00:00and the anger of the people.
00:02The Valencian community is going through the most tragic nights of the last 60 years
00:08because of this tragedy, with almost 100 fatal victims,
00:12with 2,000 missing,
00:14with many Argentines who went to look for a better future there
00:17and unfortunately today they find this tragic present.
00:21Ignacio Ruiz is precisely a compatriot who lives in Valencia
00:24with whom we are going to make contact.
00:26Ignacio, how are you? Nice to meet you, good morning.
00:29Hello, here we are with a desolate situation, the truth.
00:33Describe to us a little more, where did you find yourself
00:36the first seconds, minutes of this tragic time?
00:41Let's see, luckily in the locality where I was,
00:44it has not been affected,
00:46thanks to the quick action of the mayor that we had,
00:52who followed the protocol to the last detail,
00:55because of course, there is a protocol that must be opened
00:58and closed a series of gates,
01:00and it seems that not all the mayors of all municipalities
01:04have known how to do it,
01:06for ignorance, for not being prepared,
01:08or for imperialism, or for whatever.
01:12So, really the catastrophe,
01:16it is good that it was difficult to avoid it,
01:19but the problem we have is the day after.
01:22A week has passed and there are areas
01:25that no one has even come to help.
01:28That is the big problem we have,
01:30that the government does not send the necessary help
01:33and does not accept the help of countries that want to help us.
01:36That is incredible, right?
01:38What can we attribute to this disaster?
01:41Because one sometimes has the idealization
01:43that in European countries this does not happen.
01:46However, we are seeing tremendous deficiencies and irregularities.
01:50On top of that, not accepting help from abroad
01:54and having notified late.
01:56A whole lethal combo.
01:58What do you attribute this to, Ignacio?
02:01Well, first of all,
02:04to Garzón, the president of the Valencian Generalitat,
02:08who, in fact, about seven hours before the incident,
02:13said that nothing was going to happen,
02:15that everything was under control,
02:17thanking all the exceptional services we had.
02:20And that video, hours later, he had to delete it
02:23because then came the catastrophe.
02:25And the mobile alerts did not arrive until 8 and 11,
02:29it arrived to me,
02:31and at that moment people were already caught by the streetlights
02:34and the cars were already taking them through the streets
02:37as if it were a river.
02:39In other words, the assistance arrived hours later,
02:42when everything was already a disaster.
02:45Yes, yes, exactly.
02:47The little that arrived,
02:49arrived when thousands of people had already died.
02:52Santiago, what they tell me and I was seeing,
02:56most of the dead or missing
02:59would be in what they call the basements
03:02and the basements where the cars are waiting.
03:05There is a shopping mall, a shopping center,
03:07which is the Bonaire,
03:09where they believe that there would be easily 200 dead
03:11and that it is still flooded
03:13and that they come in and do not want to go back,
03:15the firefighters,
03:17to go down because of the devastating situation there is.
03:20Do you know anything about that?
03:22Look, in Bonaire, until two days ago,
03:26there were YouTubers trying to find out,
03:29they were given information,
03:31but just arrived the king,
03:33the president arrived,
03:35and since that day there is no news
03:39of what happens in the commercial center of Bonaire.
03:42In theory, there were 700 cars there,
03:46who entered and did not leave.
03:48And there are videos of people who could leave the parking lot,
03:52but everything was so fast,
03:54because this happened in a matter of minutes,
03:56because it came like an avalanche,
03:58as if it were a tsunami.
04:00So everyone, as it rained,
04:02put the car in the parking lot below,
04:04instead of the one above.
04:06So when the shopping center
04:08warns that it must be evicted,
04:11people already had mud on their shoes.
04:14Imagine, Guille, what happens here,
04:16in any of the shopping centers,
04:18they warn you that it will be a storm,
04:20and you go to the basements to get the car out,
04:22and a wave comes and covers you.
04:24It's crazy what has happened.
04:26And you wanted to get the car out,
04:29and the ramps up were a river down.
04:32And the security cameras don't show us.
04:35And the shopping center seems to be
04:38not doing any cleaning work.
04:41So I imagine that the shopping center
04:43will not open its doors again.
