Volunteers who arrived from Seville to help residents of the area of the village of Reatillo, located between the municipalities of Requena, Siete Aguas and Chera and very close to the farm of Marquise María de Borbón y de Rojas, denounce the obstacles that exist. found part of the private game reserve property to access the location. The bridge which connected the village, made up of a dozen houses, to the outside was seriously affected by the disaster. DANA and the company that owns the property sent a letter to the region’s councils, to the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar (CHJ). and to the Department of Agriculture, Water, Livestock and Fisheries, complaining that village residents were accessing their property because they could not pass through the usual passage.
The Reatillo Neighborhood Association regretted this Wednesday in a statement the attitude of the owners of the property and denied certain statements contained in the letter, signed by Marquis Ramón José de la Cierva García-Bermúdez, husband of María de Borbón and of Rojas.
Ignacio Martínez, president of the Sevillian association Raids Solidarios, assures that three 4×4 vehicles belonging to the entity’s volunteers encountered obstacles from the owners of the property on November 6. “Before arriving at the demolished bridge, the property guards stopped us on the road leading to the bridge to tell us that we could not access it, since the bridge was demolished and we could only access it by private property and that it was better that we should not continue, to which we replied that we would arrive at the bridge to study any possibility of crossing,” says Martínez.
The small group of volunteers traveled from Seville with three 4×4 vehicles to Requena, where they left the equipment they had brought in the hands of the Red Cross as a sign of solidarity with those affected. This is an association which, in addition to organizing solidarity trips with its jeeps in North Africa, is responsible each year for transporting the floats for the royal parade in Seville. After unloading in Requena, they went in their three vehicles to the village of Reatillo to collaborate in cleaning and clearing the debris.
“We left the vehicles parked and, between us and the neighbors of the village, we made a small pedestrian crossing, placing some stones and a safety rope to be able to walk to the village and do cleaning work in the houses most affected”, says the president of the association. “We found that 4×4 access to the village is easy, but effective, passing through private property and traveling about 500 meters along a track in poor condition on the property,” explains Ignacio Martínez.
Civil Guard vehicles appeared in the area. Agents of the armed institute went to the site in case the neighbors needed medicine or food and offered them to leave the village “if necessary”, according to the press release from the neighborhood association. “They also told us that if we could continue here, this is where we would be better off, provided they could give us access, since it was our usual home. They understood perfectly that we would like to stay in our homes if possible, trying to clean the mud and gradually repair the damage,” said the statement from the Reatillo Neighborhood Association.
Volunteers arriving from Seville tried at all times to access the village, avoiding obstacles from the owners of the property. “We went back to the bridge to wait for them to arrive, when they arrived [los agentes de la Guardia Civil] The guards of the property accompanied them in the same vehicle and with the same argument that we saw in the letter from the owner of the property, [dijeron que] We don’t have their authorization,” Martínez explains.
“At that moment,” continues the president of the Sevillian association, “they tell us that there are alternative routes to access the village, they accompany us to a crossroads in the road and show us the route to be continued.” However, after exploring the trails, they found that “none of the three alternatives were passable, these are roads that must have been unused for decades, completely rutted and largely covered with vegetation, apart from the landslides caused by the rains. “Similarly,” he adds, “if they had had access, they would have forced us to cross the river, since the village is on the opposite bank. »
“We spent almost the whole day looking for the paths and steps that the guards and the Civil Guard showed us. So we decided to come back, leave our cars parked (to avoid conflicts with the property) and cross on foot,” says Ignacio Martínez.
At that time there were at least four members of the Royal Guard in the village, a unit deployed in towns like Chiva, Utiel, Picanya, Requena and Buñol and whose command post was located in Montcada. The Royal Guard deploys its personnel daily to the various sites to begin the tasks assigned by the Military Emergency Unit (UME) in terms of clearing debris, cleaning and sanitation of roads, evacuation of goods in the houses and garages, removal of vehicles from the public. road and night surveillance.
Local sources claim that the presence of the Royal Guard troops was a coincidence and separate their appearance in the area from the domain of the emeritus king’s relatives. The soldiers of the Royal Guard collaborated with neighbors in the highest priority tasks, as shown in the photographs from this day of November 6. The next day, according to the Royal Guard, the first relief of its troops took place, which were even increased (there were initially 195). Neither the Royal House nor the Royal Guard itself responded to this newspaper’s questions.
The return to Seville with a “bittersweet taste”
Arriving at the village of Reatillo, “they also informed us that the Royal Guard itself had to fill the ditch that prevents the path from passing from the farm to the access road and that on the way back, to leave again, they had to open the gate which allowed them to “prevent access to the farm”. At the end of that day, one of the association’s volunteers was sick and his colleagues agreed to “save” him and take him to a hotel in Requena.
The next day, November 7, they went to the site again and crossed “on foot loaded with all the necessary items to continue the cleaning and cutting of vegetation work.” The letter signed by the sole administrator of Borcier SA (the company that owns the estate), Marquis Ramón José de la Cierva García-Bermúdez, husband of María de Borbón and Rojas, is dated November 7. The Reatillo Neighborhood Association criticized this Wednesday in a press release the “pathetic” and “very unsupportive” role of the marquises who own the estate, covering almost 2,000 hectares.
The president of the “Raids Solidarios” association also considers “totally incredible” the attitude of the owners of the property, who “knowing the circumstances, prevent passage to the village of Reatillo, via a track in poor condition which crosses the edge of the farm. »
“We have become [a Sevilla] with a bittersweet taste, not understanding the attitude of certain people,” concludes the president of the solidarity entity.
