Carlos Mazón facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carlos Mazón
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Mazón in 2025
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| President of the Valencian Community | |
| Assumed office 13 July 2023 |
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| Monarch | Felipe VI |
| Preceded by | Ximo Puig |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Carlos Arturo Mazón Guixot
8 April 1974 Alicante, Spain |
| Political party | People's Party |
Carlos Arturo Mazón Guixot (born 8 April 1974) is a Spanish politician from the People's Party (PP). He became the President of the Valencian Community in July 2023. Before this, he was the president of the Provincial Deputation of Alicante starting in 2019. He has also led the People's Party of the Valencian Community (PPCV) since 2021. His party won the 2023 Valencian regional election, which led to him becoming president.
Mazón first formed a government with another political party called Vox. However, about a year later, he decided to remove the Vox ministers from his government. He then continued to lead a minority government, which means his party did not have the most seats in the parliament on its own. He was the president during the serious 2024 Spain floods, which caused a lot of damage in the Valencian Community.
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Early Life and Education
Carlos Mazón was born in Alicante, Spain. His father, also named Carlos, was a doctor who specialized in blood diseases. There is even a street in Alicante named after his father. His grandfather, Alfonso Guixot Guixot, was a businessman. He owned movie theaters and a bullring, and was also the president of the Hércules CF football club.
Mazón studied law at the University of Alicante. While he was there, he was active in student politics. He was part of a student union called Programa 10. He also joined the youth branch of the People's Party, called the New Generations. In 1999, when the People's Party came to power in the Valencian Community, 25-year-old Mazón became the director of the Valencian Youth Institute.
Political Journey
Starting in Politics
In 2003, Carlos Mazón took on a new role, leading the Department of Commerce and Consumption in the Valencian government. A few years later, in 2007, there were some disagreements within the People's Party in the Valencian Community. Mazón was part of a group that decided to leave regional politics and focus on the politics of the Province of Alicante.
During this time, he served as a local council member in the city of Alicante and in the small town of Catral. He also became the director of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Provincial Deputation. In July 2019, Mazón was chosen as the President of the Provincial Deputation of Alicante. He received support from another party, Citizens, to become the fifth People's Party president in a row since 1995. A year later, he was chosen to lead the People's Party in his province with a very high number of votes.
Leading the Valencian Government
In July 2021, Carlos Mazón became the leader of the People's Party in the Valencian Community, taking over from Isabel Bonig. In the 2023 Valencian regional election, his party won the most seats, going from 19 to 40.
The People's Party then formed a government with the Vox party, which had 13 deputies. The national leaders of the People's Party made sure that the Vox leader, Carlos Flores, would not be part of the government because he had past legal issues. In July, the two parties formed a government with ten ministers. Seven ministers were from the People's Party, and three were from Vox. One of the Vox ministers was Vicente Barrera, a former bullfighter, who became the vice president and Minister of Culture and Sport.
The government led by Mazón provided money to groups like Lo Rat Penat and the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture. These groups believe that the Valencian language is different from Catalan. At the same time, the government stopped funding groups that it believed supported Catalanism.
In July 2024, Mazón decided to remove the Vox ministers from his government. He then continued to govern with a minority government. This decision came after the national leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, threatened for his party to leave other regional governments led by the People's Party. This was part of a disagreement about migration policies. After the split, Mazón and former minister Barrera spoke positively about each other.
Mazón was the president during the terrible October 2024 Spain floods. Some people criticized him because his predecessor, Ximo Puig, had planned to create a Valencian Emergencies Unit. This unit was meant to help coordinate responses to disasters, especially after similar floods in 2019. The government spokesman said the unit was removed to save public money and make things more efficient.
Mazón also faced criticism for having a long lunch with a journalist on the afternoon the disaster happened. He left the lunch around 6 PM and arrived at the emergency command center about 7:30 PM.
Mazón, along with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI of Spain, faced angry reactions from local people affected by the floods. According to the BBC, Mazón said that a national government body (CHJ) had given and then taken back a flood warning, but the CHJ denied this. He was also accused of not asking for enough help from the armed forces. Mazón said it was the military's decision to get involved. However, Javier Marcos, who leads the Military Emergency Unit (UME), said that regional governments need to ask for support.
On 9 November 2024, about 130,000 people protested in Valencia. They called for Mazón to resign because of how his government handled the floods. Another smaller protest, with 1,200 people, also called for both Mazón and Sánchez to resign.
Hobbies and Interests
Carlos Mazón is a member of a four-person band called Marengo. In 2011, his band tried out to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2013, Marengo toured around the Province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia.
See also
In Spanish: Carlos Mazón para niños