04:45Ignacio, where are you from here in Argentina,
04:48and how long ago did you go to Valencia?
04:50I am from Buenos Aires,
04:52the area of Congreso, San Telmo.
04:54I have lived here since 1985.
04:57Of course, because you have more Spanish accent,
05:00than the Argentine guy.
05:02We noticed that.
05:03Of course, yes.
05:041989?
05:05I studied here, I grew up here.
05:07Aha, I mean, crisis.
05:09Did you see that you always linked it
05:11with crisis and hyperinflation because of that,
05:13or simply because of the decision of your parents,
05:16who had some job?
05:18No, the opportunity really came.
05:22My mother was a visionary.
05:24She already knew what was going to happen
05:26in the coming years in Argentina.
05:28And she decided in 1989,
05:31when she won the presidency of MENA,
05:33to come to Spain.
05:35It was a very successful decision.
05:38We have our whole family,
05:40we have our whole life here.
05:42Aha, and at some point,
05:44did you think you were going to live this
05:46in virtue of the fact that supposedly
05:48everything is a little more organized there?
05:50Because many of the criticisms fall
05:52on Pedro Sánchez, on populism,
05:54on how badly things are being done.
05:57I mean, who do they point to?
06:00Let's see, what happens here,
06:03that there is a lot of political interest
06:05in all this, because Pedro Sánchez
06:07is from the Socialist Party
06:09and the Valencian community
06:11is managed by the PP, the Popular Party.
06:14So what happens?
06:16The PP does not want to declare
06:18a state of alarm,
06:20because if they don't,
06:22the central government has to eat the shit.
06:24And they say, no, we are not going to eat it,
06:26there are thousands of dead,
06:28let the PP eat it.
06:30So that's why Pedro Sánchez says,
06:32look, I'll send it to you.
06:34But the sons of bitches here do not accept
06:36or ask for any help.
06:38Because it is divided.
06:40What happens is that when something like this happens,
06:42you have to go out to help
06:44and do what is needed,
06:46not to do politics at times like this.
06:48Because we know from very good sources
06:50that there are military men
06:52in the area waiting
06:54to be told where to go.
06:56And I'm not talking about
06:5820 or 30 military men,
07:00standing,
07:02who do not know where to go.
07:04There is a disorganization.
07:06And you say,
07:08it is that they do not accept the help.
07:10Really, Spain has resources
07:12to send us.
07:14We have to send 30 or 40 thousand people.
07:16There are economic aid data
07:18that are beginning to emerge.
07:20What they say is that the central government,
07:22the national government of the Kingdom of Spain,
07:24will grant
07:26between 20 and 60 thousand euros
07:28for the repair of damaged houses.
07:30Between 20 and 60 thousand.
07:32Then we'll have to see if it reaches.
07:34That's nothing.
07:36First of all, it's nothing.
07:38And second, here they promise you
07:40and they tell you a lot of things.
07:42But there,
07:44people do not have vehicles
07:46to go to work.
07:48Hundreds of thousands of vehicles
07:50have been lost.
07:52Wait for me to tell you more data
07:54and you tell me if it reaches or does not reach.
07:56It costs 10,300 euros to change
07:58appliances and furniture.
08:00It does not reach.
08:02It is nothing.
08:04IKEA furniture is not cheap.
08:06I ask you not to live there
08:08to know what you tell me.
08:10You can't live in a house
08:12with 10,000 euros.
08:14There it is.
08:16Well, don't think it's much cheaper.
08:18So I'm going to say
08:20that between 20 and 60 thousand euros
08:22is not enough for the repair of a house.
08:24No, not at all.
08:26Is it expensive to build
08:28or repair the square meter in Spain?
08:321,000 euros per square meter.
08:34Well, that's the data.
08:36If you have a house of 100 square meters,
08:38it's 100,000.
08:40Without furniture.
08:42Let's just talk about the repair of the house.
08:44Yes, but of those 100,000,
08:46of 1,000 euros per square meter,
08:48I'm talking about construction,
08:5056% are taxes.
08:52Of course.
08:54What should be the help in money
08:56necessary for someone
08:58who has to re-furnish his house?
09:00I suppose he didn't lose it,
09:02but now he has to do the cleaning.
