The secretary general of the PP, Miguel Tellado, has claimed that the former president of the Generalitat Valenciana Carlos Mazón "assumed his responsibilities and resigned" for his management of the dana of October 29, 2024, which caused 234 deaths, while, in his opinion, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, continues "clinging to the chair" after the Urda (Toledo) railway accident, with 69 dead, and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who appointed him, is not "willing to assume any of the responsibilities".
Tellado spoke thus in an interview on "La hora de la 1", picked up by Europa Press, when questioned about whether the PP now maintains the same threshold when demanding resignations as it did in tragedies with fatal victims that occurred under Popular Party governments.
In relation to the Angrois accident, he stressed: "If you are referring to Angrois, the situation is completely different. That accident occurred, according to the final judgment, 13 years ago because of human failure. The safety systems were those that existed and there had been no warning that that system was not functioning properly", for which he maintained that these are "not comparable" events.
About the dana that devastated much of the province of Valencia, he defended that in that episode "what there was not was prior warnings". According to him, "who had to have warned about what could happen was the Government of Spain and it did not warn adequately. Moreover, all those deaths occur because of the overflow of a ravine owned by the Government of Spain".
In this context, he highlighted that the then regional minister of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, responsible for the Emergencies area and under investigation in the case, "resigned a few days later" and added that, in the case of the Urda accident, "the equivalent" to that position would be Puente himself. "Therefore, yes, responsibilities were assumed there", he emphasized regarding the action of the Generalitat Valenciana after the flood.
Comparison with the case of Urda and support for Mazón
When questioned about whether he maintains his support for Carlos Mazón, just as one year has passed since his resignation as president of the Generalitat, the Popular Party leader has reiterated that the former consellera Salomé Pradas, "the person directly responsible for the Department of Emergencies" of the Comunitat Valenciana, "a few days after that incident tendered her resignation", while, regarding the Urda railway accident, "we are now seeing, at this very moment, how Óscar Puente is clinging to office".
He has argued that the minister "had to be aware of the situation in which the Madrid-Andalusia high-speed section finds itself, 170 LZB safety system failures, 170 failures without the public operator, Adif, dependent on the Ministry, having done absolutely anything. The warnings from the train drivers were ignored, all of them. And this happens nine months after the Adamuz accident, where nearly 50 people died and there was an enormous number of injured".
Faced with this scenario, he has stressed that the PP now demands, "likewise" as after the Adamuz rail accident at the beginning of the year, the resignation of Óscar Puente, although he has admitted that such a departure would be "insufficient" because the responsibility "is not only" that of the head of Transport, "but of the person who appointed him", in direct reference to Pedro Sánchez.
Questioned again about Mazón's actions during the dana, Miguel Tellado has pointed out that it is "a settled matter" and has reiterated: "He assumed his responsibilities and resigned. I wish there were that same responsibility on the part of the outgoing Government, the Government of Spain, the Government of Pedro Sánchez, where today we see an Óscar Puente clinging to the chair and a Pedro Sánchez unwilling to assume any of the responsibilities".
"Carlos Mazón submitted his resignation as 'president' of the Generalitat Valenciana. Today, when we are talking about the Urda case and the Adamuz case, we see an entire government closing ranks to defend the disastrous Transport Minister, Óscar Puente, and the person who appointed him, who is Pedro Sánchez", he concluded.