Pradas claims she felt pressured by Mazón's team during the DANA storm.

Valencia"Salo [Salomé Pradas], no lockdown," "get that idea out of your head," or "locking down an entire province is outrageous." Should these words from Carlos Mazón's former chief of staff, José Manuel Cuenca, be interpreted as an order from Mazón himself, as former Minister of Justice and the Interior Salomé Pradas has argued, or were they, on the contrary, a personal opinion of the former president's right-hand man? These are the two versions offered this Monday by the two former high-ranking officials of the Valencian government during their cross-examination at the Catarroja courthouse, on one of the most significant days of the investigation into the DANA storm, as demonstrated by the large number of victims of the catastrophe, who booed them as they were escorted by the Gu.

According to sources present at the session who spoke to ARA, Pradas claimed she felt "persuaded" by the Presidency department and that she interpreted Cuenca's words as directives from Mazón. To support this assessment, she emphasized that before speaking with her, the then-chief of staff had spoken with the president. This interpretation has been denied by the former regional secretary, who stressed that his messages were merely the opinions of a journalist and that he was in no way acting as an intermediary for the then-head of the Consell. This version cannot be verified because Cuenca has deleted all the content from his mobile phone, including messages and call logs.

During the hearing, the former councilor recounted that at 7:43 p.m. that day, she spoke with the then-Regional Secretary of the Presidency, Cayetano García, because she had been unable to reach Mazón at 7:36 p.m. to discuss a possible lockdown. The former president did not answer his phone and did not return her call until several minutes later. After speaking with García, Pradas waited for the response to the legal consultation that the Regional Secretary had submitted to the Generalitat's legal counsel to confirm that she could take the measure—the response was positive, but the initiative was not implemented. Regarding the reason for calling the former head of the Consell, the former councilor explained that she believed Mazón should know that she was considering a lockdown due to the risk of the Forata reservoir overflowing. On the verge of tears – according to sources – Pradas complained that she felt alone until the former president arrived at the Cecopio (the Valencian Community's emergency response center) at 8:28 p.m. "I didn't know about the lunch [Mazón's four-hour meeting with journalist Maribel Vilaplana]. If I had known, I would have called him more often," she added, after confirming that at 1:19 p.m., José Manuel Cuenca asked her to centralize communications with him because the head of the Valencian government was at several events and couldn't speak to her. Regarding her conversation with Cuenca, Pradas said that the WhatsApp messages she submitted as evidence show that she challenged the then-chief of staff, who called the option of confining the entire province of Valencia "outrageous." The former councilor argued that the emergency law did allow her to restrict citizens' movement in a situation that endangered the population. In his response, Mazón's right-hand man justified his resistance to the lockdown because he associates it with the coronavirus pandemic, in the declaration of unconstitutionality of the state of alarm This constituted a violation of fundamental rights. For all these reasons, he believed it was a decision more appropriate for the Spanish president, which is why his former colleague in the Presidency department, Cayetano García, consulted the legal department. Despite these arguments, Cuenca downplayed his categorical refusal and asserted that his words were not intended to issue any orders.

Origin of the comparison

The contradictions that emerged during Monday's cross-examination began during Cuenca's initial statement, when he claimed that on the day of the storm he did not speak with the former councilor "about the possibility of sending the ES-Alert," a falsehood exposed by the WhatsApp conversation provided by Pradas. Furthermore, in his second appearance as a witness—prompted by evidence that he had omitted information—the former chief of staff doubled down on his version of events—failing to do so would have meant admitting to a crime—and maintained that the only messages he exchanged with the former councilor were to express his "doubts." The weak point of this account is that one The report from this body, made public last Thursday, invalidates it.The document, which ARA obtained, indicates that García only called the Generalitat's legal counsel "to warn him of the possibility" that Pradas might contact them in case it became necessary to issue a ruling on a potential lockdown, which ultimately was not implemented. Separately, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice and the Interior did call the coordinating lawyer for that department to inquire "whether a potential lockdown would have legal support." The lawyer's response was affirmative.