The state funeral for the 237 victims of the dana on October 29, 229 of them in Valencia, also became the political requiem of the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón. The heartbreaking screams of the families against the head of the Consell and their requests for resignation echoed among the white concrete buttresses of the Science Museum designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. “The funeral has been a turning point, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo was there to certify it,” a public official from the Valencian PP tells elDiario.es, who believes that everything could be precipitated in the coming weeks. “The feeling is that the cycle is over,” adds another conservative source who is working on the candidacy of former president Francisco Camps, the only PPCV militant who has run to succeed Mazón.
Without a doubt, the last week has been the worst that the president of the Generalitat has suffered since he arrived at the Palau in July 2023. Not even in the days after the damage was Carlos Mazón as weak and questioned as he is now. And the bad news falls to Mazón by land, sea and air. The associations of victims of the dana, whom Mazón has first ignored and now mistreated, continue to demand the resignation of Carlos Mazón and even request that he be charged in the case. “Mazón to prison,” they chant in the demonstrations.
The media, such as elDiario.es, continue to reveal their unspeakable hours on the day of the dana. Today, there are proven facts that the head of the Consell accompanied the journalist to a parking lot after the copious meal at El Ventorro and that at some point in the afternoon he stopped by her private home, ten minutes from the restaurant and the parking lot.
In the Valencian and national PP the 'Mazón case' is beginning to become a slab that is difficult to sustain and much less justifiable. Even the main political support of the president of the Generalitat, the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, considers that Carlos Mazón is a “liar”, although after the funeral he defends that he was “lynched”.
“Carlos's problem is that you don't know what is true,” laments a popular deputy who prefers to remain anonymous. “It is unsustainable, the members we spoke with tell us that Mazón cannot continue. We have to change horses, because everything is very equal and the left could return to the Generalitat,” they explain from Francisco Camps' team. In that sense, the former president of the Generalitat continues with his tour of the Valencian Community, gathering support and seeing how the president of the PP is also burning slowly. “Sooner or later they will have to call the regional congress and Paco will be there,” they add.
For these popular officials who see how Vox grows exponentially at the expense of the Valencian PP, the important thing that happened this week is that the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, witnessed first-hand Mazón's fall from grace. Also the kings and the millions of television viewers who followed the funeral live. “It is not the same as being told by third parties or that Miguel Tellado acts as a filter, now Feijóo already knows what there is, and what there is is very ugly,” they point out. And in this context are framed the latest statements by the president of the PP about Mazón, made before the funeral, in which he called for the president of the Generalitat to give explanations to the investigative commissions of the Congress, Senate and Corts Valencianes.
Vilaplana, before the judge
This Monday, November 3, may accelerate the problems that shake the president of the Generalitat, since he testifies before the judge of Catarroja, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, the journalist who ate with Carlos Mazón on the day of the dana. Little or nothing positive can come out of a statement in which the magistrate, the prosecution and the 45 accusations will be able to ask Maribel Vilaplana about what happened on October 29, 2024 during the meal. Also later, since some of Salomé Pradas' important calls to the president of the Generalitat occurred after leaving El Ventorro and, possibly, on the way to the parking lot. And the journalist, this time, will have to tell the truth. Or not remember.
The president of the Generalitat is still trapped in El Ventorro's food. Despite a year having passed since the tragedy and having wanted to cash in on the reconstruction, the reality is that Carlos Mazón has to repeatedly answer questions from journalists and the opposition about the holes in his agenda on the afternoon of October 29, 2024. The calls between the president and former Emergency Minister Salomé Pradas raise more doubts about the president's role in decision-making. Pradas defended in her statements before the judge that she was the one who made the decisions and that no action was ever delayed because the president was not there. Although, when asked by elDiario.es, Pradas herself acknowledges that when she called Mazón at 7:10 p.m. and he did not answer the phone, she was trying to communicate that the situation was critical and that they were preparing to launch the massive ES-Alert alert.
But the one at 7:10 p.m. is not the only compromising unanswered call. After 12:30 p.m., Pradas also contacted Mazón without success. Just ten minutes before, the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, had asked Pradas to request the Military Emergency Unit for Utiel. It is understood that the counselor wanted to inform the president. The EMU was not requested until almost after 3 p.m.