Salomé Pradas defends herself in tears before the Investigation Commission on the DANA: "I will always tell the truth, I will face it"

Salomé Pradas arrived this Monday at Congress willing to remain silent and ended up intervening during a good part of her appearance. The former Valencian Minister of Justice and Interior, investigated for the management of the DANA that caused 233 deaths, defended her actions, avoided directly pointing to Carlos Mazón and transferred part of the responsibility to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ).

"I will not answer the questions they ask me," she announced at the beginning of the session. Pradas invoked her right to defense in the case being investigated by the Catarroja court and referred to her three judicial appearances and the document submitted during her first visit to the commission, held in December. The strategy lasted only a few minutes.

The accusations of the deputies led the former regional head of Emergencies to break her silence to defend her account. Faced with the reproaches of Mikel Otero, from EH Bildu, Pradas maintained that the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) was convened for the floods in Utiel and Requena and that afterwards attention shifted to the Forata dam. According to her version, the CHJ reported shortly before five in the afternoon that "el Poyo was dry".

Pradas also accused Aemet of continuing to talk about rainfall of 220 liters when, she claimed, records close to 800 had already been reached. "Without information, you cannot manage," she defended. Her explanations again placed the origin of the failures in state agencies, despite the fact that the political direction of the emergency and the sending of the alert to the population corresponded to the Generalitat Valenciana.

Compromís deputy Àgueda Micó tried to bring the appearance to the role of Mazón and his former Chief of Staff, José Manuel Cuenca. The latter wrote to Pradas in the midst of the emergency the message "Salo, no confining", after the then minister proposed adopting that measure given the seriousness of the situation.

Micó accused Pradas of continuing to protect both. "You are covering for them and I don't understand it," she reproached her before warning her that she could end up in prison while Mazón and Cuenca "get off scot-free." The former minister rejected that accusation, although she also did not explain what influence the indications from the Presidency had on her decisions.

"If I make personal assessments of what some men and women did or said that day, we don't have time all afternoon," she responded when Nahuel González, from Sumar, asked her about the "authoritarian and condescending" tone used by Cuenca.

The three hours Pradas still hasn't explained

The deputy from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Teresa Jordà, has brought up the sequence that continues to concentrate a good part of the doubts. Pradas knew at 4:28 PM that there was at least one fatality and at 5:01 PM she was aware that around a hundred people were waiting to be rescued. The Es-Alert reached people's phones at 8:11 PM.

Pradas remained silent when Jordà asked her what happened during those three hours. "Silence is a right, but it is not an explanation, and the victims need explanations," the deputy warned her.

The former councilor then showed a handwritten sheet and assured that there are videos from different moments of the afternoon. According to her account, a recording from 7:10 PM shows that the Es-Alert was already being discussed, and a technician claims he received the draft of the two messages that ended up being sent at 7:45 PM. These elements confirm that the alert had been on the table for some time, but Pradas has not clarified why the population had to wait until 8:11 PM.

She also offered to provide the commission with an audio sent to Cuenca after the alert, in which she explained the measures adopted. That recording was already incorporated into the judicial investigation and reached Mazón's former Chief of Staff at 8:15 PM, when the Es-Alert was already sounding on phones.

Asked about who made the decisions, Pradas merely replied that they were made by "the Cecopi" in accordance with the available information. The formula once again left the ultimate person responsible for the decisions unnamed, despite her serving as the competent councilor for Emergencies and institutional director of the plan activated that afternoon.

The former PP leader also did not want to comment on Mazón's actions or his departure home around one in the morning. She referred that explanation to the former president and contrasted her own behavior. "I withdrew for a two-hour interval, but I didn't go home until the fourth day. I only went out to wash up and came back in a little while," she stated.

Harsh clashes with the PSOE and Compromís

The moment of greatest tension came during the questioning of socialist deputy Alejandro Soler. The parliamentarian asked her if she changed lawyers because the defense provided by the Valencian Government did not protect her interests and accused her of having lied "to the face" of the commissioners.

Pradas denied having lied and asked Soler to stop saying "nonsense" and "rubbish". She also explained that her lawyers belong to the same firm and that she personally assumes the cost of the defense.

Soler replied that she was not in a position to "be so indignant" after having been the political head of Emergencies during a catastrophe that caused 233 deaths. "You say that. For now, no one has said it firmly," Pradas replied.

PP deputy Óscar Clavell came to the defense of the former minister and accused the socialist representative of lying with "machista touches". Pradas took advantage of that turn to demand that the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, hand over her communications and messages from that day. According to her, Bernabé is the only relevant member of Cecopi who has not yet provided them.

The appearance ended with Pradas visibly emotional after the questions from far-right Vox deputy Ignacio Gil Lázaro. The former minister ratified her judicial statements and defended that she had handed over calls, documents, videos, audios, and WhatsApp conversations.

"I will always tell the truth and I will face the consequences," she proclaimed on the verge of tears. Pradas assured that she also did so on October 29, 2024, and during the subsequent days, until Mazón dismissed her. After more than three hours of commission, she left the room without clarifying who stopped the measures proposed that afternoon or why the warning arrived when the flood had already trapped thousands of Valencians.