The president of the Government and general secretary of the PSOE has highlighted Óscar Puente's resignation as Minister of Transport following the Urda railway accident, presenting it as an exemplary gesture in the face of a PP that, as he has denounced, does not assume responsibilities when it is time to manage tragedies.
During a pre-campaign rally in Valencia — the PSOE's first one after the collision between two high-speed trains that left 69 dead last week — he has praised Puente as "a good politician" and has rejected the criticism voiced by the opposition.
He has reproached that the PP and Vox first censored the fact that Puente did not step down, and, when he finally did, "they also criticized him," something that, in his view, shows that the parties of Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal avoid taking responsibility when they govern in times of crisis.
"Because the example of humility and exemplary conduct that Oscar Puente has shown, they never practice it in any crisis and any tragedy that they may have been able to manage while in charge of the Government," he has stressed.
"We have faced it" and defense of public services
Before about 5,000 socialist militants and supporters, among whom some have been able to enter the municipal sports center in El Cabanyal of Valencia and those who have stayed outside, the head of the Executive has assured them that the main lesson left by the Urda railway tragedy is "that public services matter".
Ahead of the general elections on November 29, he has warned that at the ballot box a choice will be made between protecting what he says the PSOE embodies and the "cuts and chainsaw" that he has said PP and Vox promote. "Either strengthen public services or cut public services."
Along these lines, he has pointed out that crises and tragedies "unfortunately happen," but that what matters is the Government's response. He has claimed that his Executive was "standing by the victims," their families and the injured.
"We have put ourselves out there with absolute transparency and we have assumed political responsibility with the resignation of a great politician like Óscar Puente," he has emphasized, at an event where the audience chanted the name of the former minister.
Call for mobilization and references to Brazil and the United States
To prevail over the right at the ballot box, it has appealed to mass participation —"the formula is mobilization"— and has encouraged people to follow the example of Brazil, where Lula da Silva won against all odds against the right-wing candidate, and that of the midterm elections in the United States, in which the Democrats outperformed the Republicans of then-President Donald Trump.
"If it was possible in Brazil and it was possible in the United States, then in Spain on November 29 it will be possible, by voting for the Socialist Party," it has proclaimed, urging to "make history" and offer "an example to the world." In its view, within three weeks, when the ballot boxes open, citizens will have the option of "watching the disaster in the rearview mirror and not having to go through it," in reference to a possible PP and Vox government.
In this context it has asserted the autonomy of its political project from that of the opposition, which, as it has warned, would be conditioned by the interests of foreign powers.
Thus, it has rejected the put-downs "of the one with the chainsaw," in reference to Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, and "the one from Washington" by Trump, and has asked voters that, with their ballot, they send a clear message that "Spain is governed from Spain" and not from the American capital, "neither from Buenos Aires nor from Moscow nor from Tel Aviv."
"It is governed from Spain and we are not going to allow our country to become the backyard of any far-right international," it has concluded.