Mazón steps down - at long last!
Valencia leader resigns over handling of deadly floods
The president of Spain's Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, has resigned after months of pressure over his handling of flash floods last year.
A total of 229 people died in towns in the Valencia region on 29 October 2024, with a further eight dying in neighbouring regions, in Spain's worst natural disaster for decades.
Many in Valencia blamed Mazón for the scale of the tragedy because of how he and his government responded that day.
It emerged that the regional president had spent nearly four hours in a restaurant with a journalist, Maribel Vilaplana, while the floodwater was wreaking havoc and he did not attend emergency meetings during much of the day.
Mazón's government also failed to issue an emergency alert to the phones of Valencia residents warning them of the floods and providing advice until after 20:00, by which time dozens of people had already died.
"I can't go on anymore... I know that I made mistakes, I acknowledge it and I will live with them for the rest of my life," Mazón said as he announced his decision, adding that he should have cancelled his schedule for that day to take charge of the crisis.
"I have said sorry and I say it again, but none of [the mistakes] were due to political calculation or bad faith."
Polls had shown that the vast majority of people in Valencia wanted Mazón, of the conservative People's Party (PP), to step down because of his management of the floods.
Monthly protests were held demanding his resignation, most recently on 25 October, when an estimated 50,000 people turned out on the streets of Valencia. Mazón had been making fewer public appearances in recent months because of the abuse he received from members of the public.
However, his insistence on attending the memorial service for victims on the first anniversary of the tragedy last week angered relatives of those who died and a number of them barracked him during the ceremony.
Mazón seemed shaken by the experience, which appeared to prompt his decision to resign.
His announcement came the same day that Maribel Vilaplana, the journalist with who he had lunch on the day of the floods, testified before a judge who is investigating possible negligence.
According to Spanish media reports, Vilaplana told the magistrate that Mazón "was constantly texting on his phone" and that at one point he received "a lot of calls".
Mazón will continue as a member of the regional parliament, meaning he has immunity from prosecution in this case.
During his resignation announcement, Mazón criticised the left-wing central government of Pedro Sánchez, accusing it of blocking aid to his region "purely to cause us political damage".
Mazón has become an increasingly problematic figure for the PP over the last year, with concerns that his unpopularity threatened to undermine the party's electoral prospects not just in the Valencia region but nationwide.
However, his replacement has been complicated by the fact that the PP relies on the parliamentary support in the region of the far-right Vox. That party, which has been gaining ground on the PP in polls there, will have to agree to his successor.
The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had spoken with Mazón at length on Sunday to discuss his future and is widely believed to have influenced his decision to resign, welcomed the announcement.
He also defended Mazón from the criticism to which he has been subject, saying that "he is not a murderer".
"He made mistakes, yes, he also apologised and acknowledged them today, but no national emergency depends on just one person."
Comments
I don´t know why the leader of the PP, Mr. Feijoo, said that the national energency don´t depend on just one person. I don´t know who is charged of it.
What a pity! Nobody remembers 7 deads of Castilla-La Mancha and 1 dead of Andalucía. Only people remember the deads from Valencia. It´s a big discrimination. How lonely some of the deads are left behind.
People said that the journalist, Maribel Vilaplana, spent four hours in a restaurant whit Mr. Mazón while the floodwater was wreaking havoc, “playing the game of cards”, but after declaring in the court, the magistrate released her without charges. It seems that it was false. Some journalists were male chauvinist and they invented fake news. Poor Miss Vilaplana!
It´s true that the president of Spanis´s Valencia Community must have resigned on 30 October 2024. He´s a pain. He had saved us a lot of demonstrations, fights, diatribes and so on. Everyone knew that, sooner or later, he was going to go away, then, what were the politicians waiting to dismiss him? I don´t understand it because I suppose that this situation is not good for a party, but it´s clear that I don´t know about politics.
See you.
It is true that nowadays people need someone to blame whenever a tragedy occurs. However, in this case, it appears that Mazón was particularly negligent. The extreme weather was forecast and they should have been ready to react. It took him a year to resign his post and it seems he wants our sympathy.
I don't think Miss Vilaplana was charged with anything; she was having a very long dinner with Mazón. Her appearance in court was just to establish what happened that day.
I don’t know why the leader of the PP, Mr. Feijóo, said that a national emergency does not depend on just one person. I don’t know who the people in charge are.
It''s a pity that nobody remembers the seven people who died in Castilla–La Mancha or the one person who died in Andalucía. People only remember the victims from Valencia. It’s just not right. How sad that some of the victims are being forgotten.
People said that the journalist Maribel Vilaplana spent four hours in a restaurant with Mr. Mazón while the floodwater was wreaking havoc, “playing cards,” but after testifying in court, the magistrate released her without charge. It seems that the accusation was false. Some journalists acted in a sexist way and spread fake news. Poor Miss Vilaplana!
It’s true that the president of the Valencian Community should have resigned on 30 October 2024. He’s unbearable. He could have spared us many demonstrations, conflicts, arguments, and so on. Everyone knew that sooner or later he would have to go, so what were the politicians waiting for to dismiss him? I don’t understand it, because I suppose this situation is not good for a political party, but clearly I don’t know much about politics.