José Manuel Cuenca (Chief of Staff to the President of the State of Valenciana) was one of the only two people, along with Pilar Montes (his secretary), who knew that Carlos Mazzone was at El Venturo – the restaurant where he had lunch with journalist Maribel. … VILLAPLANA – The afternoon of October 29, 2024, the day of the ill-fated Dana accident that claimed the lives of 229 people. On Monday afternoon, he appeared before the House of Representatives investigation committee into the tragedy, where the former right-hand man of the popular leader at the time denied that he had issued orders not to disturb him. A story that contradicts what was revealed by former Emergency Minister Salome Pradas on the “Salvados” program on La Sexta channel. However, Cuenca announced that he lost.
“It is not true that Mazzone did not need to be bothered,” she responded to the compromise deputy, Agueda Mico, currently in the mixed group of the Chamber of Deputies, who began the questioning by asking her whether or not she had received this order from Mazzone as reported by former Chancellor Pradas. He insisted after a while, this time in response to questions from socialist Patricia Blanquer, that “(Mazzone) is unable to transmit instructions of this kind because of his call to public service. Let’s stop fooling around.” Which Cuenca accused of wanting to “undermine his personal reputation.” Not only for her, but also for the rest of the official spokesmen, but only for the political forces of the left.
He clashed with Mico especially on behalf of El Venturo. “Wasn’t it your responsibility as Chief of Staff to pick up the President and take him to Sekopi?” In fact, according to Cuenca, who once again dismissed the former head of emergency situations in the state of Valenciana, the contact between Pradas and Mazzone was “permanent.” In this sense, he claims forgetfulness when he recalls his conversation with Pradas, whom he says he spoke to on the phone only once before 2 p.m. “I don’t remember it at all,” he admitted. However, he said: “It is normal for me to tell him that since he (Mazzone) had those events (referring to the two events that appeared on the morning of October 29 on the agenda of the former president, one in the Ministry of Health and the other in Palau with the unions), he was calling me. It is a common thing. He insisted, I do not remember that conversation, but it seems very normal to me.”
“He seems to be saying that the chancellor is openly lying,” suggested Sagazatizabal, from PNV, while calling on the person who appeared to tell the truth and clarify what happened because, in his opinion, so far, there have only been “contradictions that raise doubts.” All this after Cuenca was able, from time to time, to use phrases such as “This issue is not the subject of the Action Programme” when he did not denounce that the issues about which he was being questioned had already been resolved last week in the Court of Catarroja to avoid answering certain questions put to him by parliamentarians in the Investigative Committee. The logic alluded to by the Albinovi representative may be “ironic.” “We understand that there is a judicial process, but that cannot prevent those responsible for the administration from responding clearly, and in general, they either do not know or are wrong. I don’t understand who is being protected. “It is unacceptable that no one criticizes themselves after losing so many lives,” Sagastizabal said.
“If we had known what happened in the end, we would have acted differently,” Cuenca admits.
In any case, Cuenca stated that he informed Mazzone of the call from Pradas, who, by the way, had “never” requested the presence of the President at the State Palace, where the meeting of the Integrated Operations Coordination Center (SECOPI) was being held. According to his account, the consultant only explained to him that Ribera Alta would be examined. “He never told me he couldn’t locate him,” he repeated on more than one occasion, to protect the now popular former leader. Because, excuse me, “if we had known what happened in the end, we would have acted differently.”
At this very moment, he was Mazzone’s right-hand man, just as Education Secretary José Antonio Rovira had done hours earlier, and as Mazzone himself had already stated when he passed through Congress two weeks ago, insisting that Emmett said the storm would “clear up” at 6:00 p.m. Noting that forecasts indicate that there will be about 180 liters of water per square meter in one day instead of approximately 800 liters that was expected. They recorded that fateful day. “No one knew anything, no matter how unbelievable it was,” Cuenca lamented.