Spain's Venezuela-Valencia response divided the country

The UME took 5 days to reach Paiporta; it flew to Caracas in hours

While the DANA ravaged the province of Valencia, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) remained in barracks without being deployed for three days. The Executive justified the delay in coordination with the autonomous community, but when Venezuela requested support due to its floods, the UME plane took off almost immediately. The contrast fuels the suspicion that the response was measured by political criteria, not humanitarian ones.

The cold data: 237 people died in the Valencian Community at the end of 2024, according to the official figures driving the debate. The central government did not declare a national emergency until the fifth day, when the majority of the victims had already occurred. In parallel, 69 Spanish citizens were listed as missing in Venezuela after the floods — without confirmed mortal victims — and the diplomatic and emergency machinery was activated in a matter of hours.

Data fueling distrust

Those who defend the thesis of political discrimination recall that Paiporta, the epicenter of the disaster, is governed by the PP. "In Valencia they vote for the PP, so they deserved a punishment," summarizes one of the lines of argument. Others point out that Venezuela is a strategic partner of Pedro Sánchez's Government, with ties dating back to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's mediation, and that foreign aid has a diplomatic return that internal aid does not offer.

The most painful data: the UME had a battalion stationed a few kilometers from the flooded areas. The RTVE newspaper published (with a link to its website) that "there were UME personnel from the next day rescuing people," but most testimonies collected in the digital sphere maintain that the real presence did not arrive until 72 hours had passed. The police, moreover, prevented neighbors with tractors from accessing the flooded towns during the first few days.

The shadow of electoral calculation

The dominant analysis in recent weeks points to the fact that the delay was deliberate to place responsibility on the President of the Generalitat, the popular Carlos Mazón. "Sánchez let the Valencians die to throw it in the face of the PP," one of the positions holds. The Prime Minister's visit on the fifth day was received with shouts and mud throwing, which some interpret as the consequence of accumulated anger.

The minority counterpart defends that the management was correct and that the competencies are autonomous. "Mazón did not request help in time," they argue, and point out that the PP would also have slowed the arrival of reconstruction funds for their friends. But the data on timeframes — the absence of the UME for three days — and the comparison with Venezuela weigh more in the social balance.

The closing that disorients

As of today, 69 Spaniards remain unlocated in Venezuela. The question that hangs in the air: if the humanitarian machinery was so fast there, why was the scheme not repeated in Valencia? The Government has not offered an explanation that dispels the feeling that, in emergency politics, not all Spaniards are equal.