The Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced this Sunday that the deployment in the Valencian Community would increase in the coming hours to 7,500 soldiers and 9,500 agentse the State Security Corps and Forces (there will be 4,256 national police officers and 5,223 civil guards).
Víctor Torres made this announcement at the end of the meeting of the crisis committee held in Moncloa, chaired this time by the vice-president. Maria Jesus Monterosince President Pedro Sánchez was in Valencia, to accompany Kings Felipe and Letizia during their visit to the affected municipalities.
In response to questions from journalists, the minister confirmed official figure of 213 deathsof which 188 autopsies have already been carried out as part of “very hard work on the part of the forensic doctors”, he said.
However, he avoided considering the number of missing people: “We cannot provide data on missing persons“, he explained, “we must be absolutely rigorous, there is a very high number of deaths”.
Ängel Víctor Torres announced that tomorrow, Monday, King Felipe VI would personally chair the crisis cabinet, while the Minister of Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, would summon the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups to inform them of the situation. The Minister of Health will also join the crisis committee, Monique Garcia.
Likewise, from this Monday, seven ministers, “if their schedule allows it”, will make themselves available to the Generalitat Valenciana to participate in the immediate response groups announced by President Carlos Mazón, in order to “take the most more appropriate” in the face of the DANA crisis.
The minister has always avoided, when journalists asked him, to discuss with the Autonomous Administration.
“It will be time to talk about the issues that are now taking us away from the goal,” he argued, “today Citizens ask us to be together and avoid differences“.
The head of Territorial Policy stressed that the Government will respond to all the needs of the region and the demands of President Carlos Mazón. “The Valencian Community has the government on its side“, he said.
He also showed himself sensitive to the discomfort and indignation of the citizens of the region who complain that the aid has not yet reached their populations: “We put ourselves in the place of all the neighbors, it is a very complicated situation, we understand the complaints.”
