The committee of the Congress of Deputies tasked with investigating the disastrous management of the dam carried out by the Government - at that time - presided over by the 'popular' Carlos Mazón, who still holds a seat as a deputy in the Valencian Community Courts, which caused the death of 230 people in the province of Valencia on October 29, 2024, will again summon José Manuel Cuenca this Tuesday, who was Chief of Staff to former President of the Generalitat Carlos Mazón. On the same day, the appearance of Emilio Argüeso, former regional secretary for Emergencies and indicted in the criminal proceedings arising from the flood, is also scheduled
The summons of both was agreed upon by the commission on December 15, following the appearance of the former Minister of Justice and Interior and head of Emergencies, Salomé Pradas, who is also listed as investigated by Judge Nuria Ruiz Tobarra of Catarroja, the instructor of the case. In this context, the members of the commission decided to hear from Cuenca again so that she can clarify the contradictions observed between what she stated in her appearance on November 24 and the data subsequently known, after the WhatsApp messages she exchanged with Pradas were made public and which, she maintains, are "decontextualized".
On the day the tragedy occurred, former minister Pradas exchanged messages with both the then regional president and Cuenca. However, the messages from the latter, who continues to collaborate with Mazón in his former president's office, could not be recovered despite judicial requests, as he proceeded to reset his SIM card.
A new lie surrounds Carlos Mazón: his former chief of staff did delete the messages
As we have been reporting on 'ElConstitucional.es', a new controversy once again surrounds the actions of Carlos Mazón and his inner circle during the DANA. This Friday, **technicians from the Generalitat Valenciana have failed to recover the WhatsApp messages of José Manuel Cuenca, who was the former president's chief of staff.**Cuenca returned to the courts of Catarroja to provide the SIM card from his phone, with the intention of inserting it into the device he handed over when he left office, thus attempting to access communications corresponding to the day of the tragedy
Leaving the courts, Cuenca defended his actions and stated: "I never deleted the messages, I did a port. When you leave a company, you restore the factory settings and hand it back as you received it." However, after analyzing the SIM card, technicians confirmed that the messages had been deleted. A previous report sent by the Generalitat to the court had already indicated that the device returned by Cuenca was reset before its delivery and that its content had been erased.