Mazón admits to the judge that he lied about his arrival at Cecopio

Valencia / BarcelonaNew version change from the PP and the Valencian government about where Carlos Mazón was and what he was doing on the afternoon of the DANA. If until now the party maintained that the head of the Consell had arrived at the emergency coordination centre around 7:30 p.m. – a delay that was justified by the bad weather and the collapse of the roads – now the autonomous executive assures that, at the time when the alert was sent to the population's mobile phones, at 10 a.m. The new version is added to the string of partial and contradictory explanations from the popular party and the Generalitat Valenciana and is produced following a request from the judge who is investigating the case.

The new version comes hours after the president of the Valencia Provincial Council, Vicent Mompó, in statements before the investigation commission of the supramunicipal corporation, said for the first time that Mazón was not in the Cecopio room when, finally and after long hours of waiting, the alert was sent. The version given by the president of the Valencia Provincial Council had been previously revealed by the spokesperson of the PSPV, Carlos Fernández Bielsa, and that of Compromís, Dolors Gimeno, in the Efe agency. Later, Mompó has not contradicted the two leaders: "I am not going to contradict the spokespersons, who have said what they have said what I have said in the commission." And he added: "The message was not delayed so that no one was expected. If Mazón was on the phone, then he was obviously not there. I have my idea about what time he arrived. There is a judicial investigation underway and if they call me to testify, I will do so. Out of prudence, I cannot do so now."

According to the Efe agency, the Valencian government bases its response on the recordings of the security cameras of the building where the Cecopio meetings are held. Once "the images taken by different cameras of the system have been viewed, on October 29, 2024, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:11 p.m., and according to the certification issued by the official responsible for security, the entry of only two authorities is confirmed" in the building, arriving in the time slot asked by the magistrate in charge of the case.

In the face of doubts about the new version of the popular party, this Tuesday the media have questioned the delegate of the Spanish government in the Valencian Country, Pilar Bernabé, who has limited herself to saying that she "did not" see Mazón in the Cecopio "until they sent the EsAert". The version of the socialist leader also contrasts with that given by the head of the Council himself a few days after the DANA tragedy, when he assured that he was in the emergency committee at the time the alert was sent: "I personally joined [the Cecopio] when it was already seen that this hydrological revolution was coming".

Despite Mompó's words and the new version of the Valencian government, and according to what the ARA has been able to find out, witnesses present at the Cecopio maintain that they saw the Spanish president from 8 pm onwards, after a ten-minute break held at around 7:50 pm and always before the alert was sent. This version is adapted to the list of calls released by Mazón himself yesterday, the last of which, according to the Valencian president's account, would have occurred at 7:44 p.m.

Avoiding Mazón's indictment

The release of the calls and the new version of the head of the Consell is in response to the judge who is investigating the case and who had demanded to know if at the time of sending the alert there were other authorities in the Cecopio besides those pre-established by law, in a transparent reference to Mazón. The magistrate intends to clarify whether the head of the Council was accompanied by the then Minister of Justice and Interior [Salomé Pradas], the delegate of the Spanish government, Pilar Bernabé, -connected telematically-, the chief inspector of the Valencian firefighters, José Miguel Basset or the representatives of Aemet, the police and the Confedera.

The information transferred by the Consell could be key to try to avoid the indictment of Mazón, given that the judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra has held the Generalitat Valenciana responsible for the lack of warnings and exonerates the State. In the recent resolution to which the ARA had access, the magistrate points out that "the alert level that was maintained at all times [number 2] did not imply the assumption of the emergency by the central administration" and that the sending of alerts is a task of the Valencian government. "The Statute of Autonomy establishes civil protection as the exclusive competence of the Generalitat (art. 49. 3. 14a), without prejudice to the provisions of art. 149 of the Constitution," details the magistrate of the investigating court number 3 of Catarroja.

The magistrate has ratified her will to find out the reasons for what she herself has described as "a blatant absence of warnings to the population." In addition, she highlighted the "avoidability of the overwhelming number of deaths" that rose to 227 people. According to Ruiz Tobaara, "material damage could not be avoided; deaths, yes."