Feijóo played politics (and the worst kind) with the DANA storm.

The leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, is expected to hand over to the judge in the coming days the messages he wrote to Carlos Mazón during the critical hours of the DANA storm on October 29, 2024. It should be recalled that last Wednesday, taking advantage of the fact that there were only a few hours left before Christmas Eve, Feijóo deleted the messages, thus censoring a conversation that, according to the judge, has clear procedural relevance, as it could have influenced the handling of the storm. The fact that Feijóo has kept his messages hidden from the public until now suggests that, from the outset, his main concern was not the human lives in danger, but rather the political cost the crisis could entail.

Furthermore, Mazón's responses alone provide grounds to assert that in the days following the DANA storm, Feijóo lied about key issues, such as the aid the State was providing to the autonomous community, and that instead of uniting to resolve the crisis, he took advantage of the situation to engage in the worst kind of politics. Only in this way can we understand why, two days after the DANA storm, he claimed that the Spanish government was not collaborating with the Generalitat, when on the very night of the 29th, Mazón himself had written to him: "Yes, I have spoken with Sánchez, Montero, and those from Defense and the Interior so that they have possible personnel on standby for tomorrow."

Or when, in the wake of the swine fever outbreak, he said he was in favor of sending the UME (Military Emergency Unit) to Catalonia but added: "What I regret is that they didn't show the same diligence in traveling to Valencia and trying to prevent the 229 deaths during the DANA storm." Well, in the early hours of the 29th, Mazón wrote to him: "Through the [Spanish government] delegation, we currently have what we need, which is the UME (Military Emergency Unit)." The phrase "we have what we need" should be emphasized. And that's not even mentioning that days after the storm, he claimed that Mazón had been informing him "in real time" since Monday the 28th, something the messages contradict because the first communication between them was on the 29th at 7:59 p.m., that is, half an hour before Mazón arrived. Feijóo has already had to admit he was wrong about this. The episode of these messages, beyond any potential legal implications, portrays Feijóo as particularly cynical and solely concerned with shifting all responsibility onto the Spanish government. If, when his messages are made public, any point in that direction, Feijóo will have a lot of explaining to do, and perhaps the calls for his resignation from the Spanish government will be more justified.

However, there is an even worse scenario: Feijóo refusing to hand over the messages or only doing so partially. In that case, his entire discourse of cooperation with the justice system would be called into question, and we would be faced with an obstructionist attitude like that seen in the Kitchen case or the infamous hard drives smashed to pieces at the party headquarters on Génova Street.