Public frustration with Spain's response to deadly flooding has turned to fury
In Spain, a lot of people are furious about the government response to flooding. More than 200 people are reported dead after last week's storm caused Spain's worst natural disaster in recent memory, and an unknown number of people remain missing. NPR's Miguel Macias reports.
ews outlets in Spain are showing a video where a security detail surrounds a woman looking distressed. Another woman wearing a yellow vest approaches calmly and says, Letizia, Dona Letizia. The woman inside the security detail, with mud on her jacket, turns to her and listens.
(Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: "This was not the right day to come here," the woman says. The woman listening, named Letizia, agrees. A tall man approaches from behind, also with mud on his jacket.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in non-English language).
MACIAS: Letizia is the queen of Spain. The tall man is King Filipe VI. And just to be clear, people in Spain don't usually address the Queen by her first name or reproach the King and the Queen, for that matter.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in non-English language).
MACIAS: What happened on Sunday morning in the town of Paiporta is still unclear, but a few things are facts. The king and the queen of Spain decided to visit the areas devastated by last Tuesday's storm outside of Valencia. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accompanied them, as well as the president of the region of Valencia. Some people threw mud at them, yelled at them, cursed them out, calling them murderers. The Prime Minister fled the scene soon after the altercation started. The king and the queen stayed for longer, embracing citizens, all in tears. On Sunday afternoon, it started to rain again in Valencia.
(Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: Javier Ruiz Martinez is a reporter from the Spanish radio network Cadena SER. Javier has found himself hugging the survivors after he interviews them.
MARTINEZ: (Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: Those survivors, Javier tells me, are now not just deeply sad but also angry. Amaia Contel can confirm that. She's a teacher based in Valencia who has volunteered to help in the affected areas.
AMAIA CONTEL: (Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: Amaia tells me that volunteers right away designed an elaborate system to send people to help in flooded areas. Amaia was on the ground on Saturday.
CONTEL: (Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: She tells me that when she got there, she saw no firefighters, no trucks, no soldiers despite the government having deployed thousands of troops, police officers, civil guard and firefighters. Amaia realizes no one has reached the area to help. She tells me that people she talked to were sad, indignant and angry.
CONTEL: (Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: Amaia points the finger at the regional government of Valencia, the one responsible for sending the alert to cell phones on the day of the storm. That alert went out after flooding was well underway. Amaia says she simply could not stay home doing nothing. And then before she finished speaking to me, she shared the slogan that is making the rounds on social media.
CONTEL: (Non-English language spoken).
MACIAS: (Non-English language spoken). The people will save the people. Miguel Macias, NPR News, Seville, Spain.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.
