The messages sent by Salomé Pradas to President Carlos Mazón and the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, José Manuel Cuenca, in the most critical hours of the meteorological disaster of October 29, 2024, form one of the focuses of the current judicial summary on the autonomous management of the emergency in the Valencian Community. According to the media that is closely following the investigation, the Congressional Parliamentary Commission is examining these internal communications – call records, messages and digital files – as well as communications addressed to citizens, in order to clarify the level of coordination and adaptation to official protocols by political leaders and regional technicians during the crisis that left 230 people dead and caused significant damage to infrastructure.
According to information collected by the above-mentioned media, a telephone conversation lasting just over five minutes between Salomé Pradas, the then Minister of Emergencies, and Cayetano García Ramírez, the regional Minister of Economy, has become a focal point of both judicial and parliamentary investigations. The researchers focus on how this call reflected decision-making in the face of deteriorating weather conditions and the possible need to declare a curfew, as well as the relevance of the content and the timing of this communication given the successive alerts and deaths.
The media reported that the notes presented by Pradas to Judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra, in charge of the file in Catarroja, contain details of the sequence of messages transmitted on the day of the disaster. On October 29, at 11:32 a.m., Pradas Mazón informed of the situation of local alerts and the recommendation to focus institutional attention on areas particularly at risk due to the progression of the meteorological phenomenon. At 1:03 p.m., the former councilor provided additional information about the deterioration in areas such as the Ribera Alta, the Barranco del Poyo and the Magro River area and, according to the same media, continued to be in direct contact with Pilar Bernabé, government delegate.
Before deploying the first air rescue teams, Pradas briefed Mazón and senior officials on the deterioration in Utiel, a town that would become the epicenter of the first deaths. The media explained that at 2:25 p.m. the conversation between Pradas and José Manuel Cuenca, head of the Presidency’s Cabinet, became crucial. There they spoke about the evolution of the emergency and the urgency of direct communication with Mazón for decision-making with an immediate impact on citizens. At 4:28 p.m., Pradas notified Cuenca of a death in Utiel; Since there was no immediate response, Cuenca forwarded the request to Cayetano García Ramírez for advice on the legal options for imposing a general curfew.
The work of García Ramírez, who was informed by both the Criminal Investigation Department and the Parliamentary Commission, acquired particular relevance due to his legal-operational contribution during the day. According to the media, the conversation he had with Pradas was the most extensive between the commanders that day and is considered key to determining how institutional powers were interpreted and exercised under pressure, with changing information and a focus on the direct protection of the population.
The reconstruction of events presented by the media suggests that the dynamics within the autonomous administration changed significantly after 7:00 p.m. Cuenca decided to accompany Mazón to the 112 emergency center to monitor the situation directly. Minutes before 8:00 p.m., Cuenca itself transmitted the order to maintain the curfew in response to the worsening of river flooding and the persistence of risky hydrometeorological conditions in the Valencian Community.
This entire body of communication, response times and decision-making processes forms the core of the ongoing parliamentary and judicial analysis as described by the media. The aim is to determine whether institutional actions respected regional emergency protocols at all times and whether possible imbalances in the flow of internal or external information had an impact on the management of the crisis.
The aforementioned media also highlighted that Salomé Pradas’ appearance in Parliament was postponed due to the ongoing criminal investigation. After an interview that Pradas gave on December 1 to the program “Salvados” in which he acknowledged errors in the institutional response, citing, among other things, the lack of an urgent warning to Mazón about moving to Cecopi – a strategic center for emergency management – the congressional factions set a final date for his declaration, overcoming the agenda restrictions resulting from the open court procedure and the debate on the right not to declare.
The detailed investigation of the discrepancies or similarities between internal messages and public communications of the Generalitat occupies a central place in the congressional commission and the judicial investigation. The aim is to determine whether there were contradictions or differences that affected the effectiveness of the response to the different risk scenarios that occurred during the critical day. According to the media, José Manuel Cuenca explained before Judge Ruiz Tobarra that his instructions and actions in those hours responded to the urgent need for legal advice for decisions that directly affected citizens.
The documentation provided to both parliamentary headquarters and the court is extensive and includes all conversation recordings, instant messages exchanged at important intervals, and logged digital files that enable a chronological reconstruction of the decision-making process. This collection of evidence forms the basis for the review by the Congressional Commission, whose task is to draw a comparison between the actual information exchanged at the different institutional levels and the official discourse addressed to society during the emergency situation.
According to media reports, the parliamentary commission plans to expand the list of appearances, which already includes political leaders and technicians from the regional administration. The focus of the investigation is on the documentation and transmission of orders as well as on the coordination and hierarchy chain when taking measures in an emergency and in the subsequent communication of decisions with social implications.
With these elements, the investigation aims to shed light on the actions taken by the regional administration in the face of one of the most significant emergencies in the recent history of the Valencian Community, taking into account the particular circumstances of pressure, the availability of real-time information and the speed with which decisions had to be made that directly jeopardized the well-being and security of the population.
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