The journalist Maribel Vilaplana has revealed in an open letter that the food with President Carlos Mazón at the El Ventoro restaurant last October 29 ended “between 18.30 and 18.45”. The controversial agape of Mazón on the day of the Dana, a catastrophe that caused 228 deaths, lasted almost four hours. Vilpalana says in a text sent to several media, including eldiario.es, which went to the appointment “with the aim of exploring possible professional collaboration channels” and affirms that “the focus must be where it corresponds: in the people who had responsibilities and decision power.” “It is they who must give explanations,” in a clear reference to the rulers of the Generalitat Valenciana. Maribel Vilplana asks “respect” to “be able to move forward” without his name “continuing to be used as a political weapon or as morbid entertainment.” In addition, he also asks for respect for the victims of the Dana's tragedy: “Because they are who we owe them” and that “their pain is not used or banalized.”
The communicator has contributed some details about the famous food. “During the conversation I was raised several options, including a candidacy for a position on regional television, which I clearly rejected by personal and professional conviction,” he says. After the rejection of the journalist to Mazón's offer, the conversation between the two became a “communication consulting session”, the specialty of Maribel Vilaplana. The letter does not quote at any time the name of Carlos Mazón, which he refers only as “President” (seven times).
The communicator says that Mazón received some calls at “a certain moment of food” that interrupted the conversation. “I continued in the restaurant, completely oblivious to those communications: I did not ask, I did not participate, nor did I know its content at any time, and the president also did not transfer any concern about it. I acted, as I have always done, from the discretion and respect that characterize me.”
Vilaplana has decided to publish his open letter two days after this newspaper advanced that the prosecutor of the Dana's cause supported the decision of the investigating judge not to quote her to declare as witness when President Carlos Mazón Agorado was. However, the journalist has been summoned by the Investigation Commission on the DANA of the Congress of Deputies.
“These interruptions, added to the waiting and farewell, also delayed my departure from the restaurant, which final considered necessary to clarify that point, ”explains the open letter.
“I asked, very clearly, please my name did not come out”
When he left the ventorro, “I was not aware of the seriousness of what was happening,” says Vilaplana. The journalist confirms in her letter that, as published by Eldiario.es, she spoke with Mazón later to ask her not to reveal who she was eating with. “When I returned home, I started taking true dimension of what happened. As soon as I understand the magnitude of what had happened, I got in touch with the president when possible. In that conversation I transferred my anguish and also asked him, very clearly, that please my name did not come out. I explained that it seemed deeply unfair to be linked to such a painful chapter when I had not had absolutely painful.
Vilaplana acknowledges that his silence, “although well -intentioned, fed speculation and, when it was finally known, led to brutal harassment.” The journalist has since been in psychological treatment with a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress. “The later days were a real nightmare. I felt absolutely lost. And when it was finally publicly announced that I was the person who had been with the president during that meal, my head broke out. I entered a shock that led me to a hospital admission.”
Presidency of the Generalitat leaked the identity of the diner that accompanied Carlos Mazón in full emergency of the Dana after this newspaper revealed on November 5 that the Chief of the Consell was at a meal.
The journalist regrets that her name has hopefully linked with the Dana on October 29: “Being there was a damn coincidence and a horrible blow of bad luck. It could have been any other, but it was that day. The most difficult and hard day for thousands and thousands of Valencians. That is and will always be my torment, and I will have to learn to cope with that burden throughout my life.”
