get them,” the president said. Or what amounts to the same thing: there is no question of declaring an emergency of national interest, which would give the government the power to send the means it deems appropriate. Each reinforcement will depend exclusively on whether the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, makes it public.
This means in practice that the government of Valencian Community had to call for reinforcements even in 3 occasions. First of all 500then others 500 and this same Saturday 5,000. “I applaud this decision,” Sánchez said this Saturday, despite widespread internal criticism within the armed forces that the deployment is not greater. Many units requested to be activated but were refused.
But faced with this rationing of aid mobilized and sent – which will reach this Sunday 15,000 soldiers five days after DANA-, criticism of the slow reaction of the central government is intensifying. We also recall that since Moncloa there has been a total commitment to Morocco after the earthquake of September 8, 2023. “We will send what is needed”» Defense Minister Margarita Robles said at the time.
All my solidarity and support to the Moroccan people in the face of the terrible earthquake recorded this morning.
Spain stands with the victims of this tragedy and their families.
– Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 9, 2023
On September 10, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Spain was one of four countries – along with United Arab Emirates, Qatar and United Kingdom– to whom Mohamed VI had asked for help. Rabat rejected France’s offer. In less than 24 hours, the first of the A400M planes with EMU troops and dogs left for Marrakech, and Moncloa assumed that whatever was “necessary” would be sent. It was of vital importance to search for the 2,000 missing people who, along with the 2,000 dead, were left disturbed by the earthquake.
“The first”
For this crisis, Spain sent a total of 56 EMU soldiers, 41 firefighters and 14 dogs to Marrakech to work in the earthquake-affected areas. The troops and dogs came from different places in Spain, such as Madrid, Cádiz or Malaga.
The Spanish aid took the form of the sending of the UME urban search and rescue team, made up of 56 soldiers, who arrived in Marrakech on Sunday after taking off from Zaragoza Air Base aboard an Air Force A400 plane.
La Moncloa, upon the return of this contingent after 11 days of operations on the ground, welcomed the fact that the Spaniard “was the first international team to arrive at Marrakech airport”. This is indicated in an official note published on the Moncloa website.
Letter from Mohamed VI to Sánchez
Subsequently, Mohamed VI will send a letter to the Sánchez government to thank it for its assistance and “welcome the active participation of the contingent of the Spanish Military Rescue Unit in search and rescue operations in the affected areas, in perfect synergy with Moroccan teams.
“This fraternal initiative of your country will forever remain anchored in the history of friendship and the excellent relations of cooperation and good neighborliness which unite the kingdoms of Morocco and Spain,” notes the letter.
“If you want more, ask.”
The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezappeared this Saturday to launch an institutional declaration on the disaster of Valence for the DANAin which he announced that the Executive does not plan to assume control of the management of the emergency. It is thus left in the hands of the Generalitat, “which knows the terrain”, he declared, and he urges President Carlos Mazón to “If you need more resources, ask for them and you will get them.“.
“The Government will mobilize all the necessary resources for as long as it takes. This is the second flood which more casualties reported in Europe this century,” Sánchez said.
“The Valencian Community knows what to do, it knows the terrain. This way of proceeding, which brings together the autonomous and the State, made it possible to overcome previous crises. And he’s going to start again“, he indicated. Furthermore, he clearly dispelled doubts about whether he would declare a Level 3 situation, of national interest, which would put the government in control of the emergency: “If you need more resources, ask for them and you will get them.
This Saturday, 4,000 soldiers more than the 5,000 requested by Mazón will arrive in Valencia. “The answer is not enough, I know that,” Sánchez said.
