New blow for Carlos Mazón. Judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, Catarroja magistrate who is conducting the Dana trial, asked this Wednesday that six high-ranking officials from the hard core of the Catalan government be called as witnesses. president Valencian (now in office) to find out what telephone conversations they had with both Mazón and the former Emergency Minister, Salomé Pradas, accused in the trial after the floods caused by the dana, which caused the death of 229 people.
These conversations are important to know what Mazón was doing during his long lunch at the El Ventorro restaurant (between 2.45pm and 6.45pm) with the journalist Maribel Vilaplana, what information he and Pradas handled and how this flow of data influenced Cecopi’s decisions. In this meeting, called by the Generalitat, which coordinated the crisis and from where the massive alarm was sent to cell phones at 8.11pm, when at least 155 people had already died, according to an investigation by this newspaper.
The six accused cited – excluding the seventh witness, the owner of El Ventorro – are the regional secretary of the Presidency of the Generalitat, Cayetano García; the regional secretary of the Cabinet of the Presidency and Communication of the Generalitat, José Manuel Cuenca; the general director of Communication and Institutional Promotion, Francisco González; the general director of the Press Office, María Teresa Gómez, and the advisor to the head of the Council, Josep Lanuza. The latter two do not appear in Pradas’ appeals, but were summoned because they had accompanied Mazón to Cecopi at 8.28pm. and we were able to witness his communications between 7.45 p.m. and 8.28pm
In the summary the list of calls between Pradas and the club. That day, from the early hours of the morning until Mazón’s arrival in Cecopi, the former councilor recorded 105 calls, adding up those made, those received, those lost and those canceled (the latter referring to those unanswered, those rejected or those suffering from coverage problems). With the Mazón nucleus there were 27, with the nucleus only 12 president. But he canceled four – three in the worst hours of the day -, answered two and the rest were calls he made to Pradas in the last hour before arriving in Cecopi. In total, before sending the alarm, Pradas spoke with Mazón for 11.07 minutes. He spoke by telephone with the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, for 21.36 minutes.
While Mazón was locked in his food, he made eight more calls to several officials of his government, including the one the magistrate cited as a witness. This list was delivered by the Generalitat. Likewise, the messages that the president received or sent during that day.
This is the history of the exchange of calls:
Pradas’ first attempt to contact Mazón and his entourage occurred shortly before 1pm, just as the Civil Guard of Carlet certified the disappearance of the truck driver José Hernaiz, who was on his way to a greenhouse in L’Alcudia on the A7. The then councilor telephoned Jose Manuel Cuenca at 12.54pm and Mazón at 12.59pm. They both canceled the call. That morning the president He participated in several events.
The former Interior Minister also receives a phone call three hours later, at 4.11 pm, from the regional secretary Cayetano García (saved on his cell phone as Cayetano Palau). The conversation lasts two minutes. At that time, the Generalitat had already raised the alert to level 2, the Government delegation had been asked for EMU intervention and the Cecopi meeting had already been called. At 4.29pm Pradas calls Mazón, but the call is cancelled.
From then until five in the afternoon, Pradas receives a call from Cayetano García (at 4.43pm) which he does not answer and receives two from Cuenca (at 4.48pm and 4.56pm) which last 35 and 36 seconds respectively. When Cecopi begins, a dozen people have already died. Mazón calls Pradas for the first time at 5.37pm. and they talk for two minutes. Him president (according to the list provided by the Generalitat) speaks with the president of the Provincial Council of Valencia, Vicente Mompó, at 5.50 pm. and asks for the contact of the mayor of Utiel, which is flooded at that moment.
At six in the afternoon, 25 people had already died and in Cecopi, despite the possibility of launching a mass alert an hour earlier, this was not done. Mazón calls Pradas at 6.16pm. and they talk for seven minutes. It would be the longest conversation. The situation in the Poyo ravine is irreversible and the emergency room is receiving a wave of calls due to the risk of overflow (13,338 calls had been received on 112 before 7pm). Pradas calls Cuenca, the call is canceled, but at that time Mazón calls him. It lasts only 46 seconds. Cuenca calls the former councilor back and they talk for a minute.
The exchange of calls intensifies. Mazón (according to the Generalitat list) calls the mayor of Cullera at 6.28pm. via the WhatsApp application to ask him how he is. The councilor appears worried about the storm, but the president It doesn’t tell you anything else, just to call you if you have any problems. The president then calls Pradas at half past six and they talk for 33 seconds. Mazón makes three calls after leaving El Ventorro (and accompanying Villaplana to a parking lot) and before being unavailable at seven in the afternoon: at 6.48pm. with its general director of communications, Francisco González, and at 6:57 p.m. with the general secretary of the PP of the Valencian Community, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca.
The most critical hour begins before seven in the afternoon. The Poyo ravine has overflowed and at least 84 people will die in the next few hours. Pérez Llorca calls Pradas three times and his cell phone is registered as Juan Fran Mazon, at 18:57, 18:58 and 18:59 (the first is not followed by the former councilor and the others last only 14 and nine seconds). Mazón’s chief of staff, José Manuel Cuenca, manages to speak with Pradas for half a minute at 7:07 pm. Mazón is still in El Ventorro and unreachable for the former councilor, who tries to speak to him without success at 7.19pm. and 7.36pm
It is Cayetano García, regional secretary of Mazón who spoke with Pradas at 7.36 pm. (for two minutes) and at 7.43pm (for 33 seconds). At the same time the president He calls the former emergency consultant and they talk for 48 seconds. He also makes (according to the calls provided by the Generalitat) two more calls, one to the regional secretary of infrastructure, Javier Sendra, and another to the general director of presidential coordination, María Jesús García Frigols. In those moments, the president arrives at the Palau de la Generalitat.
When Pradas received the next call from Mazón at 8.11pm, the alarm on the cell phones had already been sent by Cecopi and at least 155 people had died. For another 37, the situation was insurmountable, as they were trapped in their homes, in garages, in their cars, on the street… The content of the message is useless, as it advised citizens not to move and 60% of deaths occurred inside a building. With his cell phone ringing, Mazón drove to Cecopi and called Pradas at 8.19pm, but the situation was already hellish.
The Forata dam has reached its limit (although the situation has not worsened). Emergencies had more than 100 calls on hold. The situation is so chaotic that people asking for help had to wait at least 120 seconds to be assisted by an operator. 112 recorded 19,821 calls on 29 October. More than 15,000 occurred before the first alert was sent. The damage caused the deaths of 229 people. Some suffered injuries and problems for weeks, until they died.