09:04How much money is needed?
09:06Minimum, we would be talking
09:08from 25,000 to 35,000 euros.
09:10Minimum.
09:12Minimum, because people didn't lose the furniture.
09:14It's not like you bought a sofa
09:16or a television.
09:18It's your clothes for life.
09:20It's your bicycle,
09:22your treadmill,
09:24the whole kitchen.
09:26With 10,000 euros,
09:28you can't buy a kitchen furniture.
09:30You can't even buy it in the cheapest place.
09:32Let's see.
09:34Yes, Clarita.
09:36Ignacio, good morning.
09:38Clara Salguero.
09:40I thought that Spain is in the European continent.
09:42The European continent stands out
09:44for having a large population.
09:46One of the countries
09:48with the largest population is Spain.
09:50How are the elderly
09:52being treated
09:54in the midst of this catastrophe?
09:56Are they receiving any special treatment
09:58from the social,
10:00and from the economy?
10:02Absolutely
10:04no type of help.
10:06The only help that the elderly are receiving
10:08is the help from the people.
10:10From friends, from relatives,
10:12from people.
10:14To give you an idea,
10:16from Valencia,
10:1812,000, 13,000,
10:2015,000 volunteers
10:22of young people who are walking
10:24to bring water,
10:26to bring shovels.
10:28That is, they are receiving help
10:30from their own community,
10:32from their own neighborhood,
10:34from their own neighborhood.
10:36Exactly.
10:38That is, the solidarity of the people
10:40is what is saving them,
10:42taking into account that even
10:44if they continue to clean,
10:46we do not know the number of fatal victims
10:48that we will continue to find.
10:50Look, to give you an idea,
10:52they are finding victims on the beach.
10:54The Mediterranean, the tide
10:56is bringing them back.
10:58Victims who have swum
11:00more than 30 kilometers,
11:02even 40 kilometers.
11:04People who have disappeared
11:0640 kilometers from the coast
11:08and are now on the coast.
11:10There is a bridge that they call
11:12the bridge of solidarity,
11:14which is the one that unites
11:16the city of Valencia with the south,
11:18which is the part that is completely decimated.
11:20And it is a bridge where
11:22only citizens are crossing
11:24with pikes, shovels,
11:26buckets.
11:28There is no state.
11:30Practically, the city has no state
11:32and the same citizens are taking charge
11:34of catching the, as they say,
11:36of catching the criminals
11:38who are looting,
11:40What feeling does the Valencian
11:42have when he is
11:44stripped of the state
11:46and when he has this situation
11:48of spontaneous solidarity
11:50with what they have?
11:52Look, Valencia worldwide
11:54is the city of gunpowder.
11:56Here this is known because they are famous,
11:58because they set everything on fire
12:00in the bay and because they burn everything,
12:02everything they do.
12:04Valencia is,
12:06we are famous for the city of gunpowder.
12:08In the WhatsApp states of the people
12:10everyone says that this is
12:12the spark that was needed to light
12:14the gunpowder. There is anger,
12:16there is anger, they kicked
12:18the president
12:20and the king, which are the videos on YouTube,
12:22they threw pango, mud,
12:24they threw him with a broomstick,
12:26they kicked the car,
12:28things that had never happened.
12:30Something like this had never happened.
12:32People are really
12:34desperate. There are people who are
12:36committing suicide because they are not
12:38able to bear
12:40the situation they are living.
12:42There is a woman who saw
12:44her husband and daughter
12:46leave with the water
12:48and she did not see them anymore. Those people
12:50who have been missing for a week,
12:52they will not
12:54find them. She found a woman who had been
12:56in a car for three days,
12:58but they still did not find her. And nobody says
13:00in the state
13:02that this person is. He can be in a car for three days
13:04full of water, cold.
13:06Yes, yes, yes. Ignacio,
13:08we thank you for your testimony
13:10and God willing, this will improve
13:12beyond the people who govern
13:14these territories.
13:16We send you a hug.
13:18Well, thank you very much
13:20for your support and for giving a little
13:22light to all this
13:24and that everyone knows
13:26what is happening here.
13:28Thank you very much, thank you very much.
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