MADRID (AP) — The leader of Spain's Valencia region said Monday he was stepping down over his government's handling of the devastating flash floods that killed 229 people last year and whose response he is widely seen as having bungled.
Carlos Mazón has faced regular calls to resign since the Oct. 29, 2024 floods, including last week at a state memorial ceremony held on the first anniversary of the disaster where family members of victims jeered and
insulted him before the event began.
“I know I made mistakes. I acknowledge them, and I will live with them for the rest of my life. I have apologized, and I apologize again today, but none of them were due to political calculation or bad faith,” Mazón told reporters on Monday in Valencia announcing his resignation.
Mazón has been slammed by citizens and political rivals for his administration’s slow response to the emergency, mainly for issuing a flood alert to people’s cell phones hours after rushing waters were overflowing banks, sweeping away cars and destroying homes.
He was also widely criticized for having a long lunch with a journalist on the day of the floods when emergency officials were meeting to manage the crisis.
The natural disaster was one of Europe’s deadliest in living memory, and also caused billions of euros in damages mainly to the suburbs of Valencia, Spain's third-largest city.
Over the past year, there have been several large street protests in Valencia calling for Mazón to step down, including one a few days before the one-year memorial that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators.
Nevertheless, Mazón clung to power even as his management of the disaster became a drag on the prospects of his center-right Popular Party. He blamed Spain's leftwing national government for failing to adequately respond to the disaster, even though Spain's decentralized system of government tasks regional authorities with handling civil protection.
Regional governments can ask the national government in Madrid, now led by the Socialists, for extra resources, and use information from the national weather forecaster and other agencies.
Mazón didn't specify on Monday whether he was calling a snap election or was quitting his seat in the regional assembly — nor did he name an interim successor.
With his resignation, Mazón said Spain's government “no longer has any excuse to keep dragging its feet,” in reference to Valencia's recovery efforts, and said the past year had brought “unbearable moments” for him and his family.
