Mazón's WhatsApps to Catalá dismantle his narrative about the DANA: "There are going to be many dead"

The messages from Carlos Mazón to María José Catalá on the night of the DANA once again put the focus on the clock of that tragedy. The mayor of València has handed over her communications from October 29, 2024, to the judge of Catarroja, and the exchange with the then president leaves a phrase difficult to reconcile with his subsequent account: “It’s horrible. There are going to be many dead.”

The conversation was brief. At 11:13 p.m., Catalá wrote to Mazón from the València Local Police headquarters: “I’m at PLV central. If you need anything, tell me.” Seven minutes later, the head of the Consell replied: “Okay. It’s horrible. There are going to be many dead.” At 11:27 p.m., he added another message: “Dozens for sure now.”

Catalá replied in between with a “I know.” That sequence is now part of the judicial case investigating the management of a catastrophe that left 230 dead in the Valencian Community and ended up politically dragging Mazón for his actions during the critical hours.

The minute that once again dislodges Mazón’s version

The relevance of the WhatsApps is not only in the rawness of the words. It is in the time. Mazón spoke in writing of “many dead” and “dozens” before appearing publicly at 12:35 a.m., when he announced that bodies had already been found.

This data clashes with what he later maintained in the Congress investigation commission, where he stated that he had no knowledge of fatalities until the early hours of the morning, around five o’clock. The messages provided by Catalá place the then president already handling a very serious forecast about the human toll of the flood late on the 29th.

The management of those hours has been under political and judicial scrutiny for months. The massive alert to the population arrived late, the affected municipalities have reported information and coordination problems, and each new communication incorporated into the case adds pieces to the journey of decisions, silences, and warnings that marked the hardest night of the DANA.

Catalá provides her calls and distances herself from the regional account

The mayor testified this Wednesday as a witness before the judge. According to her explanation, she did not speak on the phone with Mazón until the early hours of the morning, around 2:30 a.m., although the WhatsApp exchange occurred after eleven at night.

Catalá also stated that no one from the Generalitat warned her about the overflowing of ravines or the preparation of the ES-Alert message. The mayor recounted that she learned about the flooding in the city, specifically in the La Torre neighborhood, minutes before the alert reached the population's mobile phones.

The documentation provided also includes communications with the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, and messages from the municipal team. The judge has incorporated this material after Catalá's testimony, who authorized the comparison of her communications related to emergency management.

The new WhatsApps once again put Mazón in front of his own chronology. At 11:20 PM he already wrote that there would be many dead. At 11:27 PM he spoke of dozens. That record is no longer in the realm of political discussion, but in the DANA case file.