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Carlos Mazón

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mazón and the second or maternal family name is Guixot.
Carlos Mazón
President of the Valencian Community
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 July 2023
MonarchFelipe VI
Preceded byXimo Puig
Personal details
Born
Carlos Arturo Mazón Guixot

(1974-04-08) 8 April 1974 (age 50)
Alicante, Spain
Political partyPeople's Party

Carlos Arturo Mazón Guixot (born 8 April 1974)[1] is a Spanish People's Party (PP) politician. He was elected president of the Provincial Deputation of the Province of Alicante in 2019 and has led the People's Party of the Valencian Community (PPCV) since 2021, leading them to victory in the 2023 Valencian regional election.

Mazón became President of the Valencian Government in July 2023 after forming a coalition with Vox. Twelve months later, he dismissed the Vox ministers in his government after a nationwide rupture between the parties, and continued in a minority government. He was president during the October 2024 Spain floods, of which the worst damage was in the Valencian Community.

Early life

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Born in Alicante, Mazón's father of the same name was a haemotologist, who had a street in the city named after him. His maternal grandfather, Alfonso Guixot Guixot [es], was a businessman involved in entertainment; he owned cinemas and a bullring, and was president of Hércules CF football club.[2]

Mazón graduated in law from the University of Alicante, where he was a member of the student council as the leader of the union Programa 10. He was a member of the New Generations of the People's Party. When the PP entered government in the Valencian Community under Eduardo Zaplana after the 1999 elections, 25-year-old Mazón became director of the Valencian Youth Institute.[3]

Political career

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Early political career

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In 2003, under new Valencian president Francisco Camps, Mazón led the Department of Commerce and Consumption. Four years later, following a rift in the People's Party of the Valencian Community (PPCV) between followers of Zaplana and Camps, he was one of the members of the former, more liberal faction that left regional politics and moved into the politics of the Province of Alicante. He served as a councillor in the provincial capital and in the small town of Catral, as well as being director of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Provincial Deputation.[3]

Mazón was elected President of the Provincial Deputation of Alicante in July 2019, receiving support from Citizens to be the fifth consecutive PP president since 1995.[4] A year later, he received 98% of the votes to lead the PP branch in his province.[5]

President of the Valencian Government

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Mazón, Isabel Díaz Ayuso and María José Catalá in February 2023

In July 2021, Mazón succeeded Isabel Bonig as PP leader in the Valencian Community.[6]

In the 2023 Valencian regional election, his party came first with 40 seats, up from 19.[7] The PP formed a government with the 13 deputies from Vox, on the terms of the PP's national leadership that the government would exclude Vox leader Carlos Flores, who was convicted of harassing his ex-wife in 2002.[8] The parties formed a government in July, with ten ministers – two fewer than the previous government. Seven were from the PP, and three from Vox, including vice president and Minister of Culture and Sport Vicente Barrera, a former bullfighter.[9] The PP-Vox government led by Mazón gave subsidies to organisations such as Lo Rat Penat and the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture that propose that the Valencian language is separate to Catalan, while removing funds to organisations it accused of supporting Catalanism.[10]

In July 2024, Mazón fired his ministers from Vox and continued to govern in minority. This followed nationwide threats by the party's leader Santiago Abascal for Vox to resign from PP-led regional governments, as part of a dispute over migration.[11] Mazón and former Barrera spoke positively of each other after the rupture.[12]

Mazón was president during the October 2024 Spain floods. He received criticism for having eliminated his predecessor Ximo Puig's planned Valencian Emergencies Unit: a coordinating body for disaster response, conceived after similar floods in September 2019.[13][14] The government spokesman stated it was abolished in order to reduce public expenditure and increase efficiency.[15] Previously, the organisation had been criticised by the local firefighters' union as duplicating their work, before they agreed to it.[16][17]

Mazón was also criticised for having a lunch of several hours with a journalist on the afternoon of the disaster. He left the lunch around 6 pm and arrived at the emergency command centre about 7:30 pm.[18]

Mazón, prime minister Pedro Sánchez of the PSOE and King Felipe VI of Spain were all met with hostility by locals affected by the floods. According to the BBC, Mazón blamed the national government body CHJ for allegedly issuing and retracting a flood warning, which the CHJ denied. He was accused of not calling for sufficient help from the armed forces, for which he said that it was their decision to intervene. Mazón's point on the military was disputed by Javier Marcos, head of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), who said that regional governments had to ask for support.[19][20]

On 9 November 2024, an estimated 130,000 people protested in Valencia, calling for Mazón to resign over the handling of the floods.[21] A separate rally with 1,200 members, led by the Workers' Front, called for both Mazón and Sánchez to resign.[22]

