The President of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, spoke by telephone four times with his Minister of Justice while she participated in the Cecopi meeting that coordinated the response to DANA on October 29, the day of the tragedy. This is what sources in the office of the President of the Generalitat assure EL ESPAÑOL.
According to these sources, Mazón was in contact with his team at all times, even if he was not present at the meeting. The four calls to Salomé Pradas, they say, took place between 5:37 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. During the same period, Mazón also called twice the president of the Provincial Deputation of Valencia, Vincent Mompo.
Mazón’s actions during the first hours of the tragedy have been called into question since it was learned that he was not physically present at the meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center of the Generalitat (Cecopi)which began at 5 p.m. on October 29. Despite the doubts, the president initially did not want to specify where he was.
As this newspaper exclusively revealed, sources close to the president specified that that day, Mazón went to lunch with the journalist. Maribel Vilaplana. The objective of the meal, which took place at the El Ventorro restaurant in Valencia, was to offer her the management of the À Punt channel (the regional television of the Generalitat), but the journalist refused.
Lunch started at 3 p.m. and lasted until 6 p.m., three hours later. In a first version of events, now nuanced, official sources from the Generalitat assured that the president was already in his office at 5:00 p.m.
The president of the Valencian Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, during a press conference last Monday.
Europe Press
They also assured that the president had gone out “to have a snack around Palau.” “Coming back from a quick meal, I went up to the Palau to prepare the budgets,” Mazón said.
Even though the situation at DANA was already worrying since the morning, Cecopi met at 5:00 p.m., convened by Minister Pradas, who assumed management of the emergency.
The meeting brought together political leaders from the Generalitat, Civil Protection, the UME, members of the security forces and bodies and the president of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ). The Government delegate was also present, Pilar Bernabéfirst by video call then in person.
President Mazón was still having lunch with journalist Vilaplana at that time, but he spoke with Pradas at 5:37 p.m., according to his team, and with Mompó at 5:46 p.m. Then, after 6 p.m., he went to the Palau de la Generalitat to work on regional budgets.
At the Palau, Mazón spoke with Pradas again at 6:16 p.m., 6:25 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. He also called Mompó at 6:25 p.m., according to what his team reports. The sources try to avoid the image that the president did not act and assure that he was in contact with his people at all times, making six calls in just one hour.
President Mazón finally personally attended the Cecopi meeting after 7 p.m. A few minutes earlier, at 6:46 p.m., an email had been received from Integrated hydrological information systemreporting that the flow of the Poyo ravine was 1,686 cubic meters per second. The overflow was already wreaking havoc in towns like Paiporta.
From this moment on, events were unleashed on different fronts and fears began of the possibility of a rupture of the Forata dam and a call was received from Hugo MoranSecretary of State for the Environment, who warned with concern that there was a “high risk” of the dam breaking, which would cause a significant flood of water.
After analyzing the situation for more than an hour, the notice was sent to the population via the ES Alert system at 8:15 p.m. Responsibilities aside, the 223 deaths, a figure which is not yet final, now demonstrate that the warning came too late.
