Valencia’s regional president, Carlos Mazón, has resigned following mounting public outrage over revelations that he attended a lengthy lunch with a journalist during catastrophic floods that killed more than 230 people in October 2024.
A Scandal Amid Tragedy
Mazón, a member of Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP), announced his resignation on Monday, saying he could “no longer bear” the situation. “If it were up to me, I would have resigned long ago,” he said. “Perhaps my departure will enable this tragedy to be approached with the objectivity it requires.”
The decision came just before Maribel Vilaplana, the journalist who accompanied him during the nearly four-hour lunch, was due to testify in a judicial inquiry into the government’s handling of the floods.
Days earlier, Mazón faced a public backlash at a state funeral service, where grieving relatives of the victims shouted insults, calling him a “murderer.”
Mismanagement and Delayed Alerts
The floods, triggered by torrential rains on October 29, 2024, were among the deadliest natural disasters in Spain’s modern history. A total of 229 people died in Valencia and eight more elsewhere in the country.
A timeline compiled by El País revealed that the Valencian government did not issue an emergency alert to mobile phones until 8:11 p.m., when at least 156 people were already dead.
Despite the scale of the tragedy, Spain’s slow-moving judicial system has yet to hold any officials legally accountable.
The Lunch Controversy
According to multiple reports, Mazón arrived at the El Ventorro restaurant in Valencia at around 3 p.m. for what he described as a “working lunch” with Vilaplana. During their meal — which lasted until approximately 6:45 p.m. — Mazón offered her a position at a public broadcaster, which she declined.
While Mazón was dining in the city center, the Poyo ravine, located near densely populated towns, burst its banks. The floodwaters tore through streets and homes, leaving hundreds trapped and emergency services overwhelmed.
Vilaplana later said in an open letter that Mazón received several phone calls during lunch but never appeared alarmed. “He did not convey any concerns to me,” she wrote, adding that since her identity became public, she had faced “harassment, insults, and unfair scrutiny.”
Mazón later said he left the restaurant unaware of the full scale of the disaster and walked to his office before joining an emergency committee meeting at 8:28 p.m.
Shifting Accounts and Political Fallout
Mazón’s narrative of the day has changed several times. On Monday, he admitted he “should have had the political foresight” to cancel his plans once the situation worsened. “I know I made mistakes,” he said. “I acknowledge them and will live with them for the rest of my life.”
He also continued to blame Spain’s national government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, arguing that Madrid’s river basin authority failed to issue proper warnings before the floods.
A Symbolic Resignation
Mazón’s resignation marks the highest-profile political fallout from the disaster and underscores the deep public anger over the perceived mismanagement of the emergency response.
His departure comes as investigations continue into whether officials acted too slowly to warn residents and coordinate rescue operations during one of Spain’s deadliest floods in decades.
