Carlos Mazón appears this Monday in the commission of inquiry into data of the Congress of Deputies, a few days after his resignation and a week after testifying in another commission in Les Corts Valencianes. This Monday is the first time he faces questions from deputies to explain one of the great unknowns that has haunted him for a year: where he was and what he did on October 29 while 229 people drowned in Valencia. And from the beginning of his appearance he insisted on two ideas: “I was not absent” and “we did what we could with the information we had”. Others too, like the one who “did not know” of the first deaths until dawn. These are some of Mazón’s statements and the verified information available so far in this regard.
“I wasn’t absent”
Mazón’s story, which he repeated on several occasions in his speech, does not add up, because during the day there are several moments in which it is not known what he was doing and why no one was able to locate him. Him again president He had been at El Ventorro restaurant since 3pm. onwards. During that time Salomé Pradas called him at 4.29pm. and Mazón canceled the call. He didn’t hear from her again until 5:37 p.m., when president he called back almost an hour later.
He was mostly absent for 37 minutes, starting at 6:57 p.m. and did not call or receive any calls until 7.34pm. The head of the Consell was missing for 37 minutes and there is still no information on where he was, given that he arrived at the Palau at almost 8pm, as reported by EL PAÍS. He called Salomé Pradas president on two occasions without receiving a response. One at 7.10pm and another at 7.36pm.
“I made my itinerary public”
Mazón insisted that there were numerous hoaxes about where he was or was not that day and repeated that he was “the only one who gave explanations” about his steps that day. But his itinerary, which still remains to be known for about an hour and a quarter (between 6.45pm and 8pm), was made public by the journalist with whom he was eating that day from 3pm to 8pm. at approximately 6.45pm. Maribel Vilaplana has reported for months about the times of this meal, which have changed in the last year in the departure times of the El Ventorro restaurant and which she confirmed in court, as a witness.
The main unknown remains where he was between the end of that meal and the moment he went to the Cecopi emergency room in L’Eliana. It is known that he went to the Palau around 8pm, but not because it took more than an hour to get there. From El Ventorro and the car park where he would have accompanied Vilaplana, according to his statement, it is about 800 meters to Palau, about 10 minutes at a slow pace. This Tuesday, Mazón said he was walking and not answering calls because “he had his cell phone in his backpack.” Mazón did not answer or make any calls between 6.57pm and 5pm. and 7.34pm
“The first loss of life was not known until early morning”
Mazón claimed that “the first loss of human life was only known in the early hours of the morning” on the day of the catastrophe. At 11:45 on October 29, 2024, truck driver José Hernaiz was no longer answering his phone. Hernaiz is the first fatal victim of the Dana. At 1pm there were 4,459 emergency calls asking for help. Between 1pm and 4.59pm, 10 deaths were recorded. When Carlos Mazón’s manager sent the alarm on his cell phone, at 8.11pm. on October 29, 2024, at least 156 people had died and another 37 were in a critical situation.
“There was no information on Poyo ravine”
Since midday the Consell has had the Poyo ravine at the center of its concerns. This is confirmed by a video hidden by the Generalitat Valenciana from the Catarroja judge and which was later accessed. In the recording you can see how former councilor Salomé Pradas writes a document titled “Report number two. Dana Weather Episode – Time: 12:15”. Two arrows with the annotations “Río Magro” and “Rambla del Pollo” (Yes)”. But he wasn’t the only one. In another video released a couple of weeks ago, Pradas also says at midday “on social networks, to alert the areas in which we have just decreed the hydrological alert, which affect (…) the Rambla del Poyo. And to make a list of the municipalities affected by this alert. Then he speaks again around 2pm, pronouncing the words “Poyo ravine” and “this is what worries us the most”.
Apart from the emails sent by the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar, in L’Eliana, where 112 calls are centralized and the Cecopi meets, the flow of the ravines is displayed on screens that update every few minutes. And they are available in real time to workers.
Call the dance with the emergency manager
At 7.36pm Salomé Pradas calls Carlos Mazón, but he cancels the call. Him president in office did not speak to anyone at the time, despite having said he was speaking to her in the Chamber of Deputies.
As soon as his appearance began, at the request of the Podemos deputy, Ione Belarra, he again president of the Generalitat Valenciana declared that it had made public its list of calls. Mazón did not share this information, the only thing the media has are the appeals that the president I wanted to share. He did not provide an official log of calls throughout the day on Dana Day.
Mazón went on to say that “while he was in El Ventorro, most of the time he was the one making the phone calls.” He claimed that in addition to the 5.37 pm call. with Salomé Pradas, spoke “two or three times” with the former Minister of Justice and the Interior of the Generalitat Valenciana, also with the president of the Provincial Council of Valencia, Vicent Mompó and with the deputy for emergencies of the Provincial Council.
The 5.37pm call to Salomé Pradas was joined by three more during the afternoon. One call at 6.16pm for seven minutes, another at 6.25pm. for 46 seconds, at 18:30 for 33 seconds. Finally, the last two before sending the alert, the already known calls at 7.43pm. for 48 seconds and that of 8.11pm. – for 1 minute – before the Valencians received the message on their cell phones.
Regarding the calls to Mompó, there are two calls confirmed by the Generalitat. Mompó did not respond to a call from Mazón to the president of the Provincial Council of Valencia and another at 5.50 pm. in which Mompó calls him back and they talk about Utiel’s situation. In this appeal Mompó asks you for the contact details of the mayor of Utiel. The last phone call between the two was at 6.19pm. None of the phone calls show how much time was spent talking.
The phone call that is not in the documents is that of Mazón with the emergency deputy of the council, as the president said, what has not been clarified is whether he spoke to him when he called Mompó.
“Aemet said at 5pm that the storm would move towards Cuenca”
Mazón reiterated during his appearance that “at 5pm Aemet itself continued to confirm that the storm was heading towards Cuenca”. This is false, as from a leaked telephone conversation between the Generalitat Emergencies and Aemet, which took place at midday on 29 October, Valencian authorities were warned that red warnings of extreme danger were maintained during the day and that “the worst of the day” in terms of rain was expected between 3pm and 3pm. and 6 p.m
