Every information known about what happened during the meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) last Tuesday, October 29, further complicates the defense of the Generalitat Valenciana that all the action in this humanitarian emergency was based on “established protocols”. “” and above all proof that it could have been quicker to act. As sources from the Ministry of Ecological Transition confirmed to elDiario.es, after 6 p.m. the president of the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar, Miguel Polo, has already put on the table the possibility of sending “massive alerts to the entire population.” two hours before 8:12 p.m., when the Es-alert system was finally activated, sending the warning message to all cell phones in the province of Valencia. At that time, Cecopi was already informed that the Barranco del Poyo carried 1,725 liters of water per second – almost four times the flow of the Ebro – and that the Forata Dam had begun to release its reservoir due to the danger overwhelmed. At that time, the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, was neither connected to Cecopi by videoconference nor physically present, but according to his team, “he was working and he was informed”.
The proposed warning from the president of the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar fell on deaf ears, but it is obvious that the Minister of Justice, Salomé Pradas, has once again lied publicly by assuring that this is not the case. It was only at 8 p.m. that we discussed the start of the meeting. the Es alert message. In fact, this version of Pradas has already been denied by some audios from Cecopi leaked Thursday to Cadena SER and which show that at 7:15 p.m., during the emergency meeting, they were already talking about the possibility of activating messages from mass.
Miguel Polo attended the Cecopi by videoconference, along with other institutions and the government delegation. In the absence of the President of the Generalitat, it was Councilor Salomé Pradas who chaired the meeting and who had to make decisions. “She walked in and out throughout the meeting, nervous and without making a decision,” sources at the meeting said.
The meeting began on October 29 at 5 p.m. and by 5:35 p.m. the hydrological alert for the Magro and Júcar rivers from the confluence with Algemesí was already on the table. At 5:40 p.m., the advisor interrupted the session for half an hour to take some time to think. At 5:59 p.m., the CHJ reported that the Forata reservoir had opened the floodgates and at 6:00 p.m. that the Poyo ravine was carrying 1,725 liters of water per second. It was at the resumption of the meeting that Polo himself reported these data and, given the current situation, suggested the possibility of launching the mass alert.
All Cecopi meetings are recorded in a sort of black box that can be opened if a judge requests it. It may also be provided to the Valencian Courts in the event of the opening of a commission of inquiry. At present, some audios of the most critical moments are already circulating in the media. It will be difficult to lie in this case, everything that happened during these key meetings is recorded.
