A year of mud
Today marks the first anniversary of a tragedy and a major political failure. The tragedy needs no explanation: 231 dead, the thousands who mourn them, and the thousands more who lost their homes, jobs, or livelihoods speak for themselves.
The major political failure has two parts. The first is that, with diligent action from the public administration, a large proportion of these 231 deaths could have been avoided. By diligent action, we mean action that simply applied the established protocols. This was not the case, to the point that the Minister of the Interior, Salomé Pradas, admitted that she was unaware of the existence of the mobile phone alert system for citizens and that she knew nothing about it until 8:00 p.m. on October 29, 2024. We recall that the reconstruction plan, entitled Endavant, foresees an investment of 29 billion euros.
The second part of this major political failure is the refusal of Mazón and the Valencian government to assume responsibility, and linked to this, the dismissive, often botched and hostile, treatment of the victims and their families. The People's Party (PP) sought to twist the narrative surrounding the DANA storm to turn it into another weapon against Pedro Sánchez and his government. Thus, the political management of the DANA storm, like any current event, whether major or minor, became just another element in the power struggle in Madrid. As a result, the victims' families were placed under suspicion and portrayed as manipulated, or even directly controlled, by the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the left. Tension, and even confrontation, with victims' families, including disparaging remarks and contemptuous comments directed at these individuals, is, in fact, a constant in the PP's behavior during tragedies and catastrophes that have occurred under their governments.
The use of deaths as a weapon of partisan attrition is often a double-edged sword. As an extreme form of demagoguery, it can serve to burn the adversary, but it is also easy for the one who uses it to get burned. The victims of the torrential rains in the Valencian Community add to those of COVID-19 in Madrid's nursing homes, where, of the thousands who died, many could have been saved if they had received proper medical care (but they did not, due to the application of what are known as... protocols of shame (from the Community of Madrid, presided over by Ayuso). And now we must also add the women who have died or suffered serious consequences due to the negligent and incomprehensible breast cancer screening by the Junta de Andalucía under Moreno Bonilla.
Cutting back or skimping on public services has direct consequences when it comes to responding to emergencies and saving lives. Trying to exploit the tragedy and its aftermath for political gain is a pathetic way of wallowing in the mud.
