Overview
- Speaking at the PSOE’s Fiesta de la Rosa in Candeleda, Óscar Puente said victims were forced to confront Valencian president Carlos Mazón, whom they consider their “executioner,” at the state funeral.
- He argued Mazón bears direct or indirect responsibility for deaths because he allegedly abandoned his duties during the storm, citing an ex-emergencies official who said she could not locate him that afternoon.
- Puente maintained Mazón would not still be president a year after the catastrophe if the PP were, in his words, a “decent, sensible” party respectful of citizens.
- He cast the funeral controversy as consistent with what he called a PP tactic of denying reality, waiting for criticism to fade, and shifting blame.
- Broadening his attack, Puente said the PP expects power to fall to it with help from media, economic interests and “some judges,” criticized a perceived double standard highlighted by the “gafas” tweet dispute, and insisted the PSOE will only yield to defeat at the ballot box.