Personal life

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Mazón is a member of the four-piece band Marengo, which auditioned to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.[23] In 2013, the band toured the Province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Ficha del diputado/a" [Member's file]. Corts Valencianes (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  2. ^ Maceda, Víctor (3 May 2021). "Carlos Mazón, el fill de Zaplana" [Carlos Mazón, the son of Zaplana]. Els Temps (in Catalan). Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Lidón, Inma (8 May 2021). "Carlos Mazón, el político que supo esperar a su 'generación'" [Carlos Mazón, the politician who knew how to wait for his 'generation']. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Carlos Mazón, elegido nuevo presidente de la Diputación de Alicante" [Carlos Mazón, elected new president of the Deputation of Alicante]. ABC (in Spanish). 19 July 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  5. ^ Lidón, Inma (18 July 2020). "Carlos Mazón, presidente del PP de Alicante con el 98% de los votos y el respaldo de Pablo Casado para hacer "un partido ancho"" [Carlos Mazón, president of the Alicante PP with 98% of the votes and the backing of Casado to make a "wide party"]. El Mundo. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Carlos Mazón es proclamado presidente del PPCV que es reforzado con 30 cargos del Partido Popular de Castellón" [Carlos Mazón is proclaimed president of the PPCV which is bolstered with 30 office holders from the Castellón People's Party] (in Spanish). Castellón Información. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  7. ^ Obrador, J. L. (29 May 2023). "Mazón se impone a Puig y será el president de la Generalitat con el apoyo de Vox" [Mazón imposes himself on Puig and will be the president of the Generalitat with the support of Vox]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  8. ^ de la Torre, Noa (13 June 2023). "PP y Vox alcanzan un acuerdo de gobierno en Valencia que excluye al candidato condenado por maltrato a su ex mujer" [PP and Vox reach an agreement for government in Valencia that excludes the candidate convicted of abusing his ex-wife]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Así es el Gobierno de Carlos Mazón: estos son los nuevos consellers de la Comunitat Valenciana" [This is Carlos Mazón's government: these are the new ministers of the Valencian Community] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  10. ^ Miralles, Raquel (4 November 2023). "Carlos Mazón elimina del presupuesto 350.000 euros que Compromís daba a dedo a "entidades catalanistas"" [Carlos Mazón eliminates from the budget 350,000 euros that Compromís gave to "Catalanist entities"]. El Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  11. ^ Martínez, Laura (11 July 2024). "Mazón cesa al vicepresidente y los consejeros de Vox del Gobierno valenciano sin esperar a su dimisión" [Mazón fires the Vox vice president and ministers from the Valencian Government without waiting for their resignation]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  12. ^ "Barrera y Mazón se deshacen en elogios mutuos en el adiós del vicepresidente de Vox: "Es una amistad para toda la vida"" [Barrera and Mazón break up with mutual eulogies in the Vox vice president's goodbye: "It's a lifelong friendship"]. El Español (in Spanish). 16 July 2024. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  13. ^ Martínez, Laura (30 October 2024). "Qué era la Unidad Valenciana de Emergencias, el servicio de coordinación que Mazón suspendió al llegar al Gobierno" [What was the Valencian Emergencies Unit, the coordination service that Mazón suspended upon arriving in Government]. elDiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  14. ^ "Death toll rises as torrential rain and floods batter Spain". Guardian.com. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  15. ^ "La Unidad Valenciana de Emergencias, primer organismo de Ximo Puig suprimido por Carlos Mazón" [The Valencian Emergency Unit, Ximo Puig's first agency, abolished by Carlos Mazón]. elespanol.com (in Spanish). 28 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  16. ^ Alonso, Amanda (31 October 2024). "Qué era la Unidad Valenciana de Emergencias (UVE) que Carlos Mazón eliminó en 2023" [What was the Valencian Emergencies Unit (UVE) that Carlos Mazón eliminated in 2023?]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Qué era la Unidad Valenciana de Emergencias, la 'UME valenciana' que cerró el actual Gobierno de Carlos Mazón" [What was the Valencian Emergenies Unit, the 'Valencian UME' that the current Carlos Mazón government closed]. Maldita.es [es] (in Spanish). 23 February 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  18. ^ Bono, Ferran; Peinado, Fernando. "Mazón estuvo hasta las seis de la tarde en un restaurante comiendo con una periodista el día que se desató la dana" [Mazón was in a restaurant until six in the evening eating with a journalist on the day that the DANA unfolded]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  19. ^ Hedgecoe, Guy (5 November 2024). "Accusations fly in Spain over who is to blame for flood disaster". BBC News. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  20. ^ González, Miguel (4 November 2024). "El jefe de la UME replica a Mazón que los militares no pueden intervenir sin el visto bueno de la Generalitat" [Head of the UME replies to Mazón that the military cannot intervene without the go-ahead from the regional governmemt]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  21. ^ "Over 100,000 people protest in Valencia over floods". BBC News. 9 November 2024. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  22. ^ "Más de mil personas exigen la dimisión de Sánchez y Mazón frente a las Cortes Valencianas" [Over a thousand people call for the resignations of Sánchez and Mazón in front of the Valencian Cortes]. El Economista (in Spanish). 9 November 2024. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  23. ^ Sánchez, Antonio A. (11 May 2021). "Carlos Mazón y su aventura para representar a España en Eurovisión: se enfrentó a Sonia y Selena" [Carlos Mazón and his adventure to represent Spain in Eurovision: he was up against Sonia and Selena]. Información (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2022.
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