The agenda of the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, on October 29 remained unchanged from 8:00 in the morning until 6:45 p.m., when he received a call from the former Minister of Justice and Interior Salomé Pradas asking him to urgently go to the meeting of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) because the Forata dam was about to overflow. At first, and after it became clear that Mazón was not in the place where he should be, the version was that the president “was working” in the Palau de la Generalitat since he finished his last scheduled meeting with employers and unions. at 2:30 p.m. until he arrived at Cecopi after 7:30 p.m. But it was a big lie. The confirmation of the meal with the journalist Maribel Vilaplana blew up his team’s strategy of hiding a performance that has hurt Valencian society and that is censored even by his own party.
elDiario.es has reconstructed Carlos Mazón’s movements on DANA day, from when he had his first public event until Cecopi when at 10 p.m. he received the message from the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. The only gap that remains to be confirmed and that no one in the Presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana clarifies is the period that goes from 6:00 p.m., when he leaves the Ventorro restaurant with Maribel Vilaplana, until 6:28 p.m., when he calls for one minute and eight seconds to the mayor of Cullera, Jordi Mayor, and his arrival at the Palau de la Generalitat after 6:30 p.m.
Who was Mazón with that half hour? Who mentioned the mayor of Cullera and forced Mazón to call? A friend of both, a businessman with interests in the municipality of Cullera? What is clear that Mayor slipped, and Mazón has not denied, is that they did not talk about the rupture of the Forata dam that could have flooded Cullera. Why didn’t Mazón call any other mayor? Only the mayor of Torrent, Amparo Folgado, has recognized Cadena SER that he would have received a call from the president.
After hearing first-hand the version of Maribel Vilaplana, Jordi Mayor, the Presidency team, the owner of Ventorro and other witnesses of the day, elDiario.es has been able to locate the president of the Generalitat at all times. Except the blind half hour.
At 8:58 a.m. on October 29the president of the Generalitat asked in his X account for “prudence on roads” and “close attention to the instructions of the authorities.” At 9.00Mazón presided over the Plenary Session of the Consell. The province of Valencia was on red alert and both À Punt, the regional channel, and social networks began to spread images of the problems that had already started in Utiel the night before. At 10:45Mazón presided over the ceremony of delivery to the Generalitat of the certification of the tourism sustainability strategy by Aenor. There Mazón took the now historic photograph biting the prize with a totally carefree countenance. The event, held at the Palau de la Generalitat, was also attended by the former Minister of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Nuria Montes, and the CEO of Aenor, Rafael García.
Around noon, Mazón left the Palau de la Generalitat and moved to Catalunya Avenue, to the headquarters of the General Directorate of Public Health, located at the northern exit of the city. Over there, after 12.00together with the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, presented the Digital Health Strategy of the Valencian Community, a document to strengthen the health system with new technologies. Back to the Palau de la Generalitat, shortly before 1:00 p.m.the head of the Consell appeared to assure: “At the moment there is no evidence of personal injuries at this time of the morning,” according to a teletype from the Europa Press agency. posted at 12:59.
In statements posted on the ‘president’s’ X account at 1:14 p.m. On Tuesday, October 29, Carlos Mazón stated: “According to the forecast, the storm is moving towards the Serranía de Cuenca, so it is expected that around 6:00 p.m. it will decrease in intensity throughout the rest of the Valencian Community.” The message in X was later deleted. At 1:45 p.m.the head of the regional Executive met with the general secretaries of the UGT unions and Workers’ Commissions, Ismael Saez and Ana García Alcolea, and with the president of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community, Salvador Navarro, to address the upcoming 2025 budgets of the Generalitat. Nothing was said about DANA.
The meeting ended at 14:30 and Mazón left in the direction of the Ventorro restaurant, where he arrived at 14.45 to eat in a booth with journalist Maribel Vilaplana. The meeting went from not existing, to being with Salvador Navarro, to becoming a private meal, according to successive versions of the Palau de la Generalitat. After pressure from the media, the Presidency had to explain that it was “a private work lunch.” In statements to elDiario.es, an authorized spokesperson for Vilaplana explained that the meal ended around 18.00 and that the president went in the direction of “the parking lot”, specifically the one in the Plaza de la Reina, which is located between the Ventorro and the Palau de la Generalitat. At 6:28 p.m.the president calls the mayor of Cullera and tells him, always according to Jordi Mayor’s version, “I am here at a meeting and your name has come up.” Who was the president of the Generalitat with?
After conversations with the mayor of Cullera and other sources linked to the Palau, this meeting or chance encounter would have to do with people interested in projects in Cullera. Neither Mazón previously knew Mayor nor did the president update him on the critical situation in the Júcar River. The Mayor himself and his team have confirmed that the mayor’s name would not have come up at the meal with Vilaplana, since they do not know each other nor does Vilaplana have any projects in Cullera. “It was a very strange call,” Mayor reflects. Something happened in those 28 minutes for Mazón to decide to connect with Jordi Mayor and not with other mayors who were also being affected by DANA.
After the call to Mayor and after the 6:30 p.m.the president arrived at the Palau de la Generalitat. At 6:45 p.m.According to Mazón himself, he received a call from Salomé Pradas about the possible overflow of the Forata dam, at which point he decided to quickly leave for the 112 Emergency Center in l’Eliana, a place he did not arrive until after 7:30 p.m. due to to traffic congestion, as he said in his parliamentary appearance.
With Mazón already in the Cecopi and without coverage, among the 7:35 p.m. and 8:20 p.m.the Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, tried to contact the president of the Generalitat Valenciana through three phone calls that received no response. At 20.11 The massive alert was sent to mobile phones, when hundreds of citizens were already trapped.
went to 8:20 p.m. when the vice president of the Government and next vice president of the European Commission sent him an SMS in which he proposed: “Tell me anything we can help with.” Previously, Ribera’s team had sent messages to Mazón’s chief of staff, journalist José Manuel Cuenca, while the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, had addressed Minister Salomé Pradas. Already after 10:00 p.m.it was the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who sent a message from India to Mazón offering his collaboration.
#Mazóns #blind #hour #DANA #day #president #eating #journalist
