The Associació de Víctimes de la dana 29 d'Octubre de 2024 maintains that the "step aside" by the former president of the Generalitat and current deputy, Carlos Mazón, "cannot be taken to mean that political responsibilities are closed off, nor can it divert attention from the judicial investigation, the pending reconstruction, and the need to prepare the territory for climate risk". In its view, that resignation, which marks one year this Tuesday, was a "success of mobilization" but "there is still much to be clarified and repaired".
The entity headed by Mariló Gradolí recalls that Mazón's announcement of resignation represented a "milestone that came after months of mobilization by the victims, the families, and a very important part of Valencian society, which did not stop demanding his resignation and demanding responsibilities for the management of the emergency of October 29, 2024".
In a statement, the Associació de Víctimes de la dana 29 d'Octubre de 2024 underlines that that resignation was "a consequence of the sustained pressure of the victims and organized civil society" and "not a concession or a decision that occurred spontaneously".
"It was the result of a collective demand that we maintained when many asked us to stop demanding it. One year later, we reclaim that mobilization, but we are clear that resignation does not amount to the assumption of responsibilities," the association emphasizes, noting that Carlos Mazón "left the Presidency of the Generalitat, but the full clarification of the facts and of the possible responsibilities arising from the management of the emergency is still pending".
Without "any procedural privilege" and without a closed stage
On the judicial front, the entity recalls that it remains a party to the case being investigated by Investigating Court number 3 of Catarroja and that it maintains the demand that "there be no procedural privilege that prevents the facts from being investigated and all the truth from being known".
It insists that "the political resignation cannot replace the judicial investigation nor close the victims' and society's right to know what happened. Nor can we take the question of political responsibilities as resolved," and laments that Mazón's departure "has not meant a break with the management model nor a deep review of the decisions and the structures that took part in that emergency".
For this reason, it warns that the change in the Presidency "cannot serve to turn the page without explanations or to dilute the responsibilities of the people and institutions that had obligations during the dana".
At this point, the association "explicitly" points to the "responsibility" of the current president of the Generalitat and leader of the PPCV, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, of whom it says that he "cannot dissociate himself from his party's decision to keep Carlos Mazón as a deputy in Les Corts Valencianes, with the privileges and remuneration that the position entails, despite the fact that he was the president of the Generalitat during the dana and that he still continues without giving the explanations that we demand".
According to the entity, "Pérez Llorca is also politically responsible for this situation because, far from demanding that Mazón assume the political consequences of his management, he has been complicit in his maintenance in institutional life". In its view, "it is not enough to have left the Presidency: one has to answer to the victims and to Valencian society". In this same line, it emphasizes that the PP "cannot present Mazón's resignation as a closed stage while it keeps him protected in the institutions".
Reconstruction, prevention and memory of the tragedy
As for the reconstruction, the Associació Víctimes de la dana denounces that, one year after the resignation, they continue demanding that the commitments and the plans "be translated into concrete results in the affected municipalities". "Recovery cannot be measured solely in announced investments or works begun. The real needs of families must be addressed, essential services and public facilities must be restored, and the emotional and community consequences of a tragedy that transformed the life of our towns must also be addressed," it has demanded.
With special emphasis, the organization stresses that they still "do not see the paradigm shift that we demand in matters of prevention and adaptation to climate risk". It recalls that "the dana made evident the vulnerability of the territory and the need to review urban planning, infrastructure, emergency systems and territorial planning. We cannot rebuild without learning from what happened. People's safety must be above any economic interest and civil society must participate in the decisions that affect the future of the municipalities".
In this regard, the association states that, one year later, the claim "remains the same: truth, justice and reparation" and takes the opportunity to "recognize the strength of the victims, the families and all the people who have kept this demand alive". "Mazón's resignation showed that citizen mobilization can bring about changes, but our task does not end with his departure from the Presidency. We will continue working so that the facts are clarified, so that the affected people receive the response they need and so that a tragedy like that does not happen again", he warned.
La Associació is scheduled to hold next Thursday, November 5, at 7:00 p.m., in Paiporta, the event 'The box of memory', a meeting planned to mark the second anniversary of the dana and which was postponed due to the Urda railway accident. "It will be a space of remembrance and tribute to the 234 people who lost their lives, but also of collective memory and recognition of the path traveled by the victims, the families and the affected towns", he stressed.