Criminal complaints against the governments of Spain and Valencia for the disastrous management of the DANA
▲ Volunteers clean a street in Paiporta, Valencia, last Sunday.Photo Afp
Armando G. Tejeda
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Tuesday, November 12, 2024, p. 23
Madrid. Two institutions filed criminal complaints against the governments of Spain and Valencia for the management of the emergency of isolated depression at high levels (DANA). They are accused of failure to act, reckless homicide and prevarication. In the streets, they boo and call killer to the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón. To date the balance is 230 dead and hundreds of thousands of victims.
The European Association of Citizens against Corruption (AECC) presented the complaint against both governments before the Supreme Court, warning of their disastrous management in DANA, which has not only led to a total destruction of infrastructure, but also the death of innocent citizens and children due to a lack of foresight and omission of relief, many victims could have been avoided. They warn that “both the central and regional governments did not rise to the occasion, which is why they are being reported for the alleged crimes of ‘failure to act, serious reckless homicide, injuries, failure to provide assistance, omissive prevarication and denial of help'”.
The political party Iustitia Europa also presented a complaint to the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community against the administrations of Mazón and Sánchez, for the alleged crimes of omission of the duty to provide assistance, omissive prevarication, reckless homicide and injuries, and pointed out the responsibility that would correspond to the third vice president of the Spanish government and Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, under whose jurisdiction is the management of reservoirs, ravines and swamps, which were supposedly the cause of the natural disaster.
In the complaint they warn that the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, an autonomous body attached to the ministry chaired by Ribera, has responsibility for the planning and management of water resources in the Júcar basin, including the prevention and management of flood risks. For this reason – they warn – “Ribera’s inaction aggravated a high-risk situation, failing to comply with the obligations that his position imposes on him and exposing the population to avoidable dangers.
The entire chain of command to activate the alert is under investigation; If it had been done in time, it could have put the affected population on high alert. The main people identified in this series of rulings are President Mazón, who was at a meal when the crisis committee met, and his Interior Minister, Salomé Pradas.
The social discontent is such that during a visit by Mazón to the town of Torrent, one of the most affected towns, he was received with boos and shouts of killer!reproaching him precisely for not having activated the security alarm in time.
The regional leader assured that You have to accept that mistakes may have been made, and you have to do it with humility. We have reviewed the actions of those days with all the multiple warnings that were given until that final alert, based on the information that was conveyed from the Spanish government about the failure of the Forata dam. We are all obliged to review, especially, not having paid more attention to the Rambla del Poyo, which is neither strict nor exclusive to the generalitat, and having been more aware of Forata, which fortunately did not break.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government approved a new series of measures to help the victims and the recovery of the area, with an initial disbursement of more than 14 billion euros. President Sánchez announced the plan with a message of defense of public services to face accidents as serious as these: We are all the State and we all go to onehe stated.
In towns devastated by the rains, ordinary activity is recovering, such as Chiva, where classes in schools will resume today. In Paiporta or Bennetusser, the opening of schools has been done in a staggered manner and depending on the state of the facilities. The high-speed train service between Madrid and Valencia will resume next Thursday.
Meanwhile, in several regions in the north and east of the country, the alarm was activated due to the imminent arrival of a new DANA, which will mainly affect the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the province of Castellón.