Mazón, to the councillors the morning of the storm: "Let's flood the media with data, it gives the sensation of being alert as hell and calms people down"

ValenciaThe former president of the Valencian Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, sent his advisors a message first thing in the morning on the day of the storm, stating that they needed to "flood the media with data" to give the impression of "being alert" and having "control" of the situation, a circumstance that would show that the former head of the Council was aware of the danger of the day. Despite this, he had lunch for almost four hours with journalist Maribel Vilaplana and did not go to the Cecopi until 8:28 PM, three and a half hours after the emergency committee began. This is stated in the messages exchanged in the WhatsApp group of the Valencian government, which Mazón opened at 8:15 AM and in which the last to send a message is the head of Infrastructures, Vicente Martínez Mus, who does so at 11:53 PM, regarding the road situation.

The messages, to which ARA has had access, reveal that Mazón wrote to the group for the last time at 8:53 AM to warn the former Minister of Justice and Interior and investigated in the case, Salomé Pradas, that she had a typo in a post on X that she had just sent. "Salo, get the data on the storm updated this morning for Ruth's press conference. You might have to go out and report," the former president points out at 8:15 AM, alluding to the planned press conference of the then spokesperson for the Council, Ruth Merino. The following messages are addressed to the then head of Education, José Antonio Rovira ("and to Rovi also about school closures"), and to the Minister of Health and the first vice-president and then minister of Social Services, Susana Camarero. "Pay attention to leaks and incidents in the centers," he tells them. To Miguel Barrachina, head of Agriculture, he says: "Get a report from the field, etc."

"Reporting in detail gives an image of control; let's focus on that today," notes the PP leader, to whom Pradas replies at 8:16 AM: "For now, everything is under control," and adds a few seconds later: "We have just decreed level 1 in La Ribera Alta, which is where it is hitting hardest." The former president continues: "Everyone be attentive. We will give partial data throughout the day if possible. We will flood the media with data today, agreed? It gives the impression of being very alert. And calm people down, which is the important thing," he adds later.

Mazón's messages and calls are still missing.

The messages known today weaken one of the arguments repeatedly put forward by Mazón, according to which, the Council was not aware of the situation. "We did not have sufficient information," the former president has repeated time and again, who, as is obvious, was not aware of the exact dimensions of the floods that would occur, but he did know that the danger existed.

In fact, the red alert of October 29, 2024, was the first of the year and in 2023 there had only been one. Unlike the messages known today, those that will not yet be made public are from the former president's phone, given that this Wednesday his lawyer, Ignacio Gally, said that Mazón will not decide whether to contribute them to the case, nor his phone calls, until he has studied all the documentation compiled in the investigation, to which he can now access thanks to his involvement in the investigation.