The Valencian Parliament will convene on October 29 a commission of inquiry into the management of DANA, which has so far caused 222 deaths and a still undetermined amount of damage in the Valencian regions. Three proposals for commissions of inquiry, presented by PP, Vox and Compromís, are debated this Wednesday and Thursday in the Corts Valencianes; three disparate propositions which point to different responsibilities, but which coincide in pointing out the failures of the system as a whole.
In a bitter debate, loaded with cross-reproaches from the left and the right, there hovers a ghost who has been planning this catastrophe for some time now, the ghost of the commission of inquiry into the 2006 metro accident, which left 46 dead, 47 injured and the motto that still pursues the Valencian PP: zero responsibility. The Association of Victims of July 3 already alerted on November 11 about the parallels it found in the political narrative between this meteorological disaster and the urban rail accident: “Lack of foresight, inability to recognize failures so as not to assume responsibility for responsibility for the deaths of the victims. so many people who hide, manipulate, create false stories, what bad memories!… the same way of managing drama”, they explained. And they added: “All they have to do is hire SM Sanchís to prepare the scenario for the version that everyone must repeat”, in reference to the consultancy firm that the government of Francisco Camps hired to manipulate the commission of inquiry into the accident. The railway officials of the Generalitat. Valenciana (FGV) took meet with the agency to prepare for their appearances.
The government chaired by Carlos Mazón has repeatedly changed its version of where the president was during the key hours of the tragedy and has accused organizations and technicians of not providing information and promoting a “black -out of information”, which is denied by consultation of the file. of communication. These changes of version and these rhetorical games have been a constant since October 29, sowing doubt about the functioning of the emergency system or about the action of the State and regional organizations themselves, from AEMET to the ‘Military emergency unit.
In Las Corts, left-wing groups reflected along the same lines. It was they, the PSPV and Compromís, who politically supported the victims, welcomed them into the institutions – Ximo Puig’s first official act as a sign of reparation – and created a new commission in the regional Parliament. PSPV spokesperson José Muñoz stressed this Wednesday that Mazón reminds him of Francisco Camps, who “turned his back on the victims” and wanted to organize “a quick commission to turn the page,” predicting: “The culprit? If the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar does not work, it is the system. Miguel Polo, representative of the state organization, is their driver, the target of all their criticism and who is falsely accused of not having issued warnings due to the flow that overflowed. In 2006, the PP attributed these deaths to a technician; He now blames the technicians who, according to his account, did not provide information to the emergency services.
The PSPV insists on rhetoric, on the names of things: “It’s not a flood, it’s a DANA. This play on words has a dangerous connotation: flooding is a cause of force majeure, therefore inevitable, you understand? If it is a flood, it is inevitable; If it is unavoidable, no one is responsible; If there are no people responsible, we already have the opinion of the commission of inquiry,” he declared, emphasizing the reference to the accident of July 3, 2006.
“The modus operandi of the PP is still the same,” emphasized Joan Baldoví, spokesperson for Compromís, who also recalled the management of the accident 18 years ago. “They don’t want to know the truth,” he criticized PP and Vox, who agreed on a commission through an amendment. “The Metro Commission of Inquiry was an insult to the victims and we will not allow this to happen again. We will be vigilant,” he stressed, remembering Serafín Castellano, former municipal councilor convicted of corruption and spokesperson for the PP when the commission was created. Baldoví, to defend his proposal, asked a series of questions about Mazón’s fate while the canals were overflowing and the emergency agency was summoned, which did not arrive until after 7:30 p.m. “What did Mazón do between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on the 29th? Who did you meet? Was he a construction businessman? Who did you meet when the name of the mayor of Cullera was mentioned? [en referencia a la llamada explicada por Jordi Mayor y el propio Mazón]. The only mayor he called was not to warn him of the danger. “Is this due to the fact that the same morning, PP and Vox agreed on an amendment allowing construction 200 meters from the coast?” he asked. In full red alert, PP and Vox agreed on a legislative modification to the Cortes which was definitively approved this Thursday.
No one, no member of Carlos Mazón’s Consell, listened to this debate in person. It was the deputy Fernando Pastor who was responsible for defending the PP. The parliamentarian, accustomed to debates on management, affirmed not to use it politically – which earned him the Baldoví memory exercise – and tried to refocus attention on the central government. “I’m starting to worry a little about the physical whereabouts of the president on October 29 at noon. I thought about it several times before saying this, I thought about it several times as a Valencian, as a member of the party and a member of this Chamber – the popular deputy began “-. And I am starting to think worry a lot about why those who had the obligation, the competence, to report this noon and this afternoon what was happening in the Poyo ravine did not do so. And there are only two answers: because they had no idea or because that they hid it.” This mystery, he said, “can only be solved by the friends of Miguel Polo, Teresa Ribera and Pedro Sánchez The popular insisted on the lie that the Confederation”. did not warn, despite the wave of messages sent that day, and ignored that the Generalitat sent a team of firefighters to the ravine to measure the flow, but this information, which the Ministry of the Environment had, did not did not reach the body emergency.
The councilor, dismissed from his functions before giving explanations
To the disappearance of the agenda of Carlos Mazón, who has not appeared before the media for two weeks and who barely manages to say a few words on the way to a meeting, is added the suppression of the ministers responsible for management matters. of Emergencies and new appointees. Newcomers will not have a plenary session to explain their intentions before December 20, the last Friday before Christmas, and those already dismissed will only attend if they are forced to do so by a parliamentary or judicial instruction. Muñoz spoke of the fact that “those who left without giving explanations” should appear, referring to Salomé Pradas, who was fired without going to the regional parliament. “It is unreasonable that the Minister of Justice and the Interior has not given any explanation.” PP and Vox prevented this with their majority.
PP and Vox transfer responsibility to the central government and insist on highlighting Teresa Ribera and Pedro Sánchez, in addition to the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar. Vox spokesperson José María Llanos highlighted “the lack of prevention and poor management” of the emergency, but criticized the central government for not having acted: “Faced with such a catastrophe, the army Spanish should have intervened from the minute, with a single order, with a single address and with all the means at its disposal. “Robles and Sánchez denied it to us,” said the far right, who gave a message to the Valencian president: they will not allow him to be the “scapegoat” of the left.
Variable arithmetic
The research proposal with the best chance of success is the one presented by Compromís. The Valencians plan to support the three proposals; the socialists that of Compromís and reject the rest; Vox will not support that of the Valencians and the PP is being conciliatory with both parties. But the question is not so much which commission will be approved but rather what it will do. The key will be the work plan, the roadmap in which the appearances and the requested documentation will be incorporated. And at that point, the parliamentary majority, which requires alliances, will determine the approach. The PP governs alone, but in tandem with Vox, it can direct the commission as it wishes. The far right must decide which way to tip the scales.
