Four months later, Mazón revealed the time at which he arrived at Cecopio: 8:28 p.m.

Barcelona / ValenciaIt has taken almost four months since the DANA tragedy of October 29, which left 227 dead in the Valencian Community, for the head of the Consell, Carlos Mazón, to reveal what time he arrived at the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi). In statements to the media on Wednesday he admitted that he arrived at 8:28 p.m., 17 minutes after the alert was sent to the population about the floods and more than four hours after the emergency committee had been formed. However, he denied having changed his version of events about his role on the day the disaster broke out, although until now he claimed that he had arrived at Cecopio "from 7 p.m. onwards."

In recent hours the Valencian government had already admitted that Mazón was not on the emergency committee when the alert was launched, at 8:11 p.m. The version was confirmed this Tuesday by both the president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicent Mompó, and by the delegate of the Spanish government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé. However, the executive had not clarified the exact time at which the head of the Consell had arrived after the controversial meal at the El Ventorro restaurant with the journalist Maribel Vilaplana. In fact, in response to the magistrate who is investigating the case, the Valencian Generalitat had limited itself to saying that the surveillance cameras confirmed that between 4 p.m. and 8:11 p.m. Mazón had not entered the building.

When questioned by journalists on Wednesday, it was Mazón himself who admitted that at the time the EsAlert was sent he was in the car on the way to the emergency centre. He insisted on defending the coherence of his account of the day of the events. "I don't understand where the change in version is," he said in response to questions from journalists. "Obviously, 20.28 is after seven thirty. It is a factual event, isn't it? When have I lied? Review my appearance in Les Corts. I have always said the same thing, I have never changed my version," he concluded.

"Enough of all this lying"

Despite the constant contradictions of the last four months and the lack of transparency about his role on the day of the DANA, Mazón has denounced an attempt to criminalize him. "Nobody was expecting the president of the Generalitat, who neither presides, nor directs, nor coordinates the Cecopio," he said. In an attempt to start the fan of blame, he regretted that he is being put in the center of the target for his absence from the emergency committee. In addition to the time of arrival at the Cecopio known on Tuesday, the head of the Consell says that he made public on Monday the calls he made on the fateful day 29 between five thirty and eight in the evening with the aim of showing that he was not incommunicado while the floods were causing havoc. The first call revealed by himself occurred, however, at 5:37 p.m., when the Spanish Meteorological Agency had warned that"The worst of the storm would be between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.".

Regarding the dissemination of the alarm message, this Wednesday several news items have also been known about the time of death of some of the 227 victims of the DANA. According to the summary of the case, "Most of them would have happened before the warning was issued."

Despite his twists and turns, Carlos Mazón still has the support of the state leadership of the PP, which on Wednesday closed ranks with the Valencian president. "He showed his face, he gave explanations [...] and he didn't run away. I think that you can't ask more of the president," defended Juan Bravo, deputy economic secretary of the Popular Party, in statements to Congress. On the other hand, Mazón's words were answered by the leader of the Valencian socialists, Diana Morant, who stated that the citizens "can no longer tolerate more lies" from the president. "I put myself in the shoes of the relatives of the deceased people who have surely gone through the worst tragedy of their lives and who can't stand it any longer," said the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities. The Compromís spokesman in the Corts Valencianes, Joan Baldoví, was equally forceful, saying that Carlos Mazón is a "liar" and "nobody believes him anymore". For his part, the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, said that Mazón "will be able to escape his criminal responsibility", but not his political responsibility, because it is "unsalvageable". He also questioned the version of the head of the Consell when the popular said he had no coverage.

"Justice must decide whether all those responsible did everything in their power"

Puente's words raise the question of whether Mazón's new statements are part of a strategy by the Valencian president to avoid a hypothetical charge. The ARA has consulted two specialists in criminal law, the lawyers Raúl Vidal and José Vicente Gómez Tejedor, and both consider that this "is not a determining element." Gómez Tejedor goes further, describing the circumstance as "criminally innocuous." Vidal also believes this, pointing out that the head of the Consell could have given orders verbally over the phone and that "would not change anything." However, he stresses that he is convinced that the words of the Valencian president are part of a strategy designed by his legal advisors.

For Raúl Vidal, who represented the Valencian Coordinator of NGOs in the case against the Valencian Ministry of Solidarity and Citizenship headed by Rafael Blasco (PP) for the diversion of up to five million euros from cooperation projects, the presence or absence of Mazón in the Cecopio "is not decisive". "Regardless of the organisational chart, he is the person most responsible and intervenes in the decision-making," he stresses. An assertion that would have the documentary support of the continuous dialogue that the head of the Consell maintained with the then councillor and head of the Cecopio Salomé Pradas on the afternoon of 29 October. However, he warns that criminal law is not very precise in this regard and that it will depend on the judge's criteria, who must decide "if all those responsible did everything in their power to avoid the deaths". Finally, he points out that Mazón's absence from the emergency committee "could turn against him" because it could mean a neglect of duties, an insufficient or negligent performance.

José Vicente GómezTejedor does not see it that way, who in the so-called Blasco case He defended the businessman Augusto César Tauroni, who was convicted of diverting the cooperation fund. For the lawyer, the Valencian president is not criminally responsible at this time. "With what we know, I do not see Mazón as criminally responsible and I find it difficult to see any in other authorities, so that he does not observe actions that demonstrate voluntariness and negligence," he stresses. And regarding the head of the Consell he adds: "Justice does not contemplate the condemnation of a superior for the action of his subordinates." On the contrary, he "does believe it probable" that the administration will be condemned, which could have to compensate the families of the victims for the absence of warnings and their late dissemination.