Fate. It's the theme of one of the most famous tales in One Thousand and One Nights. A servant goes to the Baghdad market to buy goods for his merchant and there encounters Death, who makes a threatening gesture. Terrified, he asks his master for the swiftest horse to fly to Isfahan and escape Death. The merchant asks Death in the market why he threatened his servant."A threat?" Death replies."No, surprise. I was surprised to see you here, as I have it written down that I must take your servant to Isfahan tonight."

No one escapes their destiny, and Carlos Mazón was not going to be the only one. Political death beckoned him at the El Ventorro restaurant as destruction and death descended upon the community he presides over. He fled and took refuge in the stronghold of his loyal followers, but the pent-up grief of the victims has finally caught up with him a year later. Mazón's presence, as all of Spain witnessed at the state funeral, has prevented the victims and the entire community from properly mourning the tragedy. Valencian society's mourning is a year overdue, and only the King and Queen could offer any solace to the victims' torment.

Mazón's resignation, which he has already communicated to Feijóo, as this newspaper reports today, is what the entire PP is eagerly awaiting. Regional leaders, national figures, and senior members of parliamentary groups believe that the Valencian PP leader has only one option: to resign. No one would understand anything else. If someone announces they are taking a period of reflection on their future and then doesn't resign, they find themselves in an impossible situation. Mazón is finished after the state funeral; now the priority is to prevent his disastrous management from dragging the PP down elsewhere. He has already done considerable damage, and several regional elections are on the horizon, according to various sources consulted by this newspaper.

Very difficult funeral

Everyone who attended the funeral held on the first anniversary of the tragedy testified that it was horrifying and incredibly difficult. Alberto Núñez Feijóo was there and witnessed firsthand the profound grief of the victims weighed heavily on the Valencian president. It is clear that Feijóo does not support Mazón; the messages he has sent him are very direct, although Carlos has refused to listen. Feijóo has not wanted to destabilize the Valencian PP, which would have happened if he had expelled him from the party, since he cannot remove him from the Generalitat. The national leadership probably thought that time would heal the wound in Valencia. And they realized at the funeral that, far from healing it, time has reopened the wound even further, with the lies and conflicting accounts of where the president was when people were drowning, according to the public officials consulted. Valencia will not be able to begin to turn the page on the tragedy until Mazón leaves the scene. The PP leadership accuses the government of organizing the funeral to set a trap for the Valencian president. However, all the leaders agree that the lies and different versions he has given of what he did during the key hours of the flood have definitively finished him off.

According to all sources, Mazón has secluded himself this year with a small group of loyalists and hasn't even clarified to the most relevant leaders of the Valencian PP and its public officials what he did during those hours. Both the national and Valencian PP learned the details through the media. And it has been a surprise to everyone that the former councilor, Salomé Pradas, indicted by the judge, has declared that she informed the president by phone of everything that was happening at the Cecopi (Provincial Emergency Coordination Center). According to the call log, on two occasions he hung up on her without responding before issuing the alert. This confession increases the PP's shock and outrage. Only he knows what he did, and he hasn't said so. If he knew the seriousness of the emergency and remained seated in the restaurant, it's unforgivable. Where were his Chief of Staff, his Communications advisors?"Any community president or any mayor in that situation would have had their team grab them by the lapels and dragged them to their office," a leader points out.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has either been unwilling or unable to break with Carlos Mazón despite the objective damage he has inflicted on the entire People's Party (PP) this past year. The idea is widespread that someone who has served as a regional president has the defense of their autonomy in decision-making against the national leadership ingrained in their very being. Feijóo practiced this when he presided over Galicia. That is why he always advocated for Mazón's voluntary resignation. Ultimately, the grief of the victims—expressed in his face by the tragic chorus of those who lost loved ones—has done the work for him. They have been the very fate he sought to escape.