Relatives of victims of the DANA storm: "We will not stop until the Council falls"

MadridThis Wednesday they will speak in the Congress of Deputies, in the commission investigating the causes of the DANA storm in the Valencian Community, but they have already had the opportunity to do so at the Ateneo de Madrid. Just hours after Carlos Mazón announced his resignation, the associations of relatives of victims of the natural disaster, accompanied by thirty civil society organizations, called a press conference to assess what they briefly consider an "infamous and painful statement," said Rosa Álvarez, president of the Association of Victims.

Álvarez, who is scheduled to speak in the Spanish lower house this Wednesday, was on her way to Madrid when Mazón came out to speak. She acknowledged that she missed some parts of his speech, but that she didn't need to hear it in its entirety to see that he expressed himself "just as he is."

"He didn't even mention the word resignation"He criticized the woman who lost her father, who drowned in the flooded garage of his home. The general feeling among the associations—family members of the Association of Victims of the DANA Storm of October 29, 2024 and the association of those affected in Horta Sud have also spoken out—is that Vox has found a replacement for him, and it's too little, too late.

"He didn't even request Level 3 of the emergency because the leader of his party [Alberto Núñez Feijóo] advised him against it. He should give more explanations about this, because we'll never know what would have changed. He also said that he had wanted to resign for some time." “Who stopped him?” lamented Álvarez, who stated that she is “tired” of being “politically correct”: “He’s a coward,” she declared.

The three organizations emphasized that it was the struggle of civil society, spearheaded this Monday in the street celebrations—and the demonstrations of all these months in the Valencian Community—that forced Mazón to make the final decision to back down. “We, the families, have achieved this,” insisted Álvarez. For Gradolí, Mazón’s departure is only a first step. “We won’t stop until the Valencian government falls and there is a new government that provides us with security,” he warned. The fight is “the only path” to dignity and justice. “We will continue fighting,” remarked Salva Mocgoli, representative of those affected in l’Horta Sud.