Vilaplana did not accompany Mazón to the Generalitat: the ES-Alert alert went off at home.

BarcelonaFormer Valencian president Carlos Mazón has consistently given contradictory accounts of his actions on the afternoon of the devastating floods. Faced with a tragedy that claimed 230 lives, he concealed, with various excuses, that he had lunch with Maribel Vilaplana. He also lied about his arrival at the Palau de la Generalitat and the Cecopio emergency response center. The journalist, for her part, has not been entirely truthful from the outset. A month after the floods, she stated that she had said goodbye to Mazón at 5:45 p.m., but almost a year later, she broke her silence with a statement, delaying the end of their lunch at the El Ventorro restaurant by an additional hour. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that Mazón had accompanied Vilaplana to the parking lot around 6:45 p.m., despite her having implied in her open letter that the former president had remained at the restaurant.

Amid this series of lies or half-truths, both have stated something that ARA has been able to verify as true: the Levante spokesperson did not accompany the former head of the Consell to the Palau de la Generalitat once he left the parking lot at 7:51 p.m., as pointed out Levant This information came from PP sources on November 25th. The investigating judge in the case, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, deemed this hypothesis "plausible." The journalist's entourage denied it, referring to her statement to the judge on November 3rd. At that time, the journalist asserted that she had said goodbye to Mazón in the parking lot and even indicated that "10-15 minutes" passed between their parting and when she pulled her car out of the parking garage. Two weeks later, Mazón testified before the congressional committee investigating the DANA storm that he had walked from the parking lot to the Palau de la Generalitat. "I was probably at the Palau de la Generalitat at 7:40 p.m. I can't give you the exact time precisely, which is why I've never been inside. I can make estimates, but regarding the route, I stand by what I've always said," Mazón insisted.

Sources close to the journalist have revealed to ARA that Vilaplana was at home when the ES-Alert sounded at 8:11 p.m. This makes it impossible for her to have accompanied Mazón to the Palau de la Generalitat and then traveled to her home. The distance from the Glorieta 24-hour parking lot, where Vilaplana parked, to the Palau de la Generalitat is 3.1 km, and takes 10 minutes by car. Furthermore, only residents or service vehicles are allowed in this area, as Mazón pointed out to the newspaper Levant The news was published. "I came on foot, among other things because coming by car to a perimeter zone where access is restricted except for authorized vehicles, and the closest you can get is to Pau Street itself, where the parking lot is, wouldn't make much sense," he said at the time.

And from Plaza Manises, where the Palau de la Generalitat is located, to his home, which is in the El Mas de Camarena residential area, in the municipality of Bétera, right next to the Valencia CF Sports City, the drive takes about 20 minutes, to cover the 14 kilometers that separate them. Making both journeys, Vilaplana would have taken about half an hour. Therefore, considering that he left the parking lot at 7:51 p.m., he would have arrived home at 8:21 p.m., ten minutes after the alert sounded. Due to time constraints, the route, and traffic limitations, it is impossible for the journalist to accompany Mazón to the Palau de la Generalitat.

If Vilaplana was at home when the alert was sent to the public, as sources close to her told ARA, she would have gone directly there without stopping. The journey between the parking lot and her home takes about 23 minutes, but if you take the green lights and drive at a brisk pace, it can be done in 15 minutes. Thus, the journalist would have arrived a few minutes before the Valencian government issued its belated warning to the public, and after many had already died in the floods.

This new revelation leaves open the question of whether, after saying goodbye to Vilaplana, Mazón stopped somewhere before going to the Palau de la Generalitat – the distance between the parking lot and the Valencian government headquarters takes about 10-15 minutes – and from there, traveled to the Cecopio. To try to clear up these doubts, the judge has summoned his bodyguards and driver as witnesses.