King Felipe and Queen Letizia will resume this Tuesday, November 19, the visit to the areas affected by the DANA. The Monarch and his wife were in Paiporta on the 3rd of November, however, the disturbances caused by protests against the presence of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, forced a postponement of the visit until the authorities deemed it appropriate.
And this Tuesday, more than two weeks later, has been set as the ideal time for them to attend. The visit and the route have been prepared with maximum discretion, to try to avoid protests and the creation of dangerous situations again. The King and Queen will start the day in Chiva, the town that was pending on November 3, and will make two more stops to have a more complete view of the magnitude of the tragedy.
Coincidentally, this Tuesday, Pedro Sánchez cannot accompany them, because he is in Brazil attending the G-20 Summit. An international trip was the only reason that would justify the absence of the Prime Minister, who had to leave the tour after 20 minutes on the visit of November 3 when the residents of Paiporta began to throw objects at him.
The King and Queen had planned to visit Chiva that day, but had to postpone it after consulting with the competent authorities. In the municipality 8 people have died out of the 16,700 inhabitants of the town. It is one of the most affected places by the passage of the Chiva ravine, which also overflowed, causing the disappearance of streets and leaving some buildings completely flooded. In fact, the town hall has already identified 34 buildings in a state of complete or partial demolition due to the flood damage.
After listening to the stories of the town's residents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia will move on to Utiel. The town was the first to be affected by the flood, a victim of the overflow of the Magro River, which claimed six lives of town residents. Alongside the mayor, Ricardo Gabaldón, they will visit three points in the town to hear some of the stories of the affected and show solidarity with them.
From there, they will travel to Letur, the municipality in Albacete where another six people have died and whose historic center has collapsed. King Felipe and Queen Letizia will walk through its streets accompanied by the President of Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano García Page.
For the past three weeks, the DANA catastrophe has become the priority on the agenda of the King and Queen. In addition to the aforementioned first visit, King Felipe has attended crisis committee meetings. Last week, he visited the troops deployed in Valencia to stay informed about the progress of their mission and interventions. There, he confirmed that Queen Letizia and he would return this week, also expressing his desire for the presence of the Head of State to be constant.
Queen Letizia has held two working meetings with various social entities, where she has asked for continuous attention to the affected. This was also emphasized by King Felipe in his last public appearance, during the Latin American summit. There, King Felipe called for "institutions and society to act in unison, focusing on helping the victims and rebuilding the affected areas."