Pradas' WhatsApp to Mazón Just Before Lunch at El Ventorro: 'Things Are Getting Complicated in Utiel'

Salomé Pradas, the Emergency Councillor under investigation for the storm management, has kept her word. The former leader has provided the magistrate with the WhatsApp messages exchanged with then-president Carlos Mazón on the day of the storm until approximately 2 p.m. After that, only calls followed, some of which were unsuccessful.

Pradas sent a series of messages on the morning of the storm to the president, informing him of the progress of the climate emergency. In one of them, she mentioned being in contact with Pilar Bernabé and that the main concerns at that moment were La Ribera Alta, the Magro, and the Poyo ravine area. 'Brilliant,' responded the head of the Consell without further explanation. Previously, he had been informed about the reinforcement at 112 and the excessive workload at the Firefighters Consortium. However, he did not react to that information. Subsequently, Mazón replied with a 'greeaat' to another SMS about the possible agreement with the firefighters that was to be signed in a few days. A completely secondary matter.

But the most striking of these communications is, undoubtedly, the message from Salomé Pradas at 2:11 p.m., a few minutes before the president arrived at the El Ventorro restaurant, around 2:30 p.m. 'Things are getting complicated in Utiel,' she said. She never received a response to that information. It was then that a lunch and the corresponding after-lunch began, which inexplicably lasted for five hours, at the worst moment of the storm.

The dossier that Pradas has provided to the court also includes other communications with José Manuel Cuenca, the president's chief of staff. There is a relevant one in this regard. It is a message forwarded by the high-ranking official of the Presidency to Pradas, which reads: 'Maybe at 7 p.m. we will go to 112.' It was a WhatsApp sent by the president.

This SMS arrives at 4:47 p.m., before the meeting at the Emergency complex began. That is, at that time Mazón was already considering the need to move to L'Eliana due to the seriousness of the events. But he postponed that move to 7 p.m., according to the conversation. However, the lunch at El Ventorro extended precisely until nearly 7 p.m., and he still spent some time, almost 50 minutes, talking with journalist Vilaplana. He arrived at the Palau around 8 p.m. And, at Cecopi, at 8:28 p.m. This is the approximate chronology of that fateful afternoon.

The messages show that Pradas kept the Generalitat presidency informed of what was happening before and during the Cecopi. By messages, but mostly by phone calls. A thesis that the councillor has always defended in her statements to the media and also in court.

Cuenca, almost in parallel with Mazón, was also informed about the complication in Utiel. 'Due to rain?' he asked. 'No, the river is overflowing,' Pradas replied. She then telegraphically described the progress of the emergencies and the actions being taken, such as the installation of the Advanced Command Post or the Cecopi Call. But it was then that she gave a piece of crucial information: 'We are informed of a death in Utiel.' She did so at 4:28 p.m.

The official version of President Mazón, but also of the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, maintained that it was not until the early hours of the 30th that they began to be aware of the existence of fatalities. Despite the president, in his last public appearance on October 29, already speaking of fatalities.