The image of Mazón arriving at Cecopio at 8:28 p.m. is made public

Barcelona"I have always said the same thing, I have never changed my version," Carlos Mazón said on Wednesday. He did so after revealing that on the day of the DANA he arrived at the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) in Eliana at 20.28 hours when until now he had claimed that he had gone "after 7 pm" or "after 7:30 pm". "I don't understand where the change of version is. Obviously, 8:28 pm is after half past seven. It's a fact, isn't it?" he continued when asked by journalists.

Precisely to prove that the time is exact, the Valencian Government has sent the Efe Agency a report with images of the exact moment when Mazón enters the Cecopio building. The report, signed by the coordinator of Prevention and Emergencies of the Valencian Country, provides various screenshots of the video surveillance system and the head of the Consell is seen greeting the receptionists at 8:28 pm. However, several witnesses place it shortly before eight in the emergency complex where the Cecopio is located. Faced with so many inconsistencies, Nuria Ruiz, the Catarroja judge investigating the DANA deaths, has asked the Civil Guard to prepare a report detailing the chronology of the events of October 29.

It took Mazón four months to make public the time of arrival at the Cecopio and, despite the doubts and inconsistencies in his versions throughout this time, this Thursday he went on the attack in statements to the press saying that he does not plan to give in and that, instead, "those who have lied should resign." Nevertheless, he has been heckled again at an event at the Palau de les Arts with cries of "resign." Far from being self-critical, the former Minister of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, also said on Thursday that she feels especially hurt by "the lies and half-truths she hears", such as those related to the sending of the Es-Alert message, about which she assured that "no one was expected" in reference.

Since October 29, in fact, the usual thing is changes of version, twists of scripts or incomplete information about what he was doing on that catastrophic day when 224 Valencians died and that the courts are now investigating whether the Valencian government could have prevented them. Mazón did not modify his agenda on October 29 despite the fact that the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) declared the red alert at 7.30 a.m. A "private meal", pointed out the Valencian executive to avoid giving details.

On Thursday, November 7, Mazón changed his version and said that the 29th had been a "working meal." The next day, several media revealed thatI had lunch with the journalist Maribel Vilaplanato offer him the management of À Punt at the El Ventorro restaurant. A version that sources from the Generalitat were quick to confirm. This "working lunch" did not appear on an agenda that was blank after the meeting with unions and employers. In fact, the president of the Valencian employers' association, Salvador Navarro, uncovered another contradiction: he explained that he met with the government at 1:30 p.m. and not at 3 p.m. as the Generalitat had initially said.

As if that were not enough, on December 26, in response to a request from the PSPV about the bill for the lunch, the Generalitat stated that it did not have a copy because he attended as leader of the Valencian PP and, therefore, it was not paid for with public money, although on November 8 the lunch had been arranged with the team from the world of communication so that they could join the À Punt project.

When did your lunch end? When did you arrive at the Palau de la Generalitat? When did you leave your office in the direction of the Cecopio? Now that you say that you arrived at the command centre at 8:28 p.m., there are even several witnesses who participated in the meeting that day who cast doubt on this and who place your arrival between 7:45 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. In fact, the head of the council assured just after the tragedy that that day he had had problems communicating with the minister Teresa Ribera because there was no coverage at the Cecopio. At what time? Himself He said that at 20:20 hours, therefore, eight minutes before the time at which he now says he arrived in Eliana.

The call list

The Valencian president has always maintained that he was "where he should have been" during the storm, but according to his latest version - the one he has given to the judge investigating the DANA case - the Cecopio was not incorporated until four hours after it was formed. Although Vilaplana assured that during the meal Mazón did not show any sign of concern about the storm, the Generalitat maintains that "during the entire meeting, the president also received information on the evolution of the storm from the minister, who was already with her Emergency team following and supervising the evolution of the situation from the Eliana command centre."

After having refused to hand over the call logs for months - and also the geolocation of his mobile and his vehicle - arguing that he did not have a personal mobile, last Monday in Madrid Mazón made public a list of calls from the afternoon of the 29th: the first contact he had with the Minister of the Interior, Salomé Pradas It did not occur until 5:37 p.m.. He has also been insisting that he was not incommunicado that day and that he was in permanent contact with some mayors, although on Monday he made public that he had only spoken to the mayor of Cullera, Jordi Mayor, who accused him of lying again and demanded that he resign. Curiously, during his brief call with Mayor, Mazón told him to write down his personal phone number.

On November 8, the Generalitat reported that, after lunch, Mazón arrived at the Palau de la Generalitat at 6:00 p.m. and that he joined the Cecopio meeting in Eliana "from 7:00 p.m. onwards", which has been shown not to be true. During his appearance in Les Corts he attributed his delay in arriving at Cecopio to "the density of traffic and the accumulation of vehicles on the roads", but the road problems took place on the other side of the city of Valencia, following the Turia river, and the journey by car of the Generalitat at the entrance to the capital, not the exit.

The fact is that until last Tuesday, almost four months after the DANA, neither the Presidency nor Mazón's entourage had denied that he arrived between 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., much less that he did so when the alert had already been sent. The president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicent Mompó, announced this in response to questions from the opposition. And the Generalitat notified the judge who is handling the case that Mazón was not in the command center when the alert was sent. This is, for now, his latest version.