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full screen”Resign, Mazón” has been a big slogan in the agitated Valencia recently. Picture from the demonstration on November 9. Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP/TT
We will not “evade responsibility”. That’s what Carlos Mazón, hard-pressed regional leader in the water disaster-hit Valencia, says now.
– I am not going to deny that mistakes have been made, he says in a speech in the Spanish region’s parliament, according to local media.
Over 200 people have been confirmed dead since torrential downpours last week triggered flooding in the coastal region. The regional leadership has received harsh criticism for both poor preparedness and slowness in sending help and asking the central government and the EU for assistance when the disaster was a fact.
There will be persistent demands for Mazón to resign. His position was already weakened, after right-wing populist Vox dropped out of his governing coalition this summer.
Vox is among those who absolutely do not want to connect the catastrophic weather to the human-induced climate changes. Other Spanish parties say, on the contrary, that the tragedy shows the urgency of reducing emissions.