The never-before-seen video of Carlos Mazón's arrival at Cecopio

ValenciaThe video of Carlos Mazón's arrival at the Eliana Emergency Coordination Center on October 29th of last year has been added to the DANA storm case, as requested a few days ago by investigating judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra. The recording shows the former president arriving with his head of communications, Maite Gómez, advisor Josep Lanuza, and two bodyguards. In February, the Valencian regional government released a screenshot of the recording to explain that Mazón's arrival occurred at 8:28 p.m., 17 minutes after the ES-Alert alert was sent. This detail was intended to distance the PP politician from the central element of the judge's investigation: the delayed and erroneous alert issued to the public.

Unlike the security camera footage from the Palau de la Generalitat, which was deleted a month later, the Cecopio footage was saved thanks to Alonso Fernández, head of Security and Infrastructure at the Emergency Coordination Center, as he himself testified to the investigating magistrate on Tuesday, according to sources present at the ARA news agency. The public employee kept the recording with the approval of the Deputy Director General of Emergencies, Jorge Suárez, who will testify before the judge this Thursday. The judge's request for the video stemmed from questions raised by the testimony of journalist Maribel Vilaplana. The journalist's account leaves open the question of whether, after lunch at El Ventorro and accompanying Vilaplana to the parking lot—as both men recounted—Mazón stopped anywhere before going to the Palau de la Generalitat. The distance between the parking lot and the Valencian government headquarters can be covered on foot in 10 to 15 minutes. He arrived at 8:28 p.m. To try to clarify these doubts, the judge summoned his bodyguards and driver as witnesses and requested the recordings from the Generalitat showing the former head of the Consell's arrival at the Emergency Center, including the exact time. The judge argues that this evidence is "relevant" to analyzing the "decision-making process" of the former Minister of Justice and the Interior, Salomé Pradas, on the day of the tragedy. In this regard, it is emphasized that the President of the Generalitat has the "directive and coordinating" functions for all members of the executive, as indicated by the Provincial Court of Valencia on October 16, functions that "cannot be limited to those exercised in person, but must also extend to those exercised by telephone."

The death toll rises to 230

As the investigation progresses, new details are emerging about the victims, whose number has now risen to 230. This decision was made by the investigating judge, who added to the case the death of a 74-year-old resident of Catarroja who succumbed to a pulmonary thromboembolism on November 3rd of last year. The judge believes there is a causal link between this death and the floods that devastated the municipality in the L'Horta Sud region. The man, who lived on the ground floor, was soaked all night as a result of water entering his home and was unable to "take shelter or go elsewhere," the magistrate explained. The "immediate exposure to cold water, a limitation of his mobility, and physical stress" led to this man, "who suffered from pre-existing conditions, suffering a pulmonary thromboembolism" which, "as the forensic report states, ultimately resulted in his death," she added.

